It was quite the second matchweek in the Barclays Women’s Super League, from Chelsea scoring five goals against Manchester United, to Crystal Palace holding Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Elsewhere, Manchester City ramped up their title defence in being the only team to have won both of their opening games this season, plus there were wins for West Ham and Everton, whilst Liverpool and Tottenham, as well as Birmingham and Brighton played out draws on Sunday afternoon, the latter of which saw some late drama.
This is the roundup of how all seven of this weekend’s league fixtures went on Matchweek two.
West Ham United 2-1 London City Lionesses
The opening game of the second matchweek saw West Ham United host London City Lionesses at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, and it was the home side who managed to win the game and claim their first three points of the season in the process.
In a game that was once again about seeing how the new summer signings would perform on week two, it was a couple of those on West Ham’s side that impressed in this one. Kelly Gago opened the scoring, making the use of her speed after she was put through on goal by Seraina Piubel’s defence-splitting pass and then subsequently rounding Elene Lete to make it 1-0.
It ended with that scoreline at half-time, with West Ham making it difficult for London City Lionesses in getting anything going, which forced quite a few turnovers in possession. Rita Guarino’s side ended up making nine interceptions in the opening 45 minutes, and leading the game throughout with that stat was Katie Zelem, who registered six in total across the 90 minutes.
With the overall hard-work shown by West Ham’s players in this match, Zelem was heavily involved, also making 13 recoveries and winning nine out of her 14 ground duels (64%). The player with the most defensive contributions overall though was another West Ham signing in Nadine Riesen with 17, plus she also won 13 out of her 18 ground duels (72%).
The home side came out of the blocks in the second half and scored a near carbon-copy of the first goal, only this time it was Viviane Asseyi who was put through this time, with the assist by Riko Ueki. Despite a goal back from London City Lionesses via a second back-heeled goal by Daniëlle van de Donk in as many weeks to make it an interesting ending to this game, the scoreline didn’t change for the rest of this fixture.
The Hammers held on to win their first game this season, and in the last six Barclays WSL seasons before Saturday’s game, they had only won their first home game on one occasion. It’s a victory that Rita Guarino’s team will hope can kickstart some momentum, whereas Eder Maestre’s London City are going to look to bounce back next week.
Manchester United 0-5 Chelsea
Chelsea got their first three points of the season in emphatic fashion with a 5-0 victory away to Manchester United, and it was five different players who all got on the scoresheet for Sonia Bompastor’s side.
Sjoeke Nüsken had opened the scoring for the away side in the 21st minute, before Keira Walsh doubled the lead elven minutes later, and 2-0 was how it stayed until half-time. It was another first half display from Man Utd that saw minimal impact on the attacking front, with only one shot in the first 45, and they only had one other chance in the second half to go along with that.
Four touches in the opposition box all game highlights how little they were able to do in attacking areas, and their opponents firmly established control and dominance, plus they were more clinical with scoring goals than how they had been the week before against Aston Villa. Lauren James makes it 3-0 with a goal against her former club – making that seven goals in all comps against United since she swapped them for Chelsea in 2021.
Ellie Carpenter scored the fourth goal a couple of minutes after the third one, and Lucy Bronze capped off the five-star display in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. The intense approach from Chelsea proved dividends and many of their players thrived this week in the individual stats as well as being able to assist goals as well as score them.
With Chelsea and Sonia Bompastor’s side up and running with their first win after two games, Manchester United and Eva Olid have had a difficult opening to their 2026/27 campaign. Not winning this weekend meant it was the first time United had failed to win any of their opening two games in the Barclays WSL since the 2019/20 season.
Birmingham City 2-2 Brighton and Hove Albion
It ended all square at St. Andrews between Birmingham City and Brighton and Hove Albion, with the home side having led for most of the game until two goals by the away side towards the later portion of it meant that Birmingham were not able to win for the first time this season.
After scoring in a solid performance on their opening week defeat to Manchester City, Océane Hurtré was on the scoresheet again for Birmingham in giving them the lead after eight minutes. Despite allowing Brighton to have much of the possession in the first half, Birmingham were managing the game well, even with Fran Kirby going close on one occasion to try and make sure she capped off her 150th league appearance with a goal for the Seagulls.
The second half began, and it was Amy Merricks’ Birmingham side that doubled the lead as last season’s Barclays WSL 2 Player of the Season Lily Crosthwaite scored her first ever goal in the top flight with a clinical finish past Chiamaka Nnadozie down that right side.
With Brighton’s attacking pressure stepping up, Birmingham’s own goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley was needed again just like last weekend in needing to make some crucial saves. After making seven saves against Manchester City, she produced the same number of saves in this game as well to keep her team in front for the brunt of proceedings. An Olivia Garcia goal made sure of an interesting ending to this as she opened her Barclays WSL goal-count for this season.
With it being all-Brighton towards the end, they found the equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game through Kiko Seike picking up the ball and finding the space before shooting and finding the net to salvage a point for her team, and one that gives Brighton boss Arturo Ruiz his first point in the Barclays WSL.
Everton 1-0 Charlton Athletic
Everton have their first win on the board, and it did take an own goal for them to get over the line on the way to victory against a Charlton Athletic side that ended the game with nine players on the pitch after two red cards.
There was not too much in the way of clear-cut opportunities for either team in the first half, made evident by the low xG between the two teams (Everton – 0.26 & Charlton – 0.52). Ashleigh Neville had the best chance in the opening 45 of this one after a half-volley attempt crashed off the crossbar from at least 30-yards out.
It could have been a goal on Neville’s 127th appearance in the Barclays WSL, but what did happen with her was that she was sent off following a high tackle on Ruby Mace in the 58th minute. She had been one of Charlton’s better performers in the game up to that point at either end of the pitch, and from there on, Everton were able to grow more into the game and have more attacking pressure.
They did end the game with a lot of possession (78%), and their positive response to gaining the extra player advantage was made to count as a cross into the central area from their summer signing Holly McNamara went into the back of the net off of Leighanne Robe.
They kept Charlton pinned in their own half for the rest of the game with an equaliser not looking like it was coming for Karen Hills’ side, and to add to the disappointment, debuting Hawa Cissoko ended her second-half cameo with a second yellow card and left the Addicks with nine players on the pitch by the end.
For Scott Phelan and Everton, it is an immediate response to last week’s defeat to one of the other promoted teams Crystal Palace. Ruby Mace also had a standout performance in midfield, ending with the most chances created in the game (3), and a 91% pass accuracy.
Liverpool 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Another draw that took place this weekend was in the anticipated match-up between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur following the wins that both had managed on the opening weekend of the Barclays WSL season.
The home side were the team that had actually dominated for large parts of the game, with neither team creating all that much in the way of clear-cut chances. Both had six shots each in the opening 45, yet only Liverpool had a shot on target and that was despite Tottenham taking the lead. Signe Gaupset saw her cross on the left side take a heavy deflection off Liverpool’s Sam Kerr before going over Khiara Keating in goal and into the net.
Momentum had been regained by Gareth Taylor’s side once the second half got underway, creating a few initial opportunities without testing Lize Kop in the Tottenham goal, before Aurélie Csillag managed to make a header count, and the second-half substitute made a crucial impact on the game for her side. After replacing Beata Olsson at half-time, Csillag ended the game with the joint-most touches in the opposition penalty area (5), and also took the joint-most shots (4).
With both teams getting off to a good start last weekend in their respective victories, the draw against each other this time around does keep them unbeaten after their first two games to start the campaign.
Arsenal 0-0 Crystal Palace
Arsenal and Crystal Palace squared off in the first Barclays WSL game played at the Emirates Stadium for this season, and it ended scoreless despite a dominant performance as expected by the hosts.
Renee Slegers’ side ended the game on Sunday with 30 shots in total compared to the two that their opponents had, and the Gunners also registered 79% possession which included 74 touches in the Palace penalty area. For all the attacking work that was done, it was a case of both Arsenal not having enough of a clinical edge to get the ball in the net and the fact that Crystal Palace were defending so well throughout the 90 minutes.
Bouncing back off the back of a win that was marred in the aftermath by controversy, Jo Potter’s Crystal Palace were left in their own half for much of the proceedings, and it meant that their well-organised defensive approach was decisive, and so was goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, who ended the game with eight saves in total, six of which came from inside the area. It was quite the performance by the keeper who had been an Arsenal player between 2018 and 2020.
In terms of Arsenal’s best chances, Mariona Caldentey and Lisa Baum both struck the crossbar, and Alessia Russo still waits for her first goal in the league this season. Avoiding defeat does also mean that Arsenal match a club record of going 19 games unbeaten, which they managed between August 2011 and October 2012.
For Crystal Palace, it’s four points from their opening two games and zero goals conceded to go along with that, and it is quite a surprise given that they were a team that had only kept a clean sheet in one of their 22 games in last season’s Barclays WSL 2 promotion campaign. It’s also the first time they have avoided a defeat in any all-London clash that they have played in the Barclays WSL, and they are the first newly promoted team in Barclays WSL history to keep a clean sheet away from home against a team that finished in the top two positions last season.
Aston Villa 1-4 Manchester City
Manchester City assured themselves of a 100% start to the season and are the only team to have that record at this early stage of the campaign after a 4-1 win away from home at Villa Park up against Aston Villa.
They got off to a good start with some early momentum and after Akane Okuma failed to get a clear punch away for Villa, Jade Rose scored from around six yards out to give City the lead. 15 minutes passed for Andree Jeglertz’s side before Mary Fowler doubled the margin with a strike from outside the area. Amalie Vangsgaard had pulled one back for her first Barclays WSL goal since signing this summer with Natalia Arroyo’s Aston Villa.
Up to the point of the home team’s goal, Manchester City had threatened a lot and could have scored more with the chances they had produced, such as Khadija Shaw hitting the post with a header and Lauren Hemp having a close-range effort saved by Okuma in goal. Shaw did a goal eventually to make it three already for her this season, and with the assist, Lauren Hemp became the seventh player in Barclays Women’s Super League history to register 100 goal contributions in her career.
Hemp had a top display overall in this fixture as she was involved in much of the attacking play down her favoured left side, and created the joint-most chances (4) as well as taking the joint-most shots (6). She also went close to a goal after her shot in stoppage time of the second half went down as a Mathilde Harviken own goal to round off the 4-1 win for Manchester City.
In being the only side on a 100% record to end week two, it is the first time since 2015 that we have seen just one team win both of their opening games to a Barclays WSL campaign. Their two wins have set them up as early front runners in their attempt to retain the league title.
