West Ham v Arsenal: The Brief

We’ll be aiming to kick off 2019 with a win on Sunday when we face West Ham United in the Women’s Super League.

THE STORY SO FAR

We’re currently top of the WSL on 27 points after making an almost faultless start to the season, winning nine of our opening 10 fixtures.

Manchester City sit in second place and are the only side to have beaten us so far, but we have a game in hand on them.

We’ve scored 42 goals over the course of the season so far - averaging 4.2 per game - in addition to conceding just six times: only Chelsea (5) have a better record.

However, despite ending 2018 with a 5-0 rout of Charlton and a 3-1 win over Millwall in the Continental Cup, we slipped to defeat in our final WSL outing of the year at Manchester City.

Vivianne Miedema remains the league’s top goalscorer with 14 goals, while Jordan Nobbs (9) and Danielle van de Donk (8) sit in fourth and fifth place respectively.

THE OPPOSITION

Matt Beard’s West Ham side are currently sixth in the table on 16 points, having picked up five wins and one draw from 11 league outings.

The Hammers only won once in their opening five WSL fixtures, but they’ve since recorded victories over Yeovil Town, Brighton and Bristol City, scoring eight goals without concession along the way.

Switzerland international Alisha Lehmann will surely be the hosts’ greatest goal threat on Sunday, having scored four and assisted once in the WSL this season.

ONE TO WATCH

Miedema is currently just one goal away from equalling Ellen White’s record of 15 goals in a single WSL season, despite only playing 10 league fixtures.

The Netherlands international has also assisted seven times - and less than two weeks ago her fine form was rewarded with a new long-term contract.

The 22-year-old has averaged a goal every 64 minutes and hit the target with 78 per cent of her shots, so you can expect her to trouble the Hammers’ defence on Sunday.