Preview: Tottenham Hotspur Ladies vs. Bristol City Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Spurs fell to a narrow defeat to London rivals Chelsea in their opening game, while the newly-promoted Robins were beaten by Leicester City.

Match preview

After being appointed Tottenham boss in the summer, Robert Vilahamn started his derby with a London derby against WSL champions Chelsea last weekend.

Goals from Mia Fishel and Lauren James gave Chelsea a two-goal lead, before debutant Martha Thomas pounced on a mistake from Zecira Musovic to give Tottenham a lifeline.

Tottenham's quest for an equaliser ultimately proved fruitless, as they fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat, extending their winless away league to nine matches.

Vilahamn would have been encouraged by his team's performance, and he will hope his players can build upon their promising display in his first home game in charge.

Having avoided defeat in their last four competitive meetings with the Robins, Tottenham will look to extend their unbeaten head-to-head record on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Bristol City are competing in their first top-flight season since 2020-21 after winning promotion from the Championship last term.

The Robins began their campaign with a home fixture against Leicester City, and they got off to an encouraging start when Carrie Jones opened the scoring just after the hour mark.

However, Leicester turned the contest in their favour with four goals, before Amalie Thestrup pulled a goal back from the penalty spot to add a degree of respectability to the scoreline.

After finishing the 2022-23 campaign with the best defensive record in the Championship, they would have been disappointed to ship four goals in their first game back in the top flight.

Bristol City will be hoping to experience better fortunes on their travels than they did in their last WSL campaign when they went the entire season without claiming an away league victory.

Tottenham Hotspur Ladies Women's Super League form:

L

Bristol City Women Women's Super League form:

L

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Team News

Tottenham's Ellie Brazil remains sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, while captain Beth England is still recovering from hip surgery.

After coming off the bench against Chelsea, Jessica Naz is in contention to start Tottenham's first home game of the season.

Thomas would have been pleased to score on her Spurs debut, and she will have the chance to find the net again when she leads the line on Sunday.

As for Bristol City, Smith could be tempted to make a couple of changes to her side, with Emily Syme and Jamie-Lee Napier in contention to start after featuring for the final 30 minutes last weekend.

After rejoining the Robins from Racing Louisville, Satara Murray made her second debut against Leicester, and she is set to retain her place in the centre of defence alongside Brooke Aspin.

Thestrup represents one of Bristol City's main attacking threats after she marked her debut with a goal from the penalty spot last weekend.

Tottenham Hotspur Ladies possible starting lineup:

Spencer; James, Buhler, Bartrip, Neville; Ahtinen, Spence, Summanen; Bizet, Naz, Thomas

Bristol City Women possible starting lineup:

Bentley; Powell, Aspin, Murray, Layzell; Syme, Connolly, Furness; Napier; Thestrup, Jones

We say: Tottenham Hotspur Ladies 3-1 Bristol City Women

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