Chelsea vs Man Utd in WSL is battle of 'experienced champions versus the hungry challengers' 

"The experienced champions versus the ambitious, hungry challengers," is how Chelsea manager Emma Hayes described Sunday's meeting of the Women's Super League's top two.

Second-placed Chelsea, the defending champions, take on leaders Manchester United at Kingsmeadow, with both sides holding unbeaten league records this season. It is the standout game of the WSL weekend and arguably the most important of the entire campaign so far.

With Chelsea three points behind but having a game in hand, there is very little between the sides in the title race, but United have defied the pre-season odds to lead the table for the first time in their history. Casey Stoney's side have never won a major trophy, but Hayes is wary of their opponent's desire for silverware.

"They’re hungry and they’re ambitious, and hunger and ambition can take you a long way, but so can experience," Hayes said. "And yes we’ve got the experience and the nous of being in these positions, which carry weight, but it’s a football match and football matches aren’t predictable."

The two teams' form guides display many similarities: Both have won three league games in a row, both have dropped just two points since they met each other on the opening weekend of the season, and both enjoyed victories by five-goal margins in their most recent league outings.

These sides also both have an array of attacking players in red hot form. Fran Kirby scored four times in Chelsea's 5-0 win at Reading last Sunday, enjoying an instinctive partnership with Australia striker Sam Kerr, who has scored five goals in her past five games. Manchester United's left winger Leah Galton was named as the WSL's Player of the Month for December on Friday, while United States forward Tobin Heath - a veteran of 169 senior caps for the world champions - scored a goal-of-the-season contender as she netted a brace in her last outing before Christmas.

Heath is one of three players expected to feature in Sunday's contest who was included in the Fifa Best women's team of 2020, and she is set to battle head-to-head with one of the other two; Her potential tussle with Chelsea defender Millie Bright could play a major part in proceedings.

The third player involved from that world XI, Chelsea's Denmark forward Pernille Harder, was on the bench for Hayes' team last time out, slowly resuming full fitness after the Christmas break, but Harder also has the potential to be the match-winner.

Hayes said there were too many games left in the season to call the fixture a 'title decider', with Arsenal and Manchester City still very much in the mix too, but she added: "What I’ve wanted more than anything else is a competitive league, and we’ve got it. That’s the beauty - if you’re not at your best you’re in trouble. The fact there’s another rival this year [Manchester United], adds excitement to the women's game, so I hope it's a cracker for the fans at home."

Stoney, whose team are only in their second top-flight season following their promotion in 2019, said: "There’s pressure on both teams to perform and put on a show for the women’s game.

"We know Chelsea are a fantastic team. We’re away from home, playing against a very good team full of international stars, but it’s a game we go into with every intention of trying to win. I have full belief in the players in my dressing room."

Hayes and Stoney's sides have each gone more than a year without a WSL defeat, with Chelsea closing in on 24 months without a loss in the top flight. The Londoners are on a 30-game unbeaten WSL run since losing to Birmingham City on 27 January, 2019.

The fixture comes with both United's men's and women's teams top of their respective leagues - and both facing away fixtures against their division's defending champions this Sunday - as United's men travel to Liverpool. However, Stoney played down their favourable positions in the tables, adding: "Nobody wins anything at half-time.

"We're not picking up any trophies in January and that's the same for the [men's team]. Yes it's great to be in the positions that we're in, but it's more important that we can sustain something so we're in a good position come May."

The match-up between Hayes and Stoney comes while England manager Phil Nevile is expected to leave to take charge of Inter Miami in the coming days. When asked if they would like to manage Team GB at the Olympics this summer in his absence, both Hayes and Stoney played it cool this week, professionally declining to publicly put their names forward.

Yet both women are expected to be among the front-runners for that temporary role this summer. They are becoming widely-regarded as the two leading voices in English women's football's coaching arena. Straight-talking, respected worldwide and revered by their peers, they are both attracting plenty of plaudits. Their combined, growing prowess is one of the many reasons why Sunday's contest promises compelling story lines and box-office drama.