Arsenal and Chelsea will face off in a top-of-the-table clash when the Women's Super League returns later this month - in front of at least 35,000 fans.
Reigning champions Chelsea are currently top of the league, while Arsenal are just three points behind their London rivals with a game in hand. Both sides have made impressive starts to the campaign, losing just once in the WSL and securing progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Arsenal signed off for the winter break in December with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Aston Villa while Chelsea narrowly beat Reading at Kingsmeadow to end the year on a high. The two sides will return to league action in less than two weeks, with a mouth-watering tie at the Emirates Stadium to come on January 15.
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More than 35,000 tickets have been sold for the clash, with Chelsea having already sold out their away allocation. Arsenal currently hold the WSL attendance record after the Gunners sold 47,367 tickets for the North London Derby in September.
Goals from Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema helped Arsenal triumph over Spurs on that occasion, however Jonas Eidevall's side will be without both players for their meeting with Chelsea after the pair both suffered ACL injuries before the winter break.
It's a double injury blow that potentially gives Chelsea the edge in the title race, with Emma Hayes' side currently on a 15-game unbeaten run in all competitions. The Gunners came out on top last time they hosted Chelsea in the WSL however the Blues pipped Arsenal to the title by a single point last season and will be confident they can take top spot again as they bid to claim their fourth consecutive league championship.
Losing both Mead and Miedema is a crushing blow for Arsenal, with the pair having registered 37 goals between them last season. However, Eidevall has hinted his side will look to bring in some new recruits in the January window.
Speaking after his side's thumping 9-1 win over Zurich in the Champions League, he said: "That is one of the challenges of this transfer window, that we need to recruit players that can give us an end product, because that is certainly one of the measurable factors that we have lost with those two players (Mead and Miedema). We need to take that into consideration."
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