Matchweek 4 saw a couple of rivalries play out with bragging rights on the line, and as we saw, it was Liverpool and Chelsea who got to enjoy their respective wins over their rivals this past weekend.
There were also wins for Manchester City, London City Lionesses, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United across the weekend, the latter earning their first three points of the season. Plus, there was also an entertaining six-goal thriller involving the two newly promoted sides Birmingham City and Crystal Palace.
Charlton Athletic 0-1 Manchester City
A single goal in the first half against Charlton Athletic was enough for Manchester City as they made it a fourth win of the season from their opening four games to maintain an unbeaten start to their Barclays WSL campaign.
It was a narrow scoreline in the end, even despite Manchester City controlling much of the game with possession (79%) and also having a lot more chances than their opponents. Although Charlton did start the game very brightly and often posed a threat on the counter attack for Manchester City to have to deal with.
Six changes were made by Manchester City after their midweek Women’s Champions League match-up with Bayern Munich, with Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp starting on the bench. Eartha Cumings came in for Ayaka Yamashita and was tested after the first 10 minutes to deny Charlton an early goal. Chances also came from Hawa Cissoko, Jodie Hutton and Cassandra Korhonen, but they weren’t enough to take the lead.
The breakthrough moment came just before the 36th minute with a free-kick scored by Man City’s captain Alex Greenwood. The effort made its way over the wall and into the bottom right corner just out of reach of Sophie Whitehouse.
Much of the second half continued to be dominated by Man City attacking and looking to extend their lead, with changes made and Khadija Shaw coming on to give them more of a focal point up front to kill the game off. Addicks goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse though was proving tough to beat with many of her saves, ending the game with five in total to keep the score at just a one-goal deficit.
Whilst it was a more encouraging display for Karen Hills and her team, defeat for Charlton does mean they are without a point from their opening four league games.
London City Lionesses 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Saturday evening saw London City Lionesses host Brighton and Hove Albion, and the home side achieved a 2-0 win to make it three wins out of four for this season so far. Brighton on the hand are still awaiting their first league victory, having lost for the second time this season.
Both sides came in to this game off the back of wins in the Subway Players Cup, and they started this game in energetic fashion as well, with it being end-to-end in the opening 15 minutes before London City began to create more chances and eventually take the lead.
The deadlock was broken in the 29th minute with Alexia Putellas scoring her first Barclays WSL goal since joining London City in the summer. It came from a shot after an effort by Grace Geyoro was saved, then unable to be cleared by Brighton defensively before Putellas’ shot went at goal and Chiamaka Nnadozie couldn’t keep it out with one hand.
The Spanish midfielder was key to London City in helping them control the tempo of the game, having completed 33 out of her 42 passes, taken the most shots (3), and also completed the joint-most dribbles (2).
Brighton had looked to respond quickly, and went close to doing so as a summer signing of their own Emily Murphy hit the crossbar with a headed chance. As a whole in this one, Arturo Ruiz’s side slightly led the possession and xG stats, but they ultimately missed some key chances and lacked a clinical edge that London City had more efficiency with in the end.
Eder Maestre’s team doubled their lead in second-half stoppage time to confirm the the three points in their favour, and full-back Lucía Corrales was on the receiving end of a cross across the penalty area by Delphine Cascarino to get on the scoresheet in her first Barclays WSL appearance since the opening weekend.
Manchester United 2-1 West Ham United
A first victory of the season came for Manchester United and head coach Eva Olid yesterday as won by two goals to one against West Ham United. The defeat has made it three losses out of four for Rita Guarino’s side to begin their campaign.
It took nine minutes for Manchester United to take the lead after good start by the home side, and the goal came from Elisabeth Terland to open her account for the season via a free header into the corner of the goal from Anna Sandberg’s cross.
West Ham had responded to going behind by pressing higher up the pitch, and were taking advantage of some loose moments in possession to have some first half opportunities of their own. Viviane Asseyi had one effort go wide of the goal, and another one a few minutes after which curled the wrong side of the post. They had no shots on target in the first half, but had been threatening an equaliser.
When the two teams came back out in the second half however, Manchester United started strongly as Andrea Medina hit the crossbar from the first attack of the half, and then West Ham goalkeeper Constance Picaud-Inconnu needed to make a big save to deny a second goal for Terland. The second half progressed by with Man Utd still in enough control, and they had more of it after the second goal came.
Jess Park dribbled infield from the right-hand side and found Andrea Medina out on the other side of the pitch, where the full-back cut inside md saw her initial shot blocked before firing in the rebound towards the top corner, scoring her first Barclays WSL goal in a performance that saw her have an impact in attacking areas, with the most chances created (4) and most touches in the opposition box (11).
West Ham pushed for a consolation as the game reached its conclusion, and they did make it an interesting ending following a converted penalty by Viviane Asseyi after she had been fouled by Anna Sandberg to earn West Ham a chance at a lifeline. It did come too late though as the game finished 2-1 to the home team in the end.
Birmingham City 3-3 Crystal Palace
What a game it was at St. Andrew’s as a six-goal thriller played out between Birmingham City and Crystal Palace, where the action was entertaining from the start, and saw some late dramatics to go along with it.
The quickest goal of the Barclays WSL season so far came after just 40 seconds, when Birmingham’s standout player after the opening four games Océane Hurtré opened the scoring with a quality finish with the outside of her foot. Beforehand, Birmingham’s Lee Guem-Min had made the interception before sending Hurtré through for yet another goal in her fantastic start to the season.
The goal wouldn’t be her last in this one, however Crystal Palace had worked their way back into the game with a long free-kick by Shanade Hopcroft managing to find a way into the goal after being mis-read by the home side defensively. A couple of minutes though and Amy Merricks’ side were back in front with Hurtré’s second goal of the game. The French international got the better of the battle she was in with Jamie-Lee Napier and then found the net from a tight angle to make it four goals scored overall in her four league appearances so far.
It stayed 2-1 until HT, and Crystal Palace came out in the second half searching for yet another equaliser despite some early momentum by Birmingham. There wasn’t a lot that happened in terms of major chances, other than Palace midfielder Annabel Blanchard hitting the side netting for Palace, and Birmingham defender Neve Herron going close with a diving header.
Palace did find their second equaliser in the 70th minute and also completed a turnaround to go in front, starting with Bethany England scoring her first Barclays WSL goal since joining the club, and then a second of the season finished by Lexi Lloyd-Smith after capitalising on a mistake by Marie Levasseur.
Birmingham City pushed for a late equaliser of their own and managed to get it in the 87th minute via summer signing Suzu Amano’s first league goal, which did deflect into the net and leave no way for Pauline Peyraud-Magnin to save it from going in. It was a point saved for Birmingham, who scored three goals in a top flight game for the first time since April 2022. Crystal Palace meanwhile, missed out on a chance for a first win since the opening weekend.
Liverpool 2-0 Everton
It was the red half of Merseyside who celebrated the bragging rights as Liverpool brought a run of five consecutive home defeats against their local rivals Everton, with two goals coming at Anfield in a 2-0 victory for Gareth Taylor’s side.
Four minutes into the first half was when Liverpool took the lead, with it being the fastest goal to have been scored in a Merseyside derby via a glancing header by Beata Olsson. It was a deserved lead for the Reds after controlling much of the first half of play, even with Everton having some chances of their own. Hannah Cain nearly brought the game level after 30 minutes, but her effort went over the crossbar.
Scott Phelan’s team did improve further after the break as they pushed forward more to try and find a way back into proceedings. The better chances however came for Liverpool, with Vivian Endemann hitting the crossbar at one point, and Natalia Ramos missing two big chances to put the game beyond Everton’s reach.
Liverpool had looked like the likelier team to score and another Swedish international was on the scoresheet to double the lead and effectively win them the game. Cornelia Kapocs fired in a low shot and found the corner of the goal to make it two wins from their opening four for this season.
Because of the win, Liverpool have gone ahead of their rivals in the table into fifth place, and the result also meant they have won consecutive Merseyside derbies for the first time since 2013 and 2014 when they had won three games in a row over Everton.
Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Aston Villa
Tottenham have extended an impressive unbeaten start to their season, and were dominant once again with their chance creation as they scored four against an Aston Villa side who will have to wait another week to try and end their winless run in the Women’s Super League.
Spurs end the weekend in second place again, with two points separating themselves and Manchester City at the top. The win also extends a club-record run of seven games, which has lasted since March of this year.
The dominance was evident from the home side, with 35 shots in total across the 90 minutes. Add that to the 42 they had last weekend, and they are the only team in Barclays WSL history to have registered 35+ shots in successive games in the league. Just under half of those were in the first half that actually ended scoreless following some solid defending by Aston Villa. But the rest of the game played out just like last weekend against Crystal Palace when Tottenham came alive in the second half.
The opening goal came from Victoria Pelova tapping the ball in off Signe Gaupset’s cross, and then the Dutch midfielder linked up with Drew Spence to make it a second game in a row where she had scored twice in a single game. Fellow Dutch summer signing Caitlin Dijkstra made it 3-0, and Cathinka Tandberg capped off the display by finishing a rebounded effort to make it 4-0 to Martin Ho’s side.
Aston Villa had struggled to get a lot going up front, only registering six shots all game and only having 11 touches in Tottenham’s penalty area. Natalia Arroyo’s side still find themselves waiting for not only their first win all season, but also their first league win since they beat Leicester City in March last season.
Chelsea 1-0 Arsenal
A fiery London derby played out at Stamford Bridge in the last game of the weekend’s action, and it was Chelsea who were the victors by one goal to nil, courtesy of a first-half strike by Alyssa Thompson.
Arsenal started much of the first half in possession, calmly knocking the ball about, and were creating chances to try and seek the opening goal of the game. Lisa Baum threatened when cutting in the inside, but there were efforts to block the shooting attempts by Chelsea defenders, including former Arsenal player Katie McCabe. Arsenal also hit the woodwork on two occasions in the first half in going close to taking the lead.
Chelsea’s gameplan was to sit and soak up some pressure before stepping up the intensity midway through the opening 45, and once they did that, they were able to get forward and find a breakthrough. Their French forward Melvine Malard had registered the fewest touches of any player on the pitch before she played a role in the goal to put Chelsea in front.
Arsenal were caught out when trying to play out from the back, and Malard’s pass found Keira Walsh for a shot that was palmed away by Anneke Borbe into the path of Alyssa Thompson to give the American international her first Barclays WSL goal since March against Brighton.
In the second half, having that one-goal lead gave Sonia Bompastor’s side some license to sit deep again and pick their moments when to attack, which frustrated Arsenal and left them rarely having threatened the Chelsea goal. They ended the game with 18 shots and just two of those were on target. The first half saw them fail to register a single shot on target, which is the first time Arsenal haven’t had a shot on target in the first half of a Barclays WSL game since 2022.
Defeat for Renee Slegers; side means the end of their 20 game unbeaten streak, whilst an assured display from Chelsea gifted them their third win this season, and all of those have victories have come in successive fashion since their opening weekend draw with Aston Villa. They also end the weekend in third place behind Tottenham and Manchester City.
