Defeat for either side today would be a hammer blow for their title hopes, even at this early stage of the season.

Chelsea could find themselves five points behind league leaders Manchester City if they lose, while Arsenal could end up seven points adrift.

Let's hope the fear of defeat does't result in a tense stalemate.

Image source, BBC Sport

Ahead of Chelsea against Arsenal at 16:30 BST, the Gunners are already seven points behind leaders Manchester City.

Successive draws against Crystal Palace and Manchester United have dented Arsenal's start to the campaign.

Their slow starts have proven to be their undoing in previous campaigns as Arsenal's search for another WSL title has gone on for seven years.

So why do you think they are struggling to find the back of the net this season?

Send us your views here

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Stamford Bridge

Katie McCabe is facing Arsenal for the first time since moving to Chelsea in the summer and will surely be expecting a fiesty reception.

She was a fan-favourite during her time at the Gunners and infamously was sent off for pulling Alyssa Thompson's hair in one of the London derbies.

Thompson is now her Chelsea team-mate and the Arsenal fans have not really forgiven her for joining their biggest rivals.

I travelled over to Stamford Bridge on the tube and didn't see a single shirt with her name on the back...

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace striker Bethany England, talking to Sky Sports: "It was chaos. We fought our way back in and conceded. We felt like we could come back. Birmingham played some wonderful football today, so fair play to them. I missed that point-blank opportunity with my header. It's just game management now. We were in front and conceded at the end.

What manager Jo Potter said at half-time: "Just to pull our fingers out. We were playing forward more. Sierra really helped us today coming into midfield. You can't switch off in this leagyue and we got one point instead of three.

On her goal: "I missed the header but you can't dwell on things, so luckily I was there for the rebound.

On playing a lot of games: "It's giving minutes to players. Minutes are deserved and you never know what's going to happen. We've seen red cards and injuries so you have to play with multiple people."

Birmingham City

Birmingham head coach Amy Merrick, speaking to Sky Sports: "I felt like we were disjointed on our counter-press. We let them find the second ball very easily and that's when we gave them the momentum. We need to be consistent but I can't turn a blind eye to the chances we created today.

"We should have scored another. We have to take chances. I think we'll be doing finishing for a couple of weeks."

What the message will be: "How are we going to bounce back? We know this game won't define our season. We need to learn and continue to progress."

Image source, Getty Images

This rivalry used to be summed up by the fiery relationship between former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes and her Arsenal counterpart, Jonas Eidevall.

It's safe to say that their successors, Sonia Bompastor and Renee Slegers, are on better terms.

"I think Renee is having a good result with Arsenal. I think the way the team is playing, they are really confident on the ball. As I just mentioned, they don't concede a lot as well so yeah they are strong opponents," Bompastor said in her pre-match media conference.

"I think Renee is one of the best coaches in the world and yeah she is doing good with her team and the way they are playing and performing so for me yeah we will face a strong opponent and a really good coach."

Birmingham City

Birmingham striker Oceane Hurtre, speaking to Sky Sports on scoring after 40 seconds: "It's the first time. I'm happy and we need to keep going.

On her second goal: "There was only one solution so I took a chance and I scored.

On coming back: "It's not easy but we want to win. Crystal Palace scored for 3-2 and we came back so it's a positive."

Arsenal

Much has been made of Arsenal's goal-scoring issues so far this season, having scored just two goals in three WSL matches.

As a result, the Gunners have drawn back-to-back games and go into this match seven points behind league leaders Manchester City.

"I think it's been clear that we wanted more points, the two draws we’re not happy with," manager Renee Slegers said during her pre-match media conference.

"And I don't think we need to overdramatise the performances, but of course we want to and need to score and win games and we're of course very aware of it and that's where we are now and we're looking into something.

"I think we do get shots off, but like I said, are they open and clear enough to be able to get a relatively easy finish? But we're also looking at the final part, how do we set each other, and that's connected to that. How do we set each other up in those moments? How calm are we? How do we see things clearly in front of them?"

We'll bring you post-match quotes and reaction to those three matches as and when we get it.

In the meantime, let's look ahead to the big match of the weekend - it should be a cracker.

Liverpool boss Gareth Taylor looks delighted with those three points and I'm sure men's head coach, Andoni Iraola, who is watching on with his children, enjoyed that one.

A huge cheer as Liverpool beat rivals Everton at Anfield in the WSL for the very first time.

The points are shared in Birmingham and you can't really argue against that.

Great game.

A great moment for Maizie Trueman to make her WSL debut at the age of 16.

She replaces Natalia Ramos.

A huge chance for Chancelle Effa Effa to win it very late on but it's a tame effort.

She hardly gets hold of it when she should be powering that into the bottom corner.

Nope, that's all folks.

Four second-half goals for a 4-0 win for Tottenham against Aston Villa.

They remain unbeaten in the WSL this season and climb up to second in the table, two points behind leaders Man City.

Aston Villa earn a free-kick around halfway. Time for a consolation goal?

Birmingham have scored three goals in a WSL game for the first time since 23 April 2022 against Brighton (W3-1).

We're into four minutes of added time at Anfield.

If you decided that this was your game of choice today then you are in luck.

Six goals in a proper cracker of a match. We love to see it.

We're halfway through three minutes of injury time at Brisbane Road.