We look to make it five wins from five in December and end 2025 on a high in the Subway Women’s League Cup quarter-finals against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The match kicks off at 1pm at the VBS Community Stadium in Sutton, and we know that a win would see us come up against Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals.
The Eagles finished top of Group D in this competition with wins over Leicester City and Ipswich Town after losing to London City Lionesses.
GOALS AT EITHER END
It’s been a mostly positive season for Palace in the Barclays Women’s Super League 2, where they have won four, drawn four and lost three of their 11 matches, putting them fifth in the table and only behind Newcastle United on goal difference.
Last weekend saw them progress to the fourth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup by beating Lewes 1-0 away from home, before returning to league action with a 3-2 win away to third-placed Bristol City.
Jo Potter took over from Laura Kaminski as head coach following their relegation from the WSL at the end of last season. Palace now look to bounce straight back up, having won the Championship in 2023/24.
RENée's preview
**Slegers: "**What we’ve seen of them so far is, if I summarise it, they liked to spend time in the attacking half and they press really high. Very aggressive, high pressure, but then from their own half, they can be quite direct getting into the attacking half, so that’s what we’re expecting.
"Again, preparing for different scenarios, because they might choose to do something differently on Sunday. But that’s what we’ve seen of them so far and they’ve been effective of course, especially the last five games." - read every word of Renée’s pre-Crystal Palace press conference.
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Every word of Renée’s pre-Crystal Palace presser](https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-renees-pre-crystal-palace-presser-0?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
TEAM NEWS
Renée confirmed in her pre-match press conference that Jenna Nighswonger remains unavailable for this match having not been involved in training. Meanwhile, Victoria Pelova has recovered from illness and has a chance of being available on Sunday.
FACTS AND STATS
We have won each of our three meetings with Crystal Palace in all competitions by an aggregate score of 18-0, winning 9-0 at home to the Eagles the last time they met in cup competition, in the 2020/21 FA Cup.
Crystal Palace have reached the quarter-final stage of the League Cup for the second time after the 2020/21 campaign, when they lost 1-0 at home to Leicester City.
We have progressed from eight of our nine quarter-final ties in the League Cup, winning each of our last three since we were eliminated by Manchester United in 2021/22.
We are unbeaten in each of our last eight London derbies across all competitions (D2 L6), and could go without defeat in nine straight derbies for the first time in the WSL era.
Stina Blackstenius has scored 11 goals in 12 appearances in the League Cup, netting two hat-tricks across her last five starts in the competition (7 goals total).
MATCH OFFICIAL
Abigail Byrne has been appointed to take charge of Sunday’s match. This season she’s seen over five WSL matches, handing out seven yellows and two red cards.
Referee: Abigail Byrne
Assisant Referees: Nicoleta Bria and Ella Broad
Fourth Official: Callum Parke
HOW TO WATCH
This match will be shown live on the WSL’s YouTube channel, and you can access the stream here.
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