Week 2 arrives in the Barclays Women’s Super League and following last week’s opening weekend, there are just as many interesting fixtures to look forward to.
The second round of fixtures start on Saturday with West Ham playing host to London City Lionesses, before Sunday sees the rest of the games take place, including a big match-up between Manchester United and Chelsea, plus two teams looking to continue on from the positive momentum they began with last weekend as Liverpool face Tottenham Hotspur.
West Ham United vs London City Lionesses
Saturday 12th September, Chigwell Construction Stadium, 12:45pm
Opening this weekend’s action is an all-London affair between West Ham United and London City Lionesses, with both teams heading into this game off the back of differing performances from their first fixtures.
The home side played Tottenham last week and were on the end of a 3-1 defeat to begin the 2026/27 campaign. Meanwhile, London City Lionesses played two days earlier and were victorious against Manchester United with a 2-1 victory courtesy of an own goal from United’s Julia Zigiotti Olme and late back-heeled finish by Daniëlle van de Donk.
The Saturday lunchtime kick-off will be only the third meeting between these clubs in the Barclays WSL, and the first fixture ended in a 1-0 win for London City after Kosovare Asllani’s 68th-minute goal. The Swedish international is currently out with an injury so won’t be available for this week’s encounter.
The previous game happened back in March, and the scoreline ended level at 1-1. It was in this fixture where West Ham’s Oona Siren scored one of the last campaign’s Goal of the Season contenders with the volley that salvaged a point for the Hammers on the day.
Last week’s win over Manchester United was an impressive one for Eder Maestre’s London City side in getting them off to a good start in what is a season where they are aiming to finish high up in the Barclays WSL table. They will look to dominate possession again after having 60% of the ball in last Friday’s game.
Rita Guarino’s West Ham will be determined to bounce back from the disappointment of their opening loss, and look to do much better up front after having ten shots against Spurs last Sunday and only registering three of them on target with an xG of 0.73.
Manchester United vs Chelsea
Sunday 13th September, Progress with Unity Stadium, 12pm
Last season’s fourth and third-place teams respectively meet for the first time this season as Manchester United host Chelsea at the Progress with Unity Stadium.
Neither of these teams won on the opening weekend, with United losing to London City and Chelsea held to a draw against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. Despite being very threatening with their scoring opportunities, Sonia Bompastor’s side were left to regret not converting more of the 35 shots they had created.
For Manchester United, it wasn’t the best of starts for Eva Olid as she took charge of the club for the first time in the Barclays WSL. The task of responding with a statement performance could prove challenging given their previous head-to-head record with Chelsea in the league. In 13 previous Barclays WSL meetings, Chelsea have been the winners on 11 occasions and twice the fixture has ended in a draw. One of those tied games was in October last season when both teams scored each of their goals in the first half of a game that ended level at 1-1.
After scoring in last week’s draw with Aston Villa and leading the team with the joint-most chances created (4), the most shots (11) and the most successful dribbles (3), Lauren James faces her old club this weekend and has a good scoring record against the team Chelsea signed her from back in 2021. She has scored six goals against them since then, with the last one coming in the Subway Women’s League Cup final victory in March.
Something else that Manchester United will have in the back of their minds is trying to end what is currently an ongoing losing streak in the Women’s Super League. The last time they won a league game was on March 21st against Everton, and in their last five competitive matches in all competitions, they have also only scored three goals.
This fixture has the potential to be as intriguing as it quite often is, and with the pressure building on both teams to get their first wins of the season, it should make for a interesting watch on Sunday lunchtime.
Birmingham City vs Brighton and Hove Albion
Sunday 13th September, St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, 2pm
The Barclays WSL 2 champions Birmingham City play their opening home fixture of the campaign as they welcome Brighton and Hove Albion to St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park for Arturo Ruiz’s second game in charge of the Seagulls.
Both of these teams were unsuccessful last weekend in gaining points from their first fixtures of the season, with Birmingham beaten 3-1 by the defending champions Manchester City, and Brighton defeated by Arsenal via a narrow 1-0 margin. Despite losing their respective games though, both Birmingham and Brighton gave good accounts of themselves, which makes this upcoming fixture an interesting one to watch given the clash of styles.
Birmingham’s French midfielder Océane Hurtré will be one to watch for the home side after performing well in last Sunday’s loss, where she scored their late consolation and had an impact with much of her team’s chance creation on, as well as making some defensive contributions with five tackles and recoveries registered each.
As for Brighton, their Japanese wide forward Kiko Seike could be key as she still made a strong impression for Brighton on the attacking side of things with the most touches in the opposition penalty area, always looked to make key runs into the spaces in behind the full-back, plus often having an eye for goal as she was the club’s top scorer last season with eight goals.
This meeting between the sides will be the first league matchup against one another since facing off in the 2021/22 season, and Birmingham City did win 3-1 on that occasion. However, things have changed a lot for these teams ever since that season, and both will make this a competitive fixture this time around.
Everton vs Charlton Athletic
Sunday 13th September, Goodison Park, 2pm
Two more teams looking to bounce back from losing starts are Everton and Charlton Athletic as they meet in one of the three 2pm kick-offs on Sunday.
Everton under Scott Phelan face one of the other promoted sides last Sunday in Crystal Palace, where they were beaten 1-0 after Lexi Lloyd-Smith’s first-half goal. The Toffees had a lot of chances to get back level in the game in the second half, having had more possession (60%) and ended the game with more shots (14). Two shots on target overall however showed that they struggled to test the opposition goal enough.
Charlton had their own attacking problems last Sunday in that they found it tough to get out of their own half with just 24% possession against a Liverpool side that dominated at The Valley and subsequently won by four goals to nil. It wasn’t the start to life in the top flight that the Addicks would have liked, but their first away fixture of the campaign this weekend is one that does give them a chance to show what they are made of with a resilient response.
Both of these teams are going to be pushing for better output on the attacking front this weekend, and for Everton, they will look to one of their summer signings after Holly McNamara made her debut in the game against Crystal Palace last Sunday. It was a fairly quiet first appearance in the Barclays WSL, but she does bring a goal threat having been a two-time Golden Boot winner in Australia’s A-League.
As for Charlton, Karen Hills’ side were not necessarily the biggest goal-scorers in their BWSL 2 campaign last season. Forward Jodie Hutton was one of their top scorers last season with five goals, so they will need her to be one of those who step up this weekend. They will also hope to have some better defensive solidity compared to last week, with only the debuting Ashleigh Neville not being one of their defenders who was part of the team that had the strong defensive record last season in the Barclays WSL 2.
With how important it can be to find some winning momentum at this early stage of a season, both teams will want to get the victory this weekend. Also, with this being the first meeting between these teams in the top flight, it does make for an interesting clash this weekend to see if either of them can come out on top.
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur
Sunday 13th September, BrewDog Stadium, 2pm
The last of the 2pm kick-offs sees Liverpool host Tottenham Hotspur at the BrewDog Stadium with both sides aiming to continue on from the great starts they had after both were victorious in their respective opening weekend games.
A 4-0 win away to Charlton Athletic meant that Liverpool have already started the season better than how they did last season, after it took them until January to win their first league game of the 2025/26 campaign, which coincidentally was against their opponents this Sunday. The win was a comfortable one for Liverpool, with Grace Fisk scoring twice, and goals each came for summer signing Vivien Endemann and Cornelia Kapocs.
The performance from Liverpool’s captain Grace Fisk was always going to have some attention on it because of how rare it can be for a defender to get on the scoresheet twice. It does also have to be said that she was heavily involved in other aspects as well defensively, having made seven clearances, seven recoveries and three headed clearances in last Sunday’s game.
Tottenham also had a comfortable outing at home against West Ham, where Signe Gaupset and two goals for debuting Kirsty Hanson helped them to their 3-1 victory last Sunday afternoon. Hanson was a huge threat on the attacking side of things for Spurs, and what was also evident was how effective she was off the ball for them as well in making two tackles and one interception.
Spurs boss Martin Ho will be hoping that the performance by the Scottish international was a sign of things to come this season, and it will be interesting to see how she and her Tottenham teammates fair against a Liverpool defence that was largely untested last weekend against Charlton.
Given the two styles of play both of these teams like to utilise, it has the potential to be an entertaining clash as they aim to establish a real positive beginning to their respective campaigns for 2026/27.
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace
Sunday 13th September, Emirates Stadium, 2:45pm
Arsenal play their opening home game of the season this weekend, and they welcome newly promoted Crystal Palace to the Emirates Stadium after both were able to be on the end of 1-0 victories last weekend.
It was also the case of two summer signings that were on the scoresheet for each team respectively, with German international Lisa Baum scoring ten minutes into her first appearance in the Barclays WSL, and the same going for Lexi Lloyd-Smith in the 34th minute of Crystal Palace’s win over Everton.
Renee Slegers’ side will be looking to continue their impressive unbeaten streak in the Barclays WSL when it comes to playing at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners went the entirety of last season without losing a league game at home (eight wins and three draws), and in fact, they have not lost a home fixture in the Barclays WSL since being beaten by Chelsea in a 2-1 defeat back in December 2024.
This fixture will be a test of how Jo Potter’s Crystal Palace stand up against an Arsenal side that will likely control much of the possession in this Sunday’s game, but with the summer additions they made in Bethany England and Lloyd-Smith, plus players such as Abbie Larkin, Annabel Blanchard and Ashleigh Weerden who were all key in their promotion campaign, they will be looking to cause a major upset and start their campaign with back-to-back wins.
Previous meetings between these two teams do suggest that Crystal Palace could be well up against it when they face Arsenal this Sunday. In the two previous encounters when they played each other two seasons ago, Arsenal didn’t concede against Palace, and won both fixtures 5-0 and 4-0 respectively. The home side might be the heavy favourites again ahead of this fixture, but it will still be interesting to see how competitive it can be between them both.
Aston Villa vs Manchester City
Sunday 13th September, Villa Park, 6.30pm
The final game of this weekend is taking place at Villa Park in the first of Aston Villa’s matches at their home stadium this season, and the first visitors for the 2026/27 campaign are the defending champions Manchester City.
Aston Villa did not win last time out against Chelsea, but it was still a very valuable point for them to have taken away from home at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. They were on the end of a lot of attacking pressure from their opponents, yet they capitalised on a Veerle Buurman own goal to claim a point for the first time against the eight-time Barclays WSL champions.
Manchester City faced off against Villa’s rivals Birmingham City last weekend and won by three goals to one at the Joie Stadium after Mary Fowler and Khadija Shaw (x2) scored the all-important goals in the second half to kick off their title defence on a positive note.
The last time these two sides met in the Women’s Super League saw the fixture end in a scoreless 0-0 draw, which was a contrast to the other two meetings before that encounter when they were high-scoring affairs that Manchester City won on both occasions by 6-1 and 4-2 scorelines. Even overall with every Barclays WSL meeting between Aston Villa and Man City, it is the latter who have mainly been victorious, with Villa’s only league victory coming all the way back in September 2022.
With how the two teams performed on the opening weekend, we could see Manchester City look to control much of the possession again and Villa look to utilise any strengths on the counter-attack again to avoid a loss against another of last season’s top three. This fixture often throws up some entertainment, and this weekend’s game on Sunday evening could off that up once again.
