Vitality Netball Superleague: Manchester Thunder to meet London Pulse at Belle Vue

Manchester Thunder are looking to make it three wins out of three on Monday night when they face new franchise London Pulse at Belle Vue, live on Sky Sports Mix.

The Black and Yellows have entered this new Vitality Netball Superleague season with a settled and focused squad and some ominous attacking netball.

Back-to-back third-place finishes in 2017 and 2018 have fuelled their fire alongside the return of Dan Ryan into their coaching set-up. The result is a team that's itching to go all the way and finish this season on top at the Grand Final.

A Super 10 opening against the Saracens Mavericks highlighted their defensive prowess. Circle defenders Kerry Almond and Emma Dovey got on top and kept the dynamic Corbin sisters and George Fisher quieter than others have been able to since.

• Raising the bar at Pulse
• Latest Vitality Superleague standings

With their round two match postponed until later in the season, Thunder emerged from an extended training period with a purposeful performance against Strathclyde Sirens.

The team's control enabled director of netball Karen Greig to experiment with some combinations as the match progressed - trialling Rebekah Airey at both WD and GK - and the opportunity to mix things up will pay dividends moving forwards.

For London Pulse, a dramatic 51-49 victory over Severn Stars at Super 10 provided the best possible start to life in the Vitality Netball Superleague.

However, Celtic Dragons brought their high spirits crashing down in Round 2 at the Copper Box Arena before they delivered a performance to build upon against Mel Mansfield's Wasps outfit last weekend.

Afterwards Ama Agbeze highlighted some of Pulse' key takeaways from their Round 3 match. These included wanting to show the league that they better not rule them out of contention, growing as a team and showing their 'fighting resolve'.

Attacking mid-courter Ash Neal told Sky Sports that Pulse are well-aware of what awaits them on Monday night.

"I think you always know what you're going to come up against with Thunder - they're very structured," said Neal.

"They've been playing together for a long time some of them and then you're adding in Ellie Cardwell, Laura Malcolm and Rebekah Airey who are going onto the boost their squad.

"So we just have to be able to adapt to any changes that they make and just keep pushing forwards. At the end of the day we get 50 per cent of the ball and we just have to look after our 50 per cent."

There's no hiding behind the fact that these two teams are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the amount of time that they have playing together as units.

For Pulse, Monday evening is about banishing that thought from their minds and playing without fear while for Thunder it's about showing that experience, and home advantage, counts.

Watch the Round 4 match between Manchester Thunder and London Pulse, live on Sky Sports Mix and Arena from 6.45pm on Monday, February 4. Also, Sky Sports will be showing every game of the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup in July.