Mid-week BWSL action on the agenda
Chelsea vs Brighton and Hove Albion
Wednesday 18 March, Kingsmeadow, 19:00pm
The first of Wednesday’s matches sees a trip to Kingsmeadow for Brighton and Hove Albion as they take on Chelsea. With this postponement, it means both Chelsea and Brighton have three league fixtures packed into 11 days this month.
The home side will head into this one off the back of the Subway Women’s League Cup final, but last time out in the BWSL, they were 2-0 winners against Liverpool and are currently on a run of two straight league wins since they were beaten by both Arsenal and Manchester City in consecutive weeks.
Brighton & Hove Albion are coming into this one having not played a league fixture the start of February when they were beaten by West Ham after conceding a 2-0 lead to their opponents. Things looked better for the Seagulls though after they got revenge on West Ham by beating them to progress into the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup. Manager Dario Vidosic will be hopeful that his team can cause some problems against a Chelsea side that has beaten them on seven occasions in their last ten meetings.
Only once back in February 2021 have Brighton ever beaten Chelsea when they won 2-1 away from home five years ago. Since then, only two games have ended in at least a draw. Plus, it has tended to be a fixture that delivers goals, with five of the last meetings all having at least a total of three goals scored in them.
In terms of Women’s Asian Cup absentees, for Chelsea, they will be without Australian duo forward Sam Kerr and defender Ellie Carpenter. Whereas Brighton will also be an Australian international in their squad, with Charlize Rule playing at the tournament, and they will miss two key names in Japanese duo Kiko Seike and Moeka Minami.
Many of Chelsea’s players performed well over the international break, including Lauren James who impressed for England against Iceland, and Alyssa Thompson scored a late winner for the USA as they won the SheBelieves Cup. Thompson will be aiming to score against Brighton again after scoring in the last fixture against them. Lauren James also has a good record against Brighton, with three in her last four against the Seagulls.
West Ham United vs Manchester United
Wednesday 18 March, Chigwell Construction Stadium, 19:15pm
10th-place West Ham United host second-placed Manchester United at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Wednesday evening. The focus for Man Utd will turn back onto the BWSL after Sunday’s cup final against Chelsea, and they take on a side that they haven’t lost to since December 2019, when West Ham beat them 3-2 courtesy of a late winner by Katharina Baunach to complete a comeback from 2-1 down.
In the last ten meetings between West Ham and Manchester United, it is the away side that have proven to be the more dominant side with seven wins in that period. But two of the last four meetings have ended in draws. However, because of Manchester United currently being on a seven-game unbeaten run in the Barclays Women’s Super League, they are likely to be favourites heading into this one.
When they faced off back on December 7th, Goals from Elisabeth Terland and Dominique Janssen helped Manchester United to a 2-1 win, with Shekiera Martinez’s acrobatic goal for West Ham in between those two Man Utd goals being the pick of the bunch.
This fixture will see the fourth-best defence in terms of xG conceded (19.5) take on the team with the worst record for xG conceded (30.6), which for West Ham is still the case despite leading the league in total tackles (369). Given Manchester United have been one of the better teams in the league in being able to create big chances this season (43), they can cause a few problems defensively for West Ham.
West Ham’s struggles on the defensive side of things has largely contributed to how they have done this season, with the Hammers yet to have kept a clean sheet at any point during the WSL this season. Their Polish goalkeeper Kinga Szemik has also made an average of 2.7 saves per season, while also being ranked second for average goals conceded per game (1.9). They may need a big performance from her if they are to avoid defeat against Marc Skinner’s side on Wednesday.
West Ham United will also have to deal with the absence of two of their key players, as Riko Ueki could still be in Australia with Japan at the Women’s Asian Cup, plus club captain Katrina Gorry will also be out there as long as Australia progress further in the tournament. Manchester United are also without a key player as Ueki’s Japanese teammate Hinata Miyazawa will be absent for this game, meaning her run of starting in all of Man Utd’s BWSL games this season will come to an end.