If the previous week before the international break had goals flying in, matchweek six also delivered on that front with a lot of entertaining matches that took place and some big results for a couple of teams.
The opening game of the weekend threw up an interesting result as Arsenal and Birmingham drew on Saturday, followed by an action-packed load of Sunday's games.
Manchester City, Chelsea, London City Lionesses and Manchester United all continued on from where they had left off and maintained the winning momentum, whilst West Ham and Aston Villa were the other vicotrs in their respective fixtures, which for Villa secured them a first win of this Barclays Women's Super League campaign.
Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham City
Two teams that needed a victory for different reasons both had to settle for a point each at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal and Birmingham City drew on Saturday afternoon.
The home side had a lot of control in this game with over 75% possession going their way as well 27 shots in total. However, Arsenal’s early season struggles in converting their chances continued to be noticeable as they tried to find a breakthrough against their opponents.
Just one of their eight shots in the first half was on target as Kyra Cooney-Cross came close from distance before Sophie Baggaley saved the shot down low to the bottom left corner. Alessia Russo also had an effort hit the post nearer the end of the opening 45 minutes.
Birmingham City’s main threat in attack was in transitional moments on the counter, which had been evident in the first half through Océane Hurtré and Lily Crosthwaite’s pace whenever they broke away going forward. It was in the 53rd minute inside the second half when one counter-attack led to Birmingham City taking the lead, and it was Hurtré who stay composed enough with a chipped finish past Misa Rodríguez.
Arsenal began to continue their attacking momentum after going a goal down, and after they piled on the pressure, it took a powerful strike from outside the box by Olivia Smith to make it 1-1.
Aside from that one, two other close-range chances were denied by Sophie Baggaley in goal to deny Arsenal all three-points, and because of another game where Renee Slegers’ side failed to register a victory in the league, it’s the first time in their history where they have gone five games in the Barclays WSL without a win.
Amy Merricks’ Birmingham City do remain winless in the league despite drawing this past weekend, but the Blues manager was “proud” of her team’s performance and feels her team are “getting better and better”.
Chelsea 6-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea’s ruthlessness came out as they scored six against their London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a high-scoring game at Stamford Bridge, giving them their fifth win of the campaign in the process, all of which have come consecutively.
Sonia Bompastor took charge of her 50th Barclays WSL game for Chelsea and means she has amassed a total of 125 points won in the Barclays WSL – the most of any manager in the league’s history across their first 50 games.
In this game itself, it took Chelsea until the 25th minute to take the lead with the first of Lauren James’ goals in this one. She dispossessed Tōko Koga outside of the Spurs penalty area and then drove towards the goal at a tight angle before scoring past Lize Kop.
Spurs responded near the end of the first half following Julie Blakstad’s cross to Matilda Vinberg at the back post, with the Swedish midfielder heading into the net to make a sustained spell of pressure by Spurs count for something as they went in level at half-time.
Martin Ho’s side did start the next half well, but then went behind in the 58th minute after Alyssa Thompson worked it forward for Chelsea, and then hit a low cross in for Ellie Carpenter to get on the end of and restore her team’s lead. From that point on, Chelsea surged to victory with Lauren James getting her second goal a few minutes later, followed by second half substitute Sjoeke Nüsken making it 4-1 not long after she entered the pitch.
The home side found their fifth goal closer to the later stages of the game, and it was the pick of the goals that had been scored as Maika Hamano found the net from around 30-yards out with a great strike. The goal is the second in as many games for Hamano, with this one coming against the team she had spent the second half of last season on loan at.
Signe Gaupset found a consolation goal in the immediate aftermath of Hamano’s goal to make it 5-2, however, Ellie Carpenter’s second goal of the afternoon made it 6-2, which is the second game in a row where Spurs have conceded that number of goals in a Barclays WSL fixture.
Crystal Palace 0-1 West Ham United
One goal in the first half was the winning margin for Rita Guarino’s West Ham as they played fellow Londoners Crystal Palace, with both teams having looked to have earned their second league wins this season before kick-off.
There was not a lot to separate these teams in the first half, with West Ham just edging the possession stats with 55% to Crystal Palace’s 45%, but chances were minimal as only four shots happened between them, one of which was the West Ham’s goal.
It was the only shot on target in the opening 45 minutes, and it started through Palace captain Aimee Everett losing possession to Oona Siren, where she then found a low pass across the box that went to Kelly Gago to then find the back of the net with and give the Hammers the lead.
There had been one moment for Jo Potter’s Crystal Palace where they thought they had scored just before half-time, as Bethany England converted from a cross by Fuka Tsunoda, only for it to be flagged as offside.
In terms of second half chances, West Ham did create the most, but only three of the 11 were on target, the closest being Leila Wandeler having an effort cleared off the goal line by Aimee Everett. Even with Palace putting a lot of pressure on towards the end and going close through Shannon O’Brien’s chance that went high and wide following a late penalty area scramble, West Ham’s defence stood firm and held on for their first win in four games.
Aston Villa 2-1 Liverpool
Aston Villa have a first win on the board for this season and doubled their points tally for the season, climbing up to 10th place after they came from behind to beat Liverpool at Keys Park Stadium.
Since Brian Sorensen has taken interim charge of the team, they have managed two wins and a draw in all competitions, and it had been confirmed on Friday that he will remain in charge until at least the end of the season.
Even though they did win the game, they didn’t get off to the best of starts as Liverpool established some early momentum and found the opening goal as Natalia Ramos opened her WSL account with a fantastic long-range strike after Villa’s defence backed off and gave her the space to shoot.
In terms of other first half chances, Mia Enderby had an effort that she didn’t get the best of connections with, and for Liverpool it was a case of a missed opportunity to put the game out of sight after having 11 shots and six of those being on target. In comparison, Villa only had two shots in the entire opening 45 minutes, though they improved in the second half and found more of a clinical edge as the game progressed.
They showcased more of an attacking purpose when they had moments to cause problems on the counter attack, and it was in the 62nd minute when Chasity Grant made the most of a long ball over the top from goalkeeper Akane Okuma, before she then fired the ball into the top left corner from the right-hand side to bring the team’s level.
Ten minutes later and Villa had turned it around via a corner that went through a couple of bodies before it hit Liverpool captain Grace Fisk and went into the goal. A few more Liverpool chances followed but only a late one from Beata Olsson went very close to being the equaliser, so the home side managed to avoid matching their longest winless run in Barclays WSL history, but Liverpool’s third loss in their last four league games drops them down to seventh.
Charlton Athletic 1-3 Manchester United
Manchester United continue what has been a positive run in the Barclays WSL as they made it three wins in a row after a busy first half of action at The Valley against Charlton Athletic, where all the goals that were scored came in the opening 45 minutes.
It took six minutes for Ella Toone to open proceedings and go level with Leah Galton for the most Barclays WSL goals scored by a Manchester United player (35). It came after she pounced onto a loose ball and then struck a shot which hit the underside of the crossbar and went in. It was also Toone’s first league goal since last December.
Andrea Medina had been involved in the build-up to United’s first goal, but then was on the scoresheet herself a couple of minutes later as it became 2-0 after she got on the end of Hanna Lundkvist’s cross. The two-goal lead didn’t last long however as Leah Davidson brought Charlton back into the game.
The momentum shift also did not last very long either when Manchester United picked up some control again, and midfielder Julia Zigiotti Olme continued where she left off from before the international break to score in consecutive games and restore the two-goal lead for Manchester United.
Eva Olid’s side are up to fifth in the table on 10 points now after what had started out as a tough few results to start the campaign. Charlton Athletic meanwhile, they fell to yet another defeat that sees them right at the bottom of the league table on zero points, plus having scored just three goals and conceded 18 in total, the latter of which is the most of anybody.
London City Lionesses 2-1 Everton
Momentum was picked up again for London City Lionesses as they won at the weekend to make it four straight league victories for this campaign, and they did so by beating Everton by two goals to one at the Copperjax Community Stadium.
Both teams had spells of momentum before London City Lionesses took the lead via a second goal of the season for Delphine Cascarino. The French winger linked up with Daniëlle van de Donk before she then whipped in a well-taken effort that found the opposite corner.
Freya Godfrey capped off what was a great week for her after making her senior England debut by scoring the home side’s second goal as they took advantage of dispossessing the ball off Everton and Godfrey subsequently scored on the counter.
The second half of the game in Bromley was end-to-end in moments, and with Hannah Cain making it 2-1 to open her Barclays WSL account for Everton by heading in off Holly McNamara’s cross into the box, it did make for an interesting end. However, London City looked to keep possession for the most part and saw the game out to make sure they won and stayed in the top three places.
In terms of the defending of both sides, they had both been fairly strong in the league to begin this season having been in the top five so far for the least amount of goals conceded. By the end of this fixture, they both are level with only six goals conceded each, with only Chelsea having had less goals go past them.
Manchester City 3-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
The league leaders keep their 100% record intact, but were made to work for the three points against Brighton and Hove Albion after an exciting first half that was must-watch in terms of the goals going in that created a lot of drama.
A rather entertaining first half played out that all started with Manchester City going 3-0 up inside the first 17 minutes of the game. It all came through the Khadija Shaw/Lauren Hemp partnership that has been pivotal for Man City going forward, and Hemp provided two assists for Shaw in scoring the opening two goals.
With those two goals yesterday afternoon, Shaw now has the outright lead in the top scorer’s chart with seven goals from the first six games, with it being another scintillating start to a campaign for the Jamaican forward.
Those two goals in the space of 11 minutes were then very quickly followed up with one a minute later when Niamh Charles made an impact in just her second start of the season. The left-back advanced forward and hit her shot low into the bottom left corner to give Man City a commanding three-goal lead before 20 minute shad even been played.
Andrée Jeglertz’s side were quick to drop the intensity they had started with however and Brighton began to get on the ball more and try to create some chances. Once settled, a goal did come after Fran Kirby managed to send a ball across the face of goal where Olivia Garcia eventually did tap it over the line for her second league goal of the season.
Any sign of a comeback was boosted when Caitlin Hayes headed in Brighton’s second six minutes after the first goal to make the second half a very intriguing one. The second half did play out with the same intensity in some parts, but was also scrappy as both teams missed chances to add more goals. Shaw had a couple of efforts to get a hat-trick, although it wasn’t to be for her as her team did go on to win the fixture in the end.
Defeat for Brighton and Hove Albion does make it three defeats from their opening six games to begin this season under Arturo Ruiz. He spoke of being “proud of the things they did very well”, but also said that “they will get better”.
