Birmingham City Women vs West Ham Women – Match Preview
By Tom Chambers
West Ham look to bounce back from Chelsea defeat as they take on Birmingham City at St Andrew’s on Sunday afternoon.
West Ham
The Hammers play their second match in a week as they take on a Birmingham City team fighting against relegation. West Ham are the overwhelming favourites to emerge victorious at St Andrew’s and could rise as high as fifth in the table if other results go their way.
The Hammers were comprehensively beaten by Chelsea on Thursday evening as Pernille Harder inspired the visitors to a 4-1 victory. Despite the scoreline, West Ham Manager, Olli Harder, will take some encouragement from his team’s second half performance in which Dagny Brynjarsdottir scored for the third match in a row.
West Ham will take confidence from their last trip to St Andrews in November when they beat Birmingham by four goals to nil in the Conti Cup (League Cup).
Olli Harder spoke to whufc.com about the Birmingham match and stressed the importance of his team’s next few fixtures.
"“It’s a clean slate for us, we had a good result against them when we went there in the Conti Cup earlier in the season, so we will be hoping for the same again. It’s a short turn-around, and we have a busy period over the next 10 days with three important matches, so it’s about recovering well and working on the small details in the time that we have.”"
Birmingham City
The Blues currently sit bottom of the WSL and are eight points from safety having only registered one win and one draw in their 12 matches.
Their previous manager, Scott Booth, was sacked in November, less than five months since he was appointed. Booth had won six Scottish league titles in a row with Glasgow City before he was appointed Birmingham manager in June 2021, but his team only picked up one point from their first seven WSL matches. Darren Carter was named as interim manager on 21st November.
Birmingham delivered one of the shocks of the season when they beat Arsenal 2-0 in December thanks to goals from Libby Smith and Veatriki Sarri. The result shows that despite their struggles, The Blues are still capable of beating the best teams in the division.
Last match between the teams
The two teams last met in the WSL in October when Birmingham picked up an unlikely point – their only draw of the season so far. Louise Walker put West Ham ahead when she fired the ball into the top left corner of the goal from around 25 yards out. Birmingham equalised in the second half when Louise Quinn bundled the ball home after a corner caused chaos in the West Ham penalty area. Katerina Svitkova missed a great opportunity to win the match for West Ham in the fifth minute of stoppage time when she was picked out by Zaneta Wynne’s cross, but she was unable to direct her header past Marie Hourihan in the Birmingham goal.
Player to Watch – Louise Quinn
The Blues’ captain is an experienced defender who has amassed 93 caps for the Republic of Ireland. Since making her name in her native Ireland for Peaumont United, Quinn has played for Swedish side Eskilstuna United, Arsenal and Fiorentina.
Despite playing as a centre-back, Quinn is Birmingham’s top scorer in all competitions this season having scored four goals.
Quinn will be hoping to contribute at both ends of the pitch against West Ham as Birmingham continue their fight against relegation from the WSL.
Predicted West Ham XI
Arnold, Cissoko, Flaherty, Parker, Longhurst, Brynjarsdottir, Snerle, Hasegawa, Svitkova, Leon, Walker
How to watch
Birmingham City F.C Women vs West Ham United F.C Women
Date: Sunday 13th March
Venue: St Andrew’s Stadium
Kick-off Time: 14:00 (GMT)
TV: Unfortunately, the match has not been selected for live television coverage.
Streaming: FA Player