Barclays WSL Matchday 15 Roundup
This is the roundup of this weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League action for Matchday 15, where the league leaders saw their gap at the drop trimmed down by a few points following the weekend’s results.
Things also changed around the bottom with one team dropping down to the bottom, while others were able to grab some important points in the context of the overall picture down at the lower end of the table.
Leicester City 0-2 Manchester United
The first game of the weekend was on Saturday lunchtime at the King Power Stadium, and Manchester United were able to win their third straight league game, after beating Leicester City in a well-controlled 2-0 victory that saw Marc Skinner’s side dominate most of the possession with 64.1% and have 14 shots in comparison to Leicester’s seven.
The first half started out rather openly as both sides had their moments, but it was in the 13th minute when Julia Zigiotti Olme’s cross ended up finding its way into the net as it missed the head of Lea Schüller in the middle. It caught out Leicester City goalkeeper Olivia Clark and with that United took the lead.
Zigiotti Olme had a strong performance in the game and was named Player of the Match on this occasion, impressing not just with the goal, but also was key on the defensive side of things in registering 10 recoveries, four clearances and three interceptions. There was also the other key moment when she assisted Elisabeth Terland for Manchester United’s second goal following an immediate United press on the Leicester City captain.
The goal in this 24-minute appearance for Terland helped the Norwegian continue a good run of form that she finds herself on in the BWSL, making that five league goals this season and 13 overall in all competitions. It also meant that she scored her fifth goal in as many appearances when coming up against Leicester City. In the minutes that she had, Terland also had the most shots of any player during the entire game (four shots), three of which were on target.
The win confirmed Manchester United’s spot in second place and also has helped them cut the gap down to eight points on Manchester City heading into the next Matchday 16. Meanwhile, a defeat meant a third straight league loss for Rick Passmoor’s side. They will be alarmed further by the stat that out of their 14 BWSL games that they have played in this season, they have failed to score a single goal in six of them. Results elsewhere also meant they dropped down to last place in the table, with a game in hand over those around them.
Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City
The 13-game winning streak for Manchester City in the BWSL was brought to an end on Sunday lunchtime after Arsenal beat them 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium in front of a crowd of 39,155 people.
Olivia Smith was the only goal scorer after making the run beyond Rebecca Knaak in the 17th minute, following Mariona Caldentey’s through ball, which put the Canadian through on goal. Smith went around Manchester City keeper Ayaka Yamashita before putting the ball away to give Arsenal the lead.
Olivia Smith proved to be a difference maker in Sunday’s game, with her fourth of the season in the WSL topping off her good performance. Her debut campaign with Arsenal has been going well, and it’s now three goals in four games for Smith in the BWSL. She has proven to be rather key for them as of late with three goals now in her last four appearances. Mariona Caldentey and Kim Little also had stand-out performances, with the latter being named Player of the Match for her display in the middle of the park.
Much of the game was well-dominated by Arsenal despite overall possession nearly being split 50/50. After a very early opportunity for Vivianne Miedema to score against her old club, the home side carried most of the momentum with them, and Manchester City were left having to try and make the most of counter-attacking scenarios when they got the chance.
Andrée Jeglertz’s side came out in the second half looking a lot better, and had gone through on goal on two occasions, with Lauren Hemp not judged to have been fouled by Mariona Caldentey in one phase, while Vivianne Miedema had put the ball in the net a few moments later. However, a foul had been awarded in the build-up for a tug by Miedema on Katie McCabe.
Arsenal’s win keeps them in contention to finish in the top three despite being out of those spots after other results meant they stay in fourth place. Their WSL form has been very good ever since they were last beaten in the league by Manchester City in that 3-2 defeat back in October. They haven’t lost a league game since that match and have won four of their last five BWSL games.
West Ham United 3-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Three goals in the space of nine minutes towards the end of the game at the Chigwell Construction Stadium gave West Ham a victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in what was a dramatic comeback by the home team to secure a big three points as they aim to survive being involved in the relegation playoff.
West Ham did have their moments during the opening first half an hour, including a moment before the opening goal of the game, when Viviane Asseyi had a free-kick saved onto the crossbar by Chiamaka Nnadozie. It was two minutes after that when Rita Guarino’s side went behind after a long ball over the top to Kiko Seike was then lobbed over goalkeeper Kinga Szemik. The Japanese international has six goals now this season for Brighton, showing her importance to Brighton on the attacking side of things once again.
Manuela Vanegas made it 2-0 in the second half, and the away side would have thought they had the victory secured at that point. The goal came against the run of play, scoring from one of Brighton’s four shots on target overall across the 90 minutes. With defeat looking likely for West Ham, they needed to conjure up something from within if they were to get anything.
Ffion Morgan started it all off, having made it 2-1 in the 82nd minute from a wayward cross that caught out Nnadozie in goal. She ended up being caught out again for West Ham’s leveller when Shekiera Martinez had an empty net to score in after blocking the goalkeeper’s attempted clearance. Then in added time, Viviane Asseyi grabbed the winner in the midst of a scramble to clear the ball away by Brighton players in the box.
West Ham go up to tenth place in the table, with a two-point gap on 12th place. Brighton stay in seventh place despite losing, but it is now back-to-back defeats for the Seagulls.
Liverpool 4-1 Aston Villa
It was a good weekend for Liverpool as a top display from them to heavily beat Aston Villa at St Helens Stadium and help take them off the bottom of the Women’s Super League table after Matchday 15.
While things have looked more improved for Liverpool, Aston Villa are in the midst of a bad run, with three straight league defeats now for Natalia Arroyo’s side. It’s also five league defeats since December, where in that time, they also have registered just two wins. For Villa as well, there is a vulnerable issue of conceding goals in the opening 15 minutes, and again that proved to be costly as they went 2-0 down after the 14th minute. Goals from Mia Enderby and Martha Thomas put Liverpool in a comfortable position early on.
In terms of chance creation. It was an even game between the two teams, but it was Liverpool who made the most of their opportunities overall. Aston Villa found a response in the first half to turn things around, as Miri Taylor made it 2-1 not long before half time.
It was a strong performance in the game for Liverpool’s Grace Fisk, who was key on the defensive side of things in winning all her aerial duels (2), and having made eight clearances, three tackles and two recoveries during the 90 minutes. She also helped secure the win for Liverpool to make it 3-1 from a volley in the penalty area that was half cleared by the Villa defence.
Substitute Aurélie Csillag would then cap off the big win for Liverpool by adding the fourth in added time, scoring her first goal for the club in the process. A second league win is under their belts and now things are looking much brighter for Gareth Taylor and his team, with only one defeat coming from their last five games.
There are some concerning defensive stats that will be troubling Aston Villa as they now have conceded 29 goals overall this season. That is the second-worst total in the BWSL, with West Ham’s 34 goals being the highest number conceded. Yesterday’s game was also the third time they have let in at least four goals in a single league game across this campaign.
London City Lionesses 0-1 Everton
Everton were victorious at the Copperjax Community Stadium with just the one goal needed to win away from home against London City Lionesses. It’s back-to-back wins for the Toffees, and the first recorded under interim head coach Scott Phelan, who took charge for the first time after Brian Sorensen’s departure in the midweek.
It took until the second half for Everton to break the deadlock in a game where both teams had their spells of momentum. The goal came in the 62nd minute after Yuka Momiki managed to pounce on a loose ball by London City’s Wassa Sangare. Momiki found Gabarro with the pass and then the finish found the top of the net with a lot of power put into the shot.
London City Lionesses had the brunt of the chances in the game with 17 shots, but ended with an xG of 1.19 having tested Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan on four occasions. London City Lionesses’ best chances came from Freya Godfrey and Jana Fernández, with this defeat ending up as a disappointing one for them after achieving a first BWSL win under Eder Maestre last week.
Brosnan proved key for Everton with the four saves she made during the game and offered some good build-up play for her side in being successful with 70% of her long ball attempts. One other Everton player who was important for them in the game was their goal scorer Inma Gabarro. The Spaniard was making her second appearance since being recalled from her loan spell at Sevilla.
Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Chelsea
Following back-to-back defeats in the BWSL, Chelsea returned to winning ways by scoring twice and keeping a clean sheet against Tottenham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The three points were exactly what Sonia Bompastor would have wanted, and even more so a few days after it was confirmed by the club, she had signed a contract extension up until 2030 to stay as Chelsea head coach.
The first Chelsea goal came after a sustained period of pressure from Tottenham where they couldn’t make any of their chances count. The best of the chances came from Olivia Holdt hitting the crossbar after a driving run in the Chelsea half, and also Bethany England heading over the bar.
Keira Walsh found the net against the run of play in the first half, with Alyssa Thompson adding to her WSL tally in scoring her sixth goal in the league this season. The two goals helped Chelsea manage to control proceedings a lot better than how they had started, and Tottenham couldn’t find a breakthrough to help them turn things around.
Hannah Hampton registered her sixth clean sheet of the season with this 2-0 result, which does make her the top performing goalkeeper in that stat out of everybody else in the BWSL. In this game against Spurs, she was called upon to make four saves in total.
The result keeps Chelsea in the top three places, one point ahead of Arsenal who have a game in hand to play against Leicester City. The loss for Tottenham is one that puts a dent in their hopes of finishing in the top three, but they do stay in 5th place.