This weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixtures promise to bring a lot of intrigue as some big local rivalries come to ahead, with Saturday seeing the North London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, and then the Manchester derby taking place on Sunday between Manchester United and Manchester City.
Elsewhere, Brighton play West Ham in Saturday’s only other fixture, and then Sunday sees Chelsea look to continue their winning momentum against Crystal Palace. Plus there is Birmingham City vs Charlton Athletic, Everton vs Aston Villa and Liverpool vs London City Lionesses, all with their own narratives behind them as well.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal
Saturday 24th October, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 12:45pm
Saturday’s league action kicks off with one of the most anticipated fixtures of the weekend, which is the North London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Heading into this weekend, Spurs are coming off the back of a second-straight game where they conceded six goals in a single game. Worryingly for Tottenham, all of their last four defeats in the league have seen them concede at least five goals, which is the longest run that any team has had in the Barclays WSL.
One of those four defeats for Martin Ho’s team also just so happened to be against Arsenal when the teams last met back in March last season. That game 5-2 at the Emirates Stadium between them, with Arsenal’s Alessia Russo scoring a hat-trick in the first 27 minutes within the first half.
In previous NLD fixtures, Arsenal have been on the winning end more times than not against Tottenham Hotspur. The Gunners have 10 wins over their rivals in the Barclays WSL, with Spurs’ only getting on victory in all of the previous meetings back in December 2023.
Renée Slegers side will be hoping to produce more of the same this weekend and ease their concerns after a difficult start to their campaign which has seen them register one win in their opening six games - making it their second-worst start to a Barclays WSL campaign, the worst being in 2014 when they accumulated four points at this stage.
These are two teams with contrasting records so far in terms of goals scored, with Spurs currently joint-second on 18 goals, and Arsenal ranked near the lower-end with just five goals in six games to highlight their attacking struggles they have had to deal with to begin this season.
It is a crucial fixture this weekend that neither team wants to lose given the bragging rights on the line. But it also has so much more at stake with the targets that both teams will have set themselves for their respective campaigns.
Brighton & Hove Albion vs West Ham United
Saturday 24th October, American Express Stadium, 5:15pm
Brighton and Hove Albion welcome West Ham United to the AMEX Stadium for a Saturday evening league clash, with both teams aiming for victory to help themselves climb up the Barclays WSL table as they both are currently are in the lower half positions.
Arturo Ruiz’s Brighton are 12th in the table ahead of Saturday’s matchup, after losing last weekend against Manchester City despite pushing their opponents all the way, courtesy of goals from one of their in-form players at the moment Olivia Garcia and top performing defenders Caitlin Hayes as they went close to completing the turnaround of a three-goal deficit in that fixture.
They will want to get off to a better start after conceding those three goals in the opening 17 minutes; however they are facing a West Ham team who haven’t been known to be quick-starters in the Barclays WSL this season.
Rita Guarino’s side have scored the joint-second lowest amount of goals so far, with Kelly Gago (3) and Viviane Asseyi (2) the only players that have found the net for the Hammers. Gago scored the only goal in a narrow 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in their previous league fixture and will want to make it back-to-back Barclays WSL wins for the first time in this campaign.
Previous meetings between these sides have seen them trade victories back-and-forth on a couple of occasions, with the last fixture ending in a 3-2 win for West Ham which saw them complete a dramatic comeback when they scored all of their three goals after the 83rd minute from 2-0 down.
It has the makings of an intriguing game between Brighton and West Ham that could provide confidence boosts to either team if there was a winner, plus it would push them away from being close to the bottom two.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
Sunday 25th October, Borough Sports Ground, 12pm
The early lunch-time kick-off of Sunday’s load of Barclays WSL fixtures sees 11th-place Crystal Palace take on second-place Chelsea, with Palace being the underdogs in this game up against a Chelsea team that have started the season with an unbeaten record of five wins and one draw.
Jo Potter’s side have started their season with one win on their record so far, and three draws plus two defeats. One of those losses was in their last league fixture against West Ham, where they were the only team that failed to score a goal across last weekend’s Barclays WSL fixtures. Meanwhile, Chelsea were ruthless after dispatching six goals past Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.
Palace will also be looking to bounce back from a midweek defeat in the Subway Players Cup to BWSL 2 side Southampton, which they lost 3-2 away from home.
Sonia Bompastor had a history-making weekend last time out with her 50th Barclays WSL game, and she will be hoping that a win this weekend can make it 40 wins in total for her in the league if Chelsea were to beat Crystal Palace this weekend.
Her team has been playing with a lot of confidence going forward in recent weeks, and that was highlighted by four of their players registering at least two goal involvements in the same Barclays WSL game since May 2023. Lauren James, Ellie Carpenter, Keira Walsh and Alyssa Thompson have all made an impact in some way or another, and will be ones to watch for Crystal Palace, as will midfielder Lexi Potter if she plays this Sunday against the club she had spent loan spells with on two previous occasions.
In recent years, Crystal Palace and Chelsea have faced each other five times in all competitions, and it has been Chelsea that have been the victors in all of those games, as well as having not conceded a single goal against the Eagles.
If previous fixtures are anything to go by, Chelsea will be expected to dominate a lot of possession against Crystal Palace in this one, with Crystal Palace aiming to make the most of any counter-attacking opportunities they do get.
Birmingham City vs Charlton Athletic
Sunday 25th October, St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, 2pm
Two of this season’s teams that were promoted from the BWSL 2 are facing each other for the first time this season as Birmingham City host Charlton Athletic at St. Andrew’s.
Going into this Sunday, Birmingham in 13th and Charlton in 14th are the teams that occupy the bottom two positions, so getting a win is important for both of them, and if there is a victor from this fixture, then it would make it the first league win of the season for either of them.
In terms of last week’s games, Birmingham City managed to earn a point away against Arsenal, whilst Charlton Athletic were beaten by Manchester United to make it six defeats from six games for Karen Hills’ side this season. The Addicks have struggled so far to get any points, whilst fellow-promoted side Birmingham have at least three points courtesy of the three draws they have managed so far.
Both Birmingham and Charlton were winner sin their respective Subway Players Cup matches as Birmingham beat Durham by five goals to nil, and Charlton were 2-0 winners at home to Bristol City.
This will be Birmingham City’s third home game this season, and they have fared well at St. Andrew’s in the previous fixtures hosted there as two of their three draws this season came at the stadium, so avoiding defeat this weekend will leave them unbeaten at home at this early stage of the season.
If either team is to win, then both will want their attackers to be firing up front, and so far as we know, Birmingham’s Océane Hurtré has been electric on the goal front, having scored double the amount of goals alone (6) than Charlton have all season currently (3).
Charlton will still feel like they can get one over their opponents this Sunday, as they actually have largely had the better of Birmingham City in previous head-to-head meetings. There will also be a measure of revenge that Charlton will want after Birmingham beat them in that winner-take-all end-of-season clash last season in the Barclays WSL 2 that saw Birmingham pip Charlton to the title.
Everton vs Aston Villa
Sunday 25th October, Goodison Park, 2pm
Everton and Aston Villa collide at Goodison Park in a fixture that will see the home side aim to make it a third win at home to maintain an unbeaten start in their stadium this season, whereas Aston Villa have discovered some positive momentum since a former Everton manager took charge on an interim basis.
There is some narrative behind this Sunday’s fixture with Villa’s interim head coach Brian Sorensen returning to face his old club for the first time since he departed them last season, coincidentally after the previous meeting between these two teams.
It should be an interesting fixture this one, although Everton have had the better head-to-head record in recent memory, with the last four fixtures between these two either ending in a draw or an Everton win.
A late goal back in February last season, just before stoppage time from Martína Fernandez gave Everton the victory on the day, and now a couple of months later, the two sides face this weekend having had mixed fortunes in their previous league matches last week.
Everton were beaten away from home against London City Lionesses, whilst Aston Villa won for the first time in the Barclays WSL this season when they beat Everton’s local rivals Liverpool by two goals to one. Both teams also each won 2-0 in the Subway Players Cup this past Wednesday.
Under Scott Phelan, Everton have started this season rather well in terms of results as they have three wins from their first six games. They haven’t led many attacking metrics to begin this season, but defensively, they have performed well enough as Chelsea are the only team to have conceded fewer goals than them, and they have a lower xG conceded average than three-quarters of the rest of the teams in the league.
Aston Villa head into the fixture aiming to win back-to-back league games for the first time since May 2025, and will look to someone like Chasity Grant to be their difference-maker in attacking areas after she opened her Barclays WSL goal account last week.
They will also want another big performance out of their goalkeeper Akane Okuma, with no goalkeeper having made more saves (38) so far than the Japanese player. Her distribution has also been key for Villa, where she even became the first keeper since Zećira Mušović for Chelsea in March 2022 to register an assist in the BWSL.
Liverpool vs London City Lionesses
Sunday 25th October, St Helens Stadium, 2pm
Following back-to-back league defeats and a loss in the Subway Players Cup to Manchester United, Liverpool will go into this weekend’s fixture hoping to restore some positive momentum. However, with an in-form London City Lionesses side coming to St Helens on Sunday, it will be a very intriguing matchup, considering how well Eder Maestre’s side have begun their campaign.
Liverpool had a win and a draw in their first two league games, but have since lost three of their last four and have been a team that has created its fair share of opportunities in recent games. The 23 they had against Aston Villa was the highest total they registered since May 2025 when they created 27 against Everton. They also produced six shots on target, but having not protected the lead it meant they have now dropped six points from winning positions this season.
London City Lionesses on the other hand, have been maintaining their winning positions in their league games this season, and have looked very strong after achieving seven-straight wins in all competitions for the first time in their history, a run that was extended after beating West Ham 2-1 in their Subway Players Cup match.
They are looking to continue this incredible run this weekend and so far they have been fast-starters, with the last two BWSL games seeing them score twice or more in the first half. Among the best-performing players so far has been Dutch international Daniëlle van de Donk, having scored three times in the league and also registered three assists for her teammates. She is also the player with the second-highest xG (4.1) in the Barclays WSL so far this season, with only Man City forward Khadija Shaw registering a higher average (7.1).
Even though she had conceded an own goal last weekend against Aston Villa, Liverpool’s Grace Fisk has been amongst the best performers for Gareth Taylor’s side, and will prove key in their backline against London City’s attack. No defender currently has made more recoveries than Fisk (42), and she has won over 90% of her ground and aerial duels so far this season.
With this being two teams that want to press high and push forward, it has a chance of being a high-scoring matchup. Both of last season’s meetings may suggest otherwise though, as the last meeting ended 0-0 in January, and then October 2025’s encounter ended in a 1-0 win for London City because of an 89th-minute penalty by Elena Linari.
Manchester United vs Manchester City
Sunday 25th October, Progress with Unity Stadium, 6pm
Finally, the last fixture to kick-off this weekend comes from the Progress with Unity Stadium as the Manchester derby takes place in the evening, and both clubs have found some form in the WSL and find themselves on winning runs heading into this Sunday’s fixture.
Manchester United have steadily managed to get some wins and have won three on the bounce in the Barclays WSL, which sees them currently in fifth-place on ten points. They are also top of the Subway Players Cup table after a third straight win in that midweek competition, as Eva Olid’s side continue to work towards their identity and now face a big test up against their main rivals and league leaders Manchester City.
As for Andrée Jeglertz’s side, their winning momentum has not wavered in the league based on their 100% record of six wins from six games, scoring 19 goals in total. A win last time out at home to Brighton extended the winning start to the campaign, and the last time they won all of their opening league games was back in 2016 - the year they went on to win their only Barclays WSL title before last season’s success.
Out of those 19 goals scored for Man City this season, seven of those have come from their star forward Khadija Shaw. It may not come as a huge shock to see her at the top of the scorer’s chart, given her abilities in and clinical nature in the penalty area. Shaw’s goal record against Manchester United in her previous five seasons at Man City has also been fairly good, with the Jamaican scoring four times against them.
United’s backline will have a big game ahead of them in trying to stop Shaw and the rest their opponents attacking players, but in terms of their own players they can look too for goals, Andrea Medina has been their top-scorer so far with two goals since joining the club in the summer transfer window. Also, after scoring her first of the season last weekend, Ella Toone will be looking to get on the scoresheet again in a fixture where she has previously scored a hat-trick - which was back in January 2025 when United won 4-2 on that occasion.
Other than a win against their rivals that same year in the Women’s FA Cup, Manchester United have not registered a win in the Manchester derby in the previous three encounters between them. Man City were 3-0 winners in both league derbies last season, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out this Sunday when the two sides meet.
