Two of this season’s title hopefuls Birmingham City and Notts County meet at Solihull Moors on Sunday in a hotly-anticipated fixture.
The sides come to the game on the back of very different results in their respective FA Cup quarter-final ties, with the Blues losing 3-1 away at Manchester City, and the Lady Pies beating Aston Villa 5-1 to progress to the semi-finals.
However, the teams will be looking to re-focus on their domestic campaigns having both lost one and drawn one of their opening two matches, leaving Notts County 6th in the table and Birmingham below them in 7th.
The corresponding fixture last season ended in a 2-2 draw on the final day, and the Blues failure to beat Rick Passmoor’s side meant that they lost out on the league title.
England boss Mark Sampson has tipped Notts County to win the league this season, and clearly rates Passmoor’s side, including five of his players in the England squad that played last week.
Two of these players, Laura Bassett and Alex Greenwood, were brought in by Passmoor in the closed season to strengthen his young squad.
County now also have Ellen White available again after she missed last season through injury, and the striker is already making quite the comeback – scoring 3 goals in her first four games, as well as earning her 50th cap for the national squad against China.
Between them, the squads of Birmingham and Notts County include 5 of the 12 PFA Player of the Year/Young Player of the Year nominees announced this week.
