A lot of goals were flying in across a couple of this past weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League games, with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, London City Lionesses and Brighton and Hove Albion all showcasing their attacking qualities. Even individually, five players in total managed to score multiple goals across their respective games.
Elsewhere, a second win of the season came for Manchester United, plus Everton returned to winning ways, whilst a point each went the way of Aston Villa and Crystal Palace in the only game to end in a draw this past weekend.
Teams now head into the international break either with some good momentum, or a chance to refresh themselves and recover in expectation of needing to bounce back based on how they performed.
Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool
The opener of this past weekend’s games was at the Progress with Unity Stadium with rivals Manchester United and Liverpool facing each other, and it was one goal that separated the two teams on the day in a game where there was not a lot to differentiate between them.
Manchester United were playing the 250th game in the club’s history on Saturday and they commemorated that with a victory courtesy of an early reward for what started out as an intense approach by the home side to get on the front foot and apply early pressure. Julia Zigiotti Olme intercepted a pass out from the back by Liverpool goalkeeper Khiara Keating, and then Swedish international lobbed the ball into the net for her second goal of the campaign.
Taking the lead has largely favoured Manchester United in recent years given the stat that has seen them avoid defeat in their last 31 league games whenever they have scored the first goal. The last time they did lose in that scenario was against Liverpool in December 2023, and Gareth Taylor’s side needed to find more of the same to respond in this one. Something they did manage to do as the first half went on.
The Liverpool goal scorers in the previous league fixture against Everton, Cornelia Kapocs and Beata Olsson went closest after Manchester United’s goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce denied them with a double-save attempt to keep her team ahead. The half seemingly got more end-to-end ad Jess Park hit the crossbar with one effort, and then Olsson went close for the away team as another chance of hers was well saved by Tullis-Joyce at the near post. Man Utd’s keeper did go on to end the game with eight saves in total.
Possession was almost evenly split between the sides in the second half, yet it was Liverpool who were creating more chances. The majority of their attacks went down the left-hand side and Kirsty MacLean ended the game with the most chances created of any player (3), before being substituted in the 58th minute. Their xG total of 1.41, with 14 shots in total during the game shows they hadn’t made the most of their chances.
Liverpool were also without Vivien Endemann in this game after confirming before kick-off that she was missing with a minor calf injury. Forward Aurélie Csillag was also out of the squad after confirmation from the club that she had sustained a serious Achilles injury in the midweek Subway Players Cup fixture they had played.
Back-to-back victories for Eva Olid and her team in the Barclays WSL has seen them climb up the table, and it was a first clean sheet which was helped by a strong performance again in the backline by captain Maya Le Tissier, who ended the game having won 90% of her ground duels (9/10) and 80% of her aerial duels (4/5), plus she made three tackles and six clearances.
Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace
A closely fought encounter by the end at Villa Park saw the game end all-square at 1-1 between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, meaning both teams earn a point each, which is the third draw of the season for both teams as well.
Aston Villa were playing their second game under interim manager Brian Sorensen, following a 3-1 win over Barclays WSL 2 leaders Newcastle United last Wednesday. The Villans still await a first league victory of this campaign however, yet things had looked a lot more positive for them in quite a few moments of this fixture.
The first half didn’t see any goals scored, but it was the home side who had most of the momentum on their side, producing double the amount of shots (8) to their opponents (4). A lot of Villa’s attacking work went down the right-hand side as Anna Patten and Lynn Wilms linked up with Chasity Grant to try and progress the ball forward. A couple of half-chances followed, with Amalie Vangsgaard going closest after she was put through, but ended up seeing the chance saved by Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.
Villa came out in the second half on the front foot as well and got themselves in front in a league game for the first time this season. Grant broke down the right-hand side and sent a ball across the area, which was then slotted in by Noelle Maritz for the full-back’s first-ever Barclays WSL goal in her career.
In search of the equaliser, the away side began to grow into the game more as the second half went on and leading the response was Republic of Ireland international Abbie Larkin, who had a massive impact on the game, starting out wide and then drifting more centrally further into proceedings.
She caused a lot of problems on Palace’s right-side, but once moved centrally that was when she found the back of the net following an effort from outside the box that found the bottom-left corner a couple of seconds after an interception was made to send the away side forward in transition.
The remaining latter stages of the game were very active as well with both teams going close to scoring a winner. Georgia Mullett sent the ball over the bar with one chance in the penalty area, and then Shannon O’Brien missed from a few yards out to nearly complete a Palace turnaround. The last big chance though came for Aston Villa’s Miri Taylor who forced a diving save from Peyraud-Magnin in stoppage time keep the game level.
Brighton and Hove Albion 5-1 Charlton Athletic
In a game between two of the teams that were seeking their first league victories of the season, it was the home side who ended their winless run and gave Arturo Ruiz his first Barclays WSL win as a head coach. The result in the end was a big scoreline in Brighton’s favour, and it means Charlton have now lost all five of their BWSL games to begin the campaign.
Karen Hills’ side did get off to a good start by taking the lead in the opening stages. Three minutes into the game and Cassandra Korhonen managed to react quickly after an initial shot by her was saved by Chiamaka Nnadozie.
It was after that moment however when Brighton began to take more control of the game and find an equaliser via Kiko Seike after Olivia Garcia had drove down the left side, before pulling it back and finding Seike for the finish.
Entering first-half stoppage time, and that was when Brighton turned it around and took the lead, with the phase of play almost playing out similarly to Brighton’s first goal. Olivia Garcia again caused problems down the left and cut the ball back as she laid it to Maisie Symonds, who subsequently missed the ball, but Fran Kirby found the back of the net with the follow-up attempt.
Despite not getting on the scoresheet in this game, Garcia’s influence on this game proved key, as highlighted by her ending the 90 minutes having had the most touches in the opposition box (15), the joint-most shots (4) and had created the joint-most chances (3).
A response of their own from Charlton was hard to come by as Brighton carried on where they left off with momentum in the first stages of the second half, and Kiko Seike grabbed her second goal of the game. Two more goals in stoppage time of the second half from Brighton’s captain Maisie Symonds and a second of the season from Gabby George capped off a strong attacking performance for the Seagulls.
The victory for Brighton has sent them up the table and into tenth place on five points, whilst Charlton Athletic are at the bottom still and ended the weekend with an unwanted record of being only the third team in Barclays WSL history to be beaten in all of their opening five games.
Everton 2-1 Birmingham City
Everton have their third win of the season and climbed up to fifth place in the standings after a 2-1 victory against a Birmingham City side who end the weekend second-from bottom and still seeking a first league victory.
The home side came into this game wanting to respond to the loss in the previous week over Liverpool in the Merseyside derby, and things got off to a decent start as a shot by Yuka Momiki that initially hit the post was then worked back up by Everton, and Momiki assisted Ruby Mace for the first of her goals in this game against one of her old clubs.
Mace was at Birmingham back in the 2020/21 season, playing 11 times and scoring two goals in the Barclays WSL. Coincidentally those goals were the previous ones she had managed to score in the league as well, but her opener didn’t have Everton in front for very long as Birmingham City responded quickly with an equaliser through in-form Océane Hurtré as she made it five goals for her campaign so far, and she was assisted with the through-ball by fellow French player Chancelle Effa Effa.
Birmingham pushed on in the first half as they looked to take the lead, with Neve Herron seeing a shot pushed away by Courtney Brosnan in goal, and Millie Turner also had a headed chance that went over the crossbar.
In the second half, the game levelled out a bit more between the two sides, and they also made changes as they both sought after the winning goal. Ruby Mace took aim at goal with a chance as 18 minutes remained of the game and after two deflections, it ended up in the top left corner of the goal. There wasn’t to be a late equaliser for Birmingham City this weekend, with the Toffees holding on and seeing the game out to make it nine points from a possible 15 so far for their season.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-6 London City Lionesses
An all-London clash between Tottenham and London City Lionesses had the makings of an exciting match-up between two attack-minded teams, and one delivered with an abundance of goals as Eder Maestre’s side put on a clinical display in front of goal.
After opening her Barclays WSL account for goals last week, Alexia Putellas helped her team take the lead in this one following a strike from range by Grace Geyoro that was parried towards the Spaniard and then finished into the net. The goal by Putellas gave London City the platform to go and find more, starting with a first of the campaign for Kadidiatou Diani since her summer move, before Putellas made it 3-0 in the 34th minute with her second of the game.
A 3-0 lead at half-time highlighted how everything was clicking for London City Lionesses, and also how the opposite was happening for Tottenham, and the loss overall for Martin Ho’s side sees the end of his team’s unbeaten opening to their Barclays WSL season. Julie Blakstad had their best chance of the first half when an Elene Lete save pushed the ball towards the crossbar. A disappointing afternoon for Spurs continued in the second half as Daniëlle van de Donk made it 4-0, but they also had a moment to cheer for as Victoria Pelova took her goal tally to five for the season, and still remains joint-top of the scorers charts.
The four-goal advantage was restored near the end after a Lize Kop clearance that was charged down by Kadidiatou Diani, ended up needing to just be placed over the goal line as the French forward had the entire empty net to score into following that fortuitous moment. One of London City’s other French internationals made it 6-1 as Delphine Cascarino ran at the Tottenham defence and showed some skilful quality before scoring past Kop at the near post.
The 6-1 result for the away side was the largest they have registered in the Barclays WSL, and the xG they accumulated (5.2) was the highest recorded by an away team in a WSL game since Arsenal managed an xG of 5.9 against Leicester City back in November 2023.
London City head into the international break with a lot of momentum and Eder Maestre talked in the aftermath about how his team’s results and performances would be a demonstration to the league that they can make a push for the title. With four wins from their first five games, they moved up into the top three ahead of Tottenham this past weekend.
West Ham United 0-3 Chelsea
Chelsea notched up their fourth win of the season and managed to completely restrict their opponents West Ham United, despite being the away team in this game.
The dominance from Chelsea can be highlighted by the fact that West Ham failed to register a single shot across the 90 minutes, and they also had zero touches in the Chelsea penalty area, which made them the only team in the last 10 Barclays WSL seasons to not have registered a shot or touch in the opposition box in a single game.
The away side had 21 shots in total over the course of the game, and it was one from Melvine Malard that put them in front, when Sjoeke Nüsken was denied a chance and the ball fell to Malard for the opening goal. They had to wait a while before the lead ended up being doubled, as Nüsken missed a chance, Kadeisha Buchanan’s header went off target, and Keira Walsh hit the post at one point as well.
The England midfielder did get on the scoresheet eventually to cap off what was a busy display all afternoon, having a hand in Chelsea’s chance creation in having the most shots of any Chelsea player (5), plus she made three chances for Chelsea teammates and won 67% of her ground duels (6/9). The three points were secured, but Maika Hamano scored the third goal of the game on what was her first start of the season.
Another three points for Sonia Bompastor’s side ensured them of an unbeaten start to the season, and they go into the international break in second place. West Ham United meanwhile, have ended the weekend in 11th place, with the last victory they registered being against London City Lionesses in week two.
Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal
The marquee fixture of matchweek five delivered with goals as promised, and was befitting of the occasion that was the 1500th Barclays WSL game in the league’s history.
The better chances of the first half came from Beth Mead and Khadija Shaw who went close to scoring for Man City, as had Emily Fox for Arsenal. A cagey opening first-half for the most part did end up springing to life as Lisa Baum managed to bundle the ball over the line from close range and give Arsenal the lead at the Etihad Stadium.
An immediate response soon followed though as Lauren Hemp levelled the game with a powerful strike from the left side to send it to half-time with the scoreline level at 1-1. Hemp had not been involved in the action as much in the opening 45 minutes, and Man City forward Khadija Shaw also didn’t register many touches overall. Both players did have their involvements in the second half however, but not before Arsenal started the better of the two sides, given they re-took the lead.
Alessia Russo took advantage of a mistake by Yui Hasegawa with a stray pass in the penalty area, and then Russo fired the ball away into the goal past Ayaka Yamashita to score her first goal of this Barclays WSL campaign. Uncharacteristic mistakes and a slow start to the second half meant Andrée Jeglertz looked to his bench for changes, and made a triple substitution that would prove to work out well as part of Man City’s second equalising goal of the game.
Kerstin Casparij replaced Niamh Charles at left-back and the ball came to her just before the 63rd minute near the corner of the box, before she curled the ball towards goal and found the right-hand corner to make it 2-2, scoring with her first touch of the game in the process, 70 seconds after coming off the bench.
The impact of the home side’s changes continued as City’s build-up play led to them going in front and Lauren Hemp scored her second of the game, giving her four goals and two assists to begin her season in the Barclays WSL.
Khadija Shaw sealed Man City’s fifth league win of the season as her shot slightly deflected towards goal and the result keeps Manchester City in the top spot as the only team with a 100% record. Arsenal on the other hand are all the way down in 10th place, having not won a league game since the opening weekend away from home against Brighton.
