Barclays WSL Matchweek 18 Roundup 

This is the roundup of Matchweek 18 in the Barclays Women’s Super League, and there were a lot of goals that came across the weekend, with Saturday alone producing 17 of the 20 goals that happened.

Very little changed in the placings on the overall league table, but many of the results have continued to impact some of the gaps between teams after the conclusion of all the matches. Manchester City positioned themselves in a good spot to go closer to becoming champions, while Arsenal and Manchester United picked up some important wins in their push for a top-three place.

Things are unchanged near the bottom of the Barclays WSL after defeats for West Ham and Leicester City. But Liverpool took a small step forward in securing their place in the top-flight next season, and Aston Villa also managed to end their winless run.

Arsenal 5-0 West Ham United

Home comforts proved fruitful once again for Arsenal as they managed an eighth Barclays WSL home game without a defeat in a 5-0 victory over West Ham United, which has continued to keep them right in the hunt for a top three finish while they still have two games in hand over their rivals.

Arsenal boss Renée Slegers has made some history in becoming the first WSL manager to avoid a defeat in their first 16 home matches, with Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor being the only other person to have not had a loss in their opening 15 at home. With this having been the first season where Arsenal had committed to playing all 11 of their home matches in the WSL at the Emirates Stadium, results have been positive as they have gone unbeaten this season at home with five wins and three draws.

The overall performance from Arsenal on Saturday was a dominant one over West Ham United, and it took just four minutes for them to go in front as Stina Blackstenius found the net off Chloe Kelly’s cross. They had many more opportunities to increase the lead in the first half, but Blackstenius, Kelly and Olivia Smith all had efforts saved by Kinga Szemik at different points.

Things started off on a good note quickly for Arsenal again with Alessia Russo heading home a cross from Smilla Holmberg to make it 2-0 with only two minutes gone in the second half. Chloe Kelly was the scorer of the next two goals in this game, the first of which was her first in the Women’s Super League since October.

Beth Mead wrapped things up by adding the fifth goal when she fired past Szemik in goal just before the 90th minute. The result does leave Arsenal in fourth place, although their gap on the team in third has decreased to two points after one result went their way this week.

Meanwhile, West Ham United remain down in 11th place and will be worried about the injury suffered by Eva Nyström that saw her have to be stretchered off in the second half, which led to a lot of added time at the end of the game. Nyström had put in a very good tackle to stop Blackstenius getting her second goal of the game, but in the process appeared to injure herself in the challenge.

London City Lionesses 1-1 Chelsea

Chelsea saw their five-game winning run be brought to an end courtesy of a late equaliser by their opponents London City Lionesses, who managed to apply a lot of late pressure in the later stages of this match before Isobel Goodwin found the leveller in the 82nd minute.

Chelsea started the better of the two sides, and two of their youngsters were getting among the chances that were being produced. Lexi Potter was looking to make it goals in back-to-back starts, but she sliced a shot wide of the goal after linking up with 17-year-old Chloe Sarwie, who was making her first start in the Barclays WSL for Chelsea.

Sonia Bompastor’s side did continue to control much of the half, eventually going 1-0 up through Johanna Rytting Kaneryd in the 22nd minute as she cooly finished past Elene Lete following a clever flick on from Aggie Beever-Jones. Chelsea’s dominance in the first half was evident when they ended the first 45 with 10 shots in total, whilst London City only registered one.

However, Chelsea have had a problem in maintaining leads this season, and the second half though saw things turn around more into the favour of the home side, with London City finding much more momentum than Chelsea as it went on. Hannah Hampton needed to be called upon a few times for some important saves, and the crossbar also was rattled by a shot by Julia Roddar.

After a quiet attacking display in the first half, 14 shots was the number produced by London City Lionesses in the second, as the likes of Jana Fernández, Freya Godfrey, and Delphine Cascarino all missed some opportunities to bring the scores level earlier than they had managed to. Isobel Goodwin got the goal eventually as she nodded in a rebound following an initial save from Hannah Hampton off Lucia Corrales’ shot.

A draw for London City Lionesses has helped stop a run of four defeats in all competitions and gave them a point in the WSL for the first time since the start of February. The point proved to not be one that has helped Chelsea’s top three aspirations as they slip down to third, and also find themselves nine points off Manchester City at the top.

Manchester City 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester City strengthened their chances of winning the WSL title after an emphatic response to their draw last weekend with Aston Villa as they beat Tottenham Hotspur by five goals to two at a sunny Joie Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

In terms of the goals, it was all about Khadija “Bunny” Shaw who took her goal tally in the Women’s Super League this season up to 18 goals following another hat-trick against Spurs. It is the fourth successive home match in the Barclays WSL against Tottenham in which the Jamaican forward has notched a hat-trick against them, and the one on Saturday made more history in being the fastest hat-trick ever recorded in the league’s history, with 12 minutes and 37 seconds separating the first and third goals. Two of the three were headers as she proved to be someone that Tottenham defenders struggled to deal with when it came to crosses.

The second Man City goal helped them to increase the number of goals scored from set-pieces, as they now go up to 13 goals from set-piece situations this season, and for much of the first half, they were proving to have the better of Tottenham when it came to aerial duels.

Olivia Holdt had levelled the match for Tottenham with her sixth league goal of the campaign, before the two goals that completed the hat-trick for Shaw, and then City’s fourth came from Kerolin before anown goal that deflected in off Amanda Nílden made it 5-1 heading into half time.

The game looked like it went away from Spurs and it meant that Man City could just see the game out, even with Bethany England adding a second for Tottenham in the 85th minute. A tough afternoon for Martin Ho’s side makes it back-to-back defeats in the league and one that further damages any slight hope of being in the battle to finish in the top three.

For Andrée Jeglertz and Manchester City, the aim is to keep on winning as they go one step closer to their first WSL title since 2016, and ahead of next week’s Manchester derby, they will be aware of how much closer they are getting.

Manchester United 2-1 Everton

It was all about the late drama at the Progress with Unity Stadium as Manchester United snatched a win against Everton, which meant they ended the weekend back in second place after dropping down to third in the midweek following their draw with West Ham.

Much of the first half was playing out rather frustratingly for Manchester United as they struggled to make the most of their opportunities as Elisabeth Terland and Julia Zigiotti Olme failed to open the scoring in the opening half an hour. Zara Kramžar had one of the better chances of the first half for Everton after nicking the ball off a wayward pass and then struck the ball from outside the area which Phallon Tullis-Joyce saved.

The deadlock was broken in the 38th minute and it was scored by Elisabeth Terland as she fired a shot into the top-right corner at the second attempt, which meant she found the net for the first time in six matches for Manchester United.

The attacking threat from Everton had increased as the second half went on, with Kramžar once again offering much of the impact further forward, and would have expected to score the one chance she had, but instead headed over from five yards out. Time continued to go by with United looking like they might have the three points secured, until one of Everton’s standout performers recently, Inma Gabarro, was able to head the ball into the goal on the 90th minute.

Just when Everton thought they were about to salvage a point and extend their unbeaten run in the Women’s Super League, Manchester United persevered in trying to reclaim the victory, and they got the winner during stoppage time in the 94th minute as Melvine Malard scored a header of her own to beat Courtney Brosnan to the ball and send the home fans into euphoria.

After some disappointing results recently with no win in their last three in all competitions, the late winner would have felt like a big relief for Marc Skinner and Manchester United, and it’s a crucial three points that puts them in a better position as they aim to make the top three. As for Everton, it would have felt like a crushing blow to have seen their four-game unbeaten run come to an end. Both of these sides have big derby matches to come next weekend, while United also have midweek Champions League action to think about.

Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Liverpool

A lot of opportunities went missed as Brighton and Liverpool played out a goalless draw at the Broadfield Stadium. The draw for Liverpool meant it was their first in the league since another 0-0 scoreline back in January against London City Lionesses. For Brighton and Hove Albion, failing to win this weekend means their winless run in the WSL has been extended to four matches.

The Seagulls have also dropped down in the Barclays WSL table after this weekend and are now down in ninth place on 18 points. They will have rued many of their missed chances, with a few of their players going close on a couple of occasions. Rosa Kafaji had multiple shots in the game that failed to beat Jennifer Falk, and Fran Kirby had a chance to shoot, before making the pass instead which wasn’t then converted.

That extra clinical edge was missing from both teams in terms of being able to find the breakthrough goal in this match. Chance creation went right up to until stoppage time, where both Brighton and Liverpool produced some chances to snatch a late winner.

Manuela Vanegas managed to get on the end of a cross with a header, but it was Jennifer Falk who kept things level as she tipped the ball off the crossbar. Up the other end of the pitch, Brighton’s Chiamaka Nnadozie was called into action at the end to parry away the effort from Aurélie Csillag, and then a huge goal-line clearance was required from Maelys Mpome to deny a Liverpool winner in the dying seconds.

Despite an upturn in their form under Gareth Taylor in recent months, Liverpool still have not yet registered an away win in the league this season. They will still remain positive about the fact that in having picked up ten points from last six games, they have pulled away a bit more from the battle to avoid the relegation playoff.

Leicester City 1-2 Aston Villa

A second half turnaround by Aston Villa against struggling Leicester City helped them to their first three points in the WSL since they beat Brighton and Hove Albion back in mid-January. A 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium has taken Natalia Arroyo’s side up to eighth place, whilst Leicester City and Rick Passmoor continue to worry about the possibility of having to play in the end-of-season relegation playoff.

Leicester City had started well and were the better of the two sides in the opening 45. Getting the opening goal took some good attacking play to make it, and Hannah Cain managed to cut the ball back inside before laying it off across to the former Aston Villa player Alisha Lehmann, as she calmly slotted the ball into the net for her first WSL goal since joining the club in January. It also ended Leicester’s goal-drought in the league after going three games without scoring.

After a solid performance last time out against the league leaders Manchester City, Aston Villa had not continued where they left off from last week, and it took some adjustments in the second half to get them going in this match. Ebony Salmon proved to be one of the catalysts for an improved second-half showing by Villa, and they responded quickly in the 47th minute with Anna Patten getting enough of a flick on the ball at the near post from the corner to level the match.

The second half improvements continued and Ebony Salmon was at the brunt of most of their positive work, driving towards Leicester players and looking to be direct while also finding the correct passes to her teammates. Kirsty Hanson went close a few minutes after the equaliser and Anna Patten went close to a second once again following a near-post header on the end of a corner kick.

Aston Villa broke through for a second goal in the 84th minute after having so much of the momentum, and it was their go-to goal scorer Kirsty Hanson who has racked up ten goals now in the Barclays WSL this season. Ebony Salmon was involved again as she sent a long ball forward for Hanson, who then strikes the ball low and it found a way underneath Janina Leitzig to complete the comeback for her side.

Defeat for Leicester City takes them onto twelve losses now for this campaign, which is level with West Ham for the most in the league. They do remain three points off West Ham in the table as they bid to avoid finishing in last place, and do still have five games remaining to play, three of which are against teams that are above sixth place in the league table.