Match Preview: Crayford in Kent is the venue as Sunderland Ladies face Charlton Women today!

Sunday 31st October 2021

Charlton Athletic Women vs Sunderland AFC Ladies

FA Women’s Championship

The Oakwood (VCD Athletic FC), Old Road, Crayford, Kent, DA1 4DN

Kick-Off: 14:00

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Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Adults £10, Under 18s and Over 65s £5 available to book online here.

Travel: Overground trains to Crayford run from Charing Cross and Waterloo East.

Live Stream: The game will be streamed live on the FA Player at 2pm.

Highlights: Highlights and a full match replay are available from Monday on the FA Player.

Podcast: Roker Report’s Lasses Podcast Live will be broadcast, as usual, live on Twitter Spaces from 8-9pm BST next Monday. Just go to @RokerReport to listen in.

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The build-up...

Mel Reay gave her pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon

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Neve Herron gave a fantastic interview to Phil Smith of the Sunderland Echo this week:

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Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Grace McCatty has been working in Kenya, and Charlotte Potts picked up an injury in the last league match against Durham Wildcats earlier this month, so there’s a chance that the makeshift central defensive pairing of Neve Herron a Louise Griffiths will be retained this afternoon.

16-year-old starlet Grace Ede could be in line for her league debut after coming on and impressing in the Conti Cup success away at Sheffield United, and it will be interesting to see how that game against another of the fancied teams in the Women’s Championship influences the team selection when its announced at 1pm.

Maria Farrugia played in both of Malta’s World Cup Qualifiers over the last week, getting just over an hour before being subbed in the 3-0 defeat in Russia last weekend, but going on to play the full 90 get an assist in their 2-1 win away in Azerbaijan on Tuesday night. It was a historic moment for the Maltese women’s side, their first-ever World Cup victory.

Charlton Athletic Women’s captain Lauren Bruton is recovering from surgery.

Charlton had seven players away on international duty over the last week or so, Kiera Skeels and Mia Ross were with England age-group squads, and Anna Filbey, Megan Wynne and Elise Hughes all got call-ups for Wales, but only defender Filbey got any minutes, coming on as a late substitute in their 4-0 win against Estonia on Tuesday. Defender Vyan Sampson played the full 90 minutes of Jamaica’s friendly match away to Costa Rica last Sunday, but keeper Eartha Cumings sat on the bench for both of Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers during the international break.

Photo By Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile via Getty Images

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The Stats...

The fantastic FootyStats website has called this game for the home side. Charlton have a 100% home record, averaging three points per game, with Sunderland averaging 1.33 points per game away from home so far.

At home, Charlton’s Expected Goals (xG) is 1.45, whereas Sunderland’s xG away from home is currently 0.80. In terms of Expected Goals Against, Charlton at home have an xGA of 0.57 and Sunderland an xGA of 0.72 when playing away.

But the actual goals scored by Charlton at home is an average of 2.33, and Sunderland have scored an average of 1 goal per away game. So we should be expecting a tough afternoon for the Lasses and the stats predict a 1 or 2 goal victory for Charlton Athletic.

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League Form (last 5 FA Women’s Championship Fixtures)

Sunderland AFC Ladies - WDDLL

Sunderland’s form has dropped off significantly since those two opening wins against Coventry United and Blackburn Rovers. But eight points on the board and some battling performances recently point to Sunderland being tough opponents whoever they face.

Charlton Athletic WFC - LWWWL

Charlton have been in pretty good form, but lost their last Championship match away at Lewes and went down to WSL side Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the Cont Cup in their last game. However, they’re fourth in the league and they know that every game in this division is a tough one.

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Head to head...

(All venues, all competitions, including friendlies)

This is the first-ever game between these two sides.

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On to watch... Ella Rutherford

Photo by Jacques Feeney/Getty Images