Gilly Flaherty
Former Chelsea and England defender on BBC Two

In my opinion, this is [Mayra Ramirez]'s biggest test since she has joined Chelsea.

She is coming up against one of the best defences in the league and then also, for me, I am excited to see Khiara Keating tonight as well.

Referee Abi Byrne gets us going. Manchester City, in their white away strip, kick off.

Manchester City haven't won away at Chelsea since 2016 by the way.

The teams are walking out at a packed Kingsmeadow.

Almost crunch time.

Ellen White
Former England striker on BBC Two

She's so good.

I like the fact that she has come here for a lot of money and really taken it by the scruff of the neck.

Her ability, her speed and her end product has been really good for this team. Her speed, her power and her strength are going to be vital in this game tonight.

Gareth Taylor's side are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions and head into tonight's game on the back of a 1-0 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup.

That result means they remain in the hunt for three trophies this season and City defender Alex Greenwood wants her side to start at Kindsmeadow full of belief.

"It's massive. It's a huge game, it's the difference between top and being six points behind," she said. "To try and chase Chelsea with six points [gap] is difficult. We know what they're capable of.

"They are incredible, what they have done season after season, I have so much respect for them and admiration for how they go about their business.

"But on Friday it's focusing on ourselves. We should go into the game with so much confidence after the last couple of games and how we've been playing recently and that's what we'll do."

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport at Kingsmeadow

Injured defender Millie Bright has just come out of the 'friends and family' tunnel, next to the media box, to greet a few fans and wish the team one final message of good luck before kick-off.

City's Jill Roord, who has had surgery on an ACL injury, is also here with her crutches, attempting to climb a small flight of stairs.

Fara Williams
Former England midfielder on BBC Two

I think City come into the game in really good form. I think the win over Arsenal last weekend has given them good confidence.

You can see they have that self-belief.

But they will have to stay focused here against Chelsea because that is a team full of goals.

Image source, Getty Images

Captain Alex Greenwood said Manchester City "don't get talked about as much as other teams" in the Women's Super League title race.

City can leapfrog leaders Chelsea if they win by three goals or more.

"We aren't mentioned as much as other teams and that's fine by us," Greenwood told BBC Sport.

"We'll keep doing what we do, we'll keep cracking on and looking after ourselves and taking care of business as we can. We've got a lot of confidence in the team right now and just need to keep with this momentum."

Emma Smith
BBC Sport

Amid the myriad of subplots from Friday night's blockbuster involving Chelsea and City, comes the promise of plenty of goals from two women who have lit up the WSL this campaign.

Khadija Shaw and Lauren James are well ahead of the pack in the top scorer race this season, with 13 and 12 goals respectively. Brighton's Elisabeth Terland, in third place, has nine.

City's Shaw was narrowly beaten to the top scorer accolade last season by Rachel Daly of Aston Villa, but is back in contention this year against a different Lioness, with James living up to her early career promise with her most complete attacking season yet.

Both women are going at more than a goal a game - Shaw is hitting the target every 69 minutes on average, James every 73 minutes - and both have scored with one out of every three of their shots this season.

It hopefully should make for a goal-fest - while there is certainly no love lost between the teams either, after the reverse fixture saw the most bookings in WSL history with 11 yellows and two sendings-off.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor speaking to BBC Sport about whether Bunny Shaw was a doubt for tonight's match: "It wasn't close. I think Bunny is absolutely fine. She is fit and ready and raring to go."

Given your form, is this the best time to play Chelsea? "I think so. You'd do well to pick a better moment. I think we are in good form, in good spirit and I know we are coming up against a good challenger tonight. It's a good opportunity for us. At the start of the season if we could have the chance we had tonight to go really close with winning tonight, we would have took your hand off."

On the impact of a win or loss tonight: "The repercussions can be harsh one way or the other. We know that whatever happens tonight, we have been fantastic and we will push regardless. Of course, a win would set us up. We feel we are in good form and in a good place to take that win. We know it will be tough and there are moments we will suffer, but hopefully we come on the right side of it."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes tells BBC Sport about the importance of having Lauren James available for tonight's game: "Critical. Lauren amongst many players have got a good run in the team. We’ve had a consistent team from January onwards. I’m looking forward to seeing how we play."

On the tactical rivalry between the two teams: "The two teams have their own styles. Man City we know don’t play into the press so we have to be patient and find the opportunities to probe. I love these games. There is a lot of mutual respect between both clubs and it will be a very interesting battle."

On the role tonight's game will play in the title race: "It gets you three points closer in an ideal world to where you want to be. I’ve been here long enough, I know the way the game goes and I’m not thinking abut that. I’ve got to get the team prepared and get the mindset right. They know what we expect, they know what a Chelsea standard is and I’ll absolutely demand that from them."

BBC Two

If you're a football fan in the UK there's really no excuse not to put this one on your telly box.

Build-up to this match is under way now on BBC Two and on BBC iPlayer.

You can also stream it at the top of this page by pressing the play icon.

There was plenty of drama in the reverse fixture earlier in the season in what was the most-booked game in Women's Super League history.

Chelsea scored deep into stoppage time to draw with Manchester City after Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp were both sent off for Gareth Taylor's side.

Fran Kirby
Chelsea forward on BBC Radio 5 Live

It’s going to be really exciting. Both teams are in a good space going into the game. Man City beating Arsenal at the weekend will definitely give them another spring in their step.

It’s always an exciting game when we face Man City and it’s one you want to play in and you want to be a part of. They are one of the best teams in Europe, it’s always a team I like to see how I can go and compete against them because they are a team that I hugely respect and admire the way they play football and have their philosophy and never change.

I like to see how I compete against one of the best teams in Europe and I’m really excited for it. It’s going to be a huge game for the title race which is also exciting.

Listen to Women's Football Weekly on BBC Sounds

Image source, Reuters

Good question Erin. I don't think we're at 'Chicago Bulls - Last Dance', one final hurrah territory.

Most of Chelsea's stars are still young and in theory have loads more to give for the club. But Emma Hayes is one of the best in the business as both a tactician and man manager. Without her, do Chelsea lose their edge?

Image source, Getty Images

Gareth Taylor's City side head to Kingsmeadow full of confidence after beating WSL rivals Arsenal in the FA Cup last weekend.

City can go top if they beat Chelsea by three or more goals, but Taylor will not be labelling the game as a title decider to add motivation for his players.

"I don't think we need to hype it up any more," he said. "For us, normalising it is the sensible thing for us. When you play against Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United, the nerves and everything is there anyway.

"It's a big game. It feels big. There's no denying that. There's no doubt the importance of the game and this is what we want, to be in this position.

"It's when you come into it at this stage of the season and you have the opportunity to potentially go within goal difference of the league leaders. That's exactly what we wanted."

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport at Kingsmeadow

Manchester City have had some travelling to do recently and it tends to be down in London. Even their media staff are exhausted from it!

Whether that will impact the number of away fans here today is yet to be seen given the fact it's also on TV.

Emma Hayes spoke warmly about the opposition fans this week, saying she enjoyed her conversations with them and hoped they would be allowed to bring in a drum, which they have been asking to do at Kingsmeadow for a while.

I can't see one so far so I think the City supporters were unsuccessful in their request.

We did have a short power cut earlier which led to some chants from both fanbases to fill the silence, giving us a taste of the noise we can expect tonight.

As always me and the team want to hear from you.

Going to the game, or following from home? Make sure you have your say by messaging us using the usual channels.

Let's have your score and title winner predictions, please!