Barclays WSL Matchday 16 Roundup 

This is the roundup of what happened on Matchday 16 in the Barclays Women’s Super League, with the postponement of Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal yesterday meaning a reduced number of matches for this weekend.

Goals came in abundance across the five games, with 22 scored in total and very little changed in the overall standings due to the results. Eight points continues to be gap between Manchester City and Manchester United, but the gap has extended between third and fourth in the table following the outcomes of certain matches.

Everything stays as it is at the bottom end of the table though, and just the one positional change happened after a narrow win for Everton helped them climb up the table.

Manchester City 6-0 Leicester City

Manchester City responded to last week’s defeat to Arsenal in emphatic fashion, with a 6-0 win on Friday night against struggling Leicester City. There were five different goal scorers on the night for the Barclays WSL leaders and four of their goals came before the halftime break.

Khadija Shaw opened the scoring via a diving header in the 22nd minute, and in the process, she made some history in becoming only the second player to score 15+ goals in three different Barclays WSL seasons (20 in 2022-23, 21 in 2023-24, 15 in 2025-26). Her current Manchester City teammate Vivianne Miedema is the other player who has achieved this stat in her career.

Miedema doubled Man City’s lead after capitalising on some defensive errors, and had her second goal eight minutes later with a header of her own to make it 3-0 and firmly put the home team in control. It was two goals for the BWSL’s all-time leading scorer, and both were assisted by Lauren Hemp, who replicated the same number of assists she managed in Manchester City’s 5-1 win over Chelsea a couple of weeks ago.

Yui Hasegawa made things worse for Leicester City when she slotted in the fourth before HT, and then the last two goals came in the second half from Kerolin and Aoba Fujino. Kerolin’s finish from the edge of the penalty area was the pick of the goals as she struck it first time and found the top corner as Olivia Clark couldn’t get a good enough hand on the ball to save it.

It was another large victory for the home side, and Andrée Jeglertz’s side have been able to count on some impressive form at home this season. Friday’s win made it nine league wins out of nine at home for this season, and they have scored 32 goals in total in home games, with only six conceded as a whole. 22 of those 32 total goals have come in their last five homes in the Barclays WSL.

It wasn’t a good night for Leicester City, with their closest opportunities to scoring coming in the first half, when Alisha Lehmann hit the post with the score level at 0-0, and then Shannon O’Brien hit a shot against the crossbar at 2-0. Defeat means continuation of their long winless run away from home. Ever since January 2024 when they beat Everton 1-0, they have drawn seven away games and lost 16. Rick Passmoor’s side have now also conceded 16 goals in 15 games, which is more than any other team in the Barclays WSL this season. They face a big challenge now coming up in March if they are to avoid finishing at the bottom.

Aston Villa 3-7 Tottenham Hotspur

If you like goals, then Villa Park saw a lot of them as Tottenham put in a relentless attacking performance by beating Aston Villa in a 10-goal thriller to make it three wins in their last five games, while Aston Villa fell to their fourth straight defeat in the Women’s Super League.

Tottenham ended the match with 27 shots and it didn’t take long to open proceedings, with January signing Signe Gaupset putting them in the lead to score her first goal for the club. Kirsty Hanson scored her first of the match to level things up, until an immediate response came from Tottenham when Bethany England’s deflected shot restored the lead. Seven minutes later, and it was 3-1 to Tottenham as Olivia Holdt found the net from a narrow angle against Ellie Roebuck.

With the first half being an eventful one, things had simmered towards the opening 20 minutes of the second. It took until the 68th minute for things to spring back into life, and another January transfer signing got on the scoresheet when Oriane Jean-François scored thanks to a deflected chance of her own. It looked to be the finish that could inspire an Aston Villa comeback, but Tottenham substitute Cathinka Tandberg immediately made it a two-goal cushion again, just 12 seconds after Jean-François’ goal.

The goal-cushion increased again three minutes later with Maika Hamano scoring her first Tottenham goal. Kirsty Hanson made it 5-3 with her second of the game, but two more Tottenham goals would come before full-time. One more for Tandberg and a first for Julie Blakstad to cap off some great performances by a few of Tottenham’s recent signings.

Because of Arsenal’s game being postponed, Martin Ho’s Tottenham now go level with their North London rivals in the table, and this was the second time ever in Barclays WSL history that they have scored seven goals in a single match. They keep up the pressure on those who are above them as they continue to aim for an incredible top three finish.

Meanwhile, things could not look much worse for Aston Villa and Natalia Arroyo after a fourth straight league defeat, and because of the number of goals conceded in this one, their tally for overall goals conceded is now the worst total when compared to other teams (36). 25 of those have come from their last six games, which leaves a lot of questions to be asked of their defending which has caused so many of their recent problems.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

It’s back-to-back victories in the Barclays WSL for Chelsea after a 2-0 win at Kingsmeadow against Liverpool. Off-field discontent had been a topic of conversation before the game, but afterwards it was the performance of Lauren James which would have been a talking point for a few people.

The match had started with some early pressure by both teams, and Ceri Holland forced a save out of Hannah Hampton in the 8th minute, followed by another high effort a few minutes afterwards. As the first went on, Chelsea were getting possession of the ball a lot more. However, they weren’t creating a lot in terms of hugely testing chances at goalkeeper Jennifer Falk, and most efforts were blocked after some resolute Liverpool defending.

The first goal of the match was similar to their first one that they scored against Tottenham last weekend. A set-piece came in as Lauren James made an impact with her delivery into the box to find Sjoeke Nüsken and give Chelsea the lead. It was the first Barclays WSL goal scored by the German midfielder since December 2024, and her first for Chelsea since scoring when her side last played Liverpool in the Women’s League Cup two months ago. This match was also just her fourth start in the league this season.

Chelsea’s quality in attack got them over the line midway through the second half when Lauren James scored a superb strike after a cut-inside of Fuka Nagano before shooting with power from just outside the penalty area. Having had some injury troubles this season, it was a second goal for James in the WSL after making her sixth start. She was Chelsea’s best performer on the day in having created the most chances in the match (3), along with trying to link things together up front, and she even offered some defensive contributions as well.

Four points is now the gap between Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham on the edge of the top three places, whilst Liverpool remain just above the bottom of the table. Gareth Taylor’s side will be feeling a lot more encouraged by their performances as of late as they look to not drop back down into last place.

Everton 1-0 West Ham United

A revival in winning form continues for Everton as they secured their third straight Barclays WSL win, after a narrow 1-0 victory against the team that were below them in the table before kick-off West Ham United. Winning a third straight game meant they had replicated something they hadn’t achieved since January 2023.

The goal came very early on when a well-worked move by Everton on the counter saw them get bodies forward and outnumber West Ham, with Hannah Blundell sending the ball across the box, before it was then slotted into the net at the back post by former West Ham player Honoka Hayashi.

The goal had come after some early pressure by West Ham, and they were finding themselves having to find a way back into the match, much like they were able to do against Brighton & Hove Albion. Their attacking work was not at the quality level they had produced in last week’s result, despite getting into the Everton penalty area 19 times, which was more than Everton had managed to do in West Ham’s.

Rita Guarino’s side were limited to just two shots on target in the game out of their seven shots in total. The closest effort they had in testing Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan’s net was a strike by Katie Zelem in the 67th minute. A lack of cutting edge on the day meant they couldn’t get the all-important equaliser, and that is now the seventh match in the BWSL this season that they have failed to score in. A seventh goalless performance is a worrying stat for West Ham United, which they will be hoping doesn’t get extended through the rest of the campaign.

They stay in tenth place after this weekend’s matches because of defeats for Liverpool and Leicester City. But for Everton, they have moved up the table ahead of Aston Villa into eighth place, and things are looking much more positively for Everton in comparison with over a month ago.

Manchester United 2-1 London City Lionesses

Manchester United made it seven games unbeaten in all competitions, although they did not have this game go all their own way as London City Lionesses provided a strong test to the home side in making it a tough game to navigate.

The away side got off to a great start in the opening few minutes, with Nikita Parris scoring against her old club to make it 1-0 to London City. It ended up setting the tone for the first half which was largely dominated by London City Lionesses. They had Manchester United in a position where they were stuck in their own half and ultimately struggled to get many chances going for themselves.

Results have not fallen for Eder Maestre since he took charge of London City. However, some of their performances have highlighted a good level of progress, with results all that’s missing to give them that extra belief that they are going in the right direction. Freya Godfrey starred out wide for them again, having several chances of her own to increase the lead when it was her side that were ahead in the match.

Just when Manchester United were in need of a moment of magic, Jess Park picked up the ball and cut back in from the left side, before dribbling towards goal and then firing a big strike that found the bottom corner past Elene Lete. It had been the first shot on target that Man Utd had all game, so it was a massive lifeline they found after a less-than-ideal first half performance.

Questions of fatigue would have been asked after Women’s Champions League participation in midweek. A couple of regulars were either on the bench or unavailable, which meant that there were some opportunities for others to get some game time. United were boosted by the return of Millie Turner in the starting XI for her first start since the last meeting against London City earlier this season.

Turner would score the winning goal for her team to cap off a good return with ten minutes remaining of the match. Maya Le Tissier provided the assist from the resulting free-kick that Turner got on the end of, and it means that Manchester United stay within eight points of their rivals Manchester City at the top of the table.