Barclays WSL Matchweek 21 Weekend Roundup 

How the penultimate weekend in the BWSL played out.

The weekend’s games in the Barclays Women’s Super League for Matchweek 21 saw late goals, some history-making moments, and individual players be celebrated amidst playing their final home games for their respective clubs.

The drama of the final run-in saw Manchester City leave it late to beat Liverpool and keep the advantage with themselves as they look to become WSL champions for the 2025/2026 season. Also, Chelsea confirmed a top three finish after Manchester United were unable to win against Brighton and Hove Albion, despite a late equaliser salvaging a point for Marc Skinner’s side.

Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur’s win made sure they eclipsed their best-ever points total in the league, and a win for West Ham United helped them to move up to 10th place as they find some late season momentum.

Manchester United 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion

The opening game of the weekend on Saturday saw it end all-square between Brighton and Hove Albion with one goal each, as Jelena Čanković’s goal in the first half ended up being cancelled out by a late equaliser from United’s Lea Schüller.

Heading into the fixture, it was essentially a must-win game for Manchester United with Marc Skinner’s side aiming to go back into the top three over Arsenal, knowing that the Gunners still have a few games left to play and can stop United qualifying for the Women’s Champions League next season.

Looking into the stats of this game, and it would come across as a game that was closely fought between the two sides. The number of shots were almost even between them, with Man Utd having seven shots to Brighton’s six, but it was the away side who appeared to be more effective with their chances by registering an xG of 2 in comparison to United’s 0.8. In the first half, only one shot on target came for each team as Melvine Malard had a shot saved by Chiamaka Nnadozie, while Brighton’s on target effort was their only goal of the game.

Dario Vidosic’s side were pressing up high in the first half and it led to Man Utd players being caught out in dangerous areas, with Brighton’s goal also being a result of some of their work in putting opposition defenders under pressure. Phallon Tullis-Joyce received the ball before a misplaced pass intended for Hinata Miyazawa was snatched up by Jelena Čanković, who was composed with her finish after going round Tullis-Joyce before finding the net.

In the second half, United started to make more attacking opportunities happen, but weren’t able to test Nnadozie in goal. One of the better chances of the second half came from the visitors after Kiko Seike received the ball on the right side of the penalty area, before hitting the ball across the box where Madison Haley went close to a tap-in to make it 2-0.

Much of the later stages were about Brighton wanting to see the game out while still being aware that they could have a threat in transition. However, with momentum shifting fully to Manchester United, they were able to make one opportunity count, and it started from a long ball up from defence by Maya Le Tissier, and Melvine Malard sent the ball across with Moeka Minami going close to a block, but the ball fell to the second-half sub Lea Schüller and she found the net for her first Barclays WSL goal since signing for the club in January.

The goal had salvaged a point for Manchester United, although they would have set their sights on an all-important victory. They sit in 4th place with their points tally after this weekend being 40 points, and because of the results elsewhere, it means United’s hopes this season of making the top three are out of their hands. If Arsenal win on Wednesday that will officially confirm that Marc Skinner’s side cannot qualify for the Champions League as they have one game remaining and a four-point gap would be impossible to catch. Meanwhile, Brighton are the team that face Arsenal this week, and they can keep up hopes of finishing in 5th if they were to win at the Emirates Stadium.

Another story from this game was that of Leah Galton playing her last home game for Manchester United with it confirmed last week that she will be leaving the club in the summer. Galton was one of the last remaining players left at United, along with Ella Toone and Millie Turner, that were a part of their squad when they first became a professional side in 2018.

Manchester City 1-0 Liverpool

Manchester City left it late to secure a vital three points against Liverpool in their quest to win the Barclays WSL title after a 1-0 victory at the Joie Stadium kept them at least 11 points clear of Arsenal as the only capable of catching Andrée Jeglertz’s side and pipping them to a first league trophy since 2016.

In a game where the significance of it for the home side was clear from the start, the away side actually started the better of the two teams, getting on the front foot and being aggressive with their approach, which led to a couple of early chances from Aurelie Csillag and Denise O’Sullivan. The best opportunity in the early stages though came to Grace Fisk as she hit the woodwork following a corner.

Liverpool looked to capitalise on what had been a nervy start for Manchester City, but as the half went on, City began to get a hold of proceedings and keep out Liverpool from the final third of the pitch. The home side were struggling to get going in the first half and as a whole they were only able to produce one shot on target, which came from Khadija Shaw at close range.

Needing to find some extra spark to their play, Manchester City were a lot more active in the final third in the second half as they looked to get things going for themselves, and they had 11 second shots to show for their efforts, four of which were on target as some crucial saves happened via Liverpool’s Jennifer Falk to deny City the deadlock-breaking goal.

Kerolin found herself 1v1 with Falk, but was unable to put the ball away as the Swedish goalkeeper got a hand on the effort. More chances would follow that would end up off target as frustration started to grow, and then Liverpool found a spell in the second half where they too started to threaten once again. Three straight corners for the away side all put Man City under pressure and led to Liverpool going closer and closer to a goal, plus a Beata Olsson header just evaded the far post in the 73rd minute with Liverpool suddenly looking like likely goal scorers.

Momentum differed between the two sides and throughout the 90 minutes it had made the game exciting to watch. It was finely poised as added time arrived and Jennifer Falk made her fourth save of the game to keep out a header from Shaw. Falk’s influence in goal looked set to be one of the reasons this would end in a draw, however the drama ensued as a corner went in, and another header came this time via Rebecca Knaak, with Falk getting a hand to the ball, yet she was unable to keep it from going over the line and Manchester City snatched a massive late goal.

There were also celebrations at the end of the game to recognise Laura Coombs’ career, with it confirmed last week that the Manchester City player will retire at the end of this season, bringing to an end a 19-year playing career having been a WSL winner in 2015 with Chelsea, and potentially set for a second title with Man City at the end of this campaign.

Crucially for Manchester City, it is a result that will put them in the advantage position in the event that the title race goes down to the final day of the season as a win against West Ham will crown them as champions for 2025/2026. The result also confirmed an impressive run at home this season in the league where they won all eleven of their games at the Joie Stadium. The last time they dropped points in the league at home was against Everton in April last season.

As for Liverpool, nothing was at stake in this game, yet the performance showcased a team that have felt transformed ever since their winless start to the first half of this campaign. The resurgence has been strong, and they go into the final day against Liverpool aiming to end on a positive note knowing their WSL place for next season is safe.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 London City Lionesses

A 2-1 victory for Tottenham Hotspur made sure that they are guaranteed to finish in fifth place this season in the Barclays Women’s Super League, and they did so after capitalising on a couple of errors defensively from their opponents London City Lionesses.

The scoring was opened after 13 minutes, with Tottenham applying some pressure to the London City backline following a pass out from the back, and Signe Gaupset snatched the ball off of Malou Marcetto before slotting home past Elene Lete and making that three goals for herself in the Barclays WSL since she joined the club in January.

Tottenham’s lead was doubled in the 28th minute with Olivia Holdt grabbing her seventh goal of the season and it might have been her best yet as she found the top corner with a well-placed effort that left Elene Lete stretching for the ball. In the build-up, a slip from Delphine Cascarino allowed Spurs to take advantage on the counter, and they made good on that with that goal to make it 2-0.

The first half pattern mainly saw Tottenham have the majority of the momentum, but London City weren’t without chances of their own, and they had tested Lize Kop with the Dutch keeper having had to make three saves in the opening 45 minutes. Two errors ended up costing the away side in the first half and it left London City Lionesses with a two-goal cushion to have to turn around in the second half of play.

Second half momentum started with Tottenham as they looked to increase their lead further, however, they couldn’t get another goal in the game with the brunt of their second half chances proving to be comfortable ones for Lete to save. There also wasn’t to be a final goal for Bethany England in her last home game for Tottenham following the news of her departure from the club at the end of the season.

The impact of substitutes has been a key thing for London City Lionesses this season, and Freya Godfrey was utilised off the bench again and looked to make things happen in attack in which she did start to be a difference maker on that side of things for the away team. It was all Eder Maestre’s side in the later stages until they did get one back via a volley by Alanna Kennedy to set up a tense ending to this one.

A grandstand finish was on and there were multiple chances, one of which was straight from kick-off after Kennedy’s goal, with Lize Kop having to make. A big stop to deny Freya Godfrey the equaliser. Tottenham held on though and with that they have been able to confirm their best points tally in WSL history as a result. It showcases how great this season has been for them under Martin Ho in his debut campaign with the club as head coach.

London City Lionesses meanwhile, they will now look to the final day in two weeks’ time as they take on Aston Villa at the Copperjax Community Stadium with the goal of ending their season a high and taking some momentum with them into the next campaign.

Leicester City 1-3 Chelsea

Chelsea were successful on Sunday in confirming a top three finish for themselves for this season, after a 3-1 win away from home at the King Power Stadium over bottom of the table Leicester City.

The second-placed team were fairly dominant throughout with 71.3% possession to Leicester City’s 28.7%, and they ended the game with 24 shots in total, and eight of those were on target, plus they limited to the home side to just five shots. Similarly like last weekend, Chelsea were also very active in the opposition penalty area after registering 54 touches inside the Leicester penalty area, with their first half display proving to be enough to help them win on the day.

They started positively and it took them 13 minutes to take the lead, with the opening goal coming from Sam Kerr, which ended up being a history-making 64th goal in the Barclays Women’s Super League for the Australian in her time at Chelsea. It makes her Chelsea’s all-time top scorer in the league’s history, overtaking Fran Kirby in the process. The goal in this game came via a dinked cross in by Niamh Charles, with Kerr converting a header at the back post and taking her league tally for this season to six goals.

Leicester City hadn’t started the game well and defensively they found it hard to deal with Chelsea’s quality, or more namely Lauren James’ quality as the Chelsea midfielder doubled the lead with some trademark skill on the ball before a curling effort into the top corner from the edge of the box. She would score a second six minutes later from a stunning free kick that was chipped over the Leicester wall and hit the underside of the crossbar to make it 3-0 after 33 minutes.

Lauren James’ first half showing was enough to earn her the Player of the Match award for this game, and she carried a lot of influence for Chelsea in the attacking areas during her time on the pitch, ending up as the player with the joint-most total shots (4) in the game along with Sandy Baltimore. Her intricate passing and composure stood out whenever she whenever she was in possession of the ball, but she wasn’t to see the game out for her side. She was subbed off at half-time, with Sonia Bompastor perhaps having an eye on her being available for Chelsea’s upcoming Women’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

The focus for Leicester City at this stage is on preparing for a massive game on May 23rd, with the Foxes now knowing that it will be Charlton Athletic that they have to face following the final day of the Barclays WSL 2 season this past weekend. Given their recent form, they have looked to find any sort of confidence boost that they can take, and Shannon O’Brien’s fifth WSL goal of the season proved to be a bright moment as she took advantage of a misplaced back pass by Lucy Bronze before slotting it past Livia Peng.

In the second half, chances continued to flow for Chelsea and possession was still firmly with them, but they weren’t as effective with what they were creating in comparison to the first half. With the away side having a two-goal cushion, they weren’t too far out of second gear and many of their efforts were comfortable one for Leicester City goalkeeper Katie Keane to save.

On the opposite side, Leicester City had also found a way to make it tougher for Chelsea to break through them, and when it came down to duels during the game, Leicester City did outperform Chelsea with 64% more success on that side of things, combined with both aerial and ground duels.

The Foxes have to utilise any positive they can take from this game, and it was also a solid performance for goalkeeper Katie Keane in her first start in goal for Leicester, despite conceding three goals. Forward Shannon O’Brien has proven to be key for them as of late, but they will be hopeful that she is fine after having to be subbed due to a head injury. Rick Passmoor’s side now look to the final day encounter against Everton as they aim to be in good shape now ahead of that play-off with Charlton.

Aston Villa 0-2 West Ham United

Bank holiday Monday’s fixture at Villa Park ended in a 2-0 victory for the away side as West Ham scored twice late on to claim a victory up against their opponents, who were left frustrated at not being able to take their chances. Both teams were also without key players as Aston Villa were without Anna Patten and Chasity Grant, while West Ham had both Shekiera Martinez and Kinga Szemik unavailable.

Early pressure came from West Ham with Aston Villa not settling into the game at the opening stages. Once the home side did grow into the game, they did begin to look dangerous in attack, with Kirsty Hanson looking to link up with others around her, yet no real chance of note came until just before the 20-minute mark as Ebony Salmon went through on goal. She was denied in the 1v1 attempt by West Ham’s stand-in goalkeeper Megan Walsh, and then Walsh had to stop the ball ricocheting into the goal off Belloumou. The defender also had to block the ball off the line as Lynn Wilms looked to score off the rebound as well.

The first half numbers reflected how both sides were having their opportunities to break the deadlock, but just lacked the quality in the final third. It was Villa who producing more big chances, although West Ham did hit the woodwork in the 33rd minute after a break down the left from Riko Ueki then led to the Japanese international hitting the post from the angle as she took aim at goal. A follow-up attempt from Leila Wandler was subsequently blocked by Oceane Deslandes just ahead of the goal line.

A clinical edge was missing from the two sides for much of the game, and similarly to the first half, the game flowed along at a slower tempo for a good portion of the second half. The difference in the second half however was that Aston Villa were having much control of possession, and West Ham were stuck in their own half being unable to push out and create many attacks of their own.

As the game went into the later stages, it was drifting more so towards one that looked likely to end in a 0-0 draw with neither team creating much of an effort that was testing to either goalkeeper. That was until West Ham capitalised on an interception by Oona Siren before she could get the ball out to Riko Ueki, who then found some space on the left and was able to lob the ball over Sabrina D’Angelo and into the far corner.

Momentum completely shifted in West Ham’s favour, and they reacted with a second goal as Seraina Piubel grabbed her first Barclays WSL goal of the season when she found herself bearing down on goal, converting past D’Angelo and securing all three points for West Ham United to make it three games unbeaten for Rita Guarino and her side. Plus they have also registered back-to-back wins with two clean sheets to go with it.

For Aston Villa, it is a tenth defeat of the season and with back-to-back defeats adding to a run of only one win in their last nine games in all competitions. They had done so much in terms of having the ball and wanting to create chances in the final third, but they have struggled this season at times with how efficient they have been at getting the ball in the net. Five big chances were missed overall, and they even completed 617 passes, which is the highest total they have managed to do in a single game this season.

They have two games left to play this season up against Arsenal next weekend and then on the final day they are away to London City Lionesses, with Natalia Arroyo’s side hoping to end their season on a positive note.

Word credit: Bradley Morris