Women’s Super League: talking points from the weekend’s action

Have Arsenal hit 10-year peak?

The Aston Villa manager, Carla Ward, was full of praise for Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal after the final whistle of their 4-0 home defeat by the Gunners on Saturday. “I think this is the best Arsenal side I’ve seen in the last 10 years”, she said. Looking at the scoreline people could be forgiven for thinking Ward was trying to deflect from the performance of her side but the reality was very different. Villa rode wave after wave of Arsenal attack. With just 23% possession they held on until Kim Little struck in the 51st minute. It was a gutsy performance from the Villans. Ward’s side already have two wins having won just three times across the whole of last season and the defeat by Arsenal spoke more of the scintillating form of the visiting team than any stalling of the momentum at Villa. The real measure of Arsenal’s skill and growth, however, will come against an established, mesmerising and sometimes seemingly telepathic Barcelona on Tuesday night. SW

City hammered into ninth place

Gareth Taylor’s season has completely fallen apart with Manchester City being defeated by West Ham for the first time in the league. The visitors absorbed all of City’s pressure and capitalised on their first attempt on target with Dagny Brynjarsdottir slotting home. Ellen White’s strike was ruled offside before Yui Hasegawa’s stoppage-time goal buried the Sky Blues. This is the worst start City have ever made in the league – the defeat by West Ham was their second at home already and the third in a row. True, they have had a lot of injuries but the starting XI this weekend included Olympic champion Janine Beckie and seven England internationals. “We are up against it,” Taylor said. “Everything seems to be going against us. We won’t get help from anywhere, we have to do it ourselves.” SR

Chelsea’s fringe players step up

After last month’s win against Everton Emma Hayes praised the pre-season and early season performances of Guro Reiten, Beth England, Jess Carter and Erin Cuthbert, admitting the four players had found the last Covid-gripped season tough. “[They] struggled last year,” she said. “Guro, Jess, Beth, Erin, they all care about the team and the contributions they are making will go such a long way to what we want to achieve year. Guro is an amazing talent that is finding another level to her game.” Against a well-organised Brighton, Fran Kirby’s hat-trick of assists thrust her to the fore of the 3-1 win but the work of goalscoring wing-back Reiten, Carter, operating as part of a back three, the dogged Cuthbert and England, who scored three minutes after coming on, showed Chelsea are stronger going forward. There are still questions to be asked of the lack of options at full-back but playing a back three seems to be Hayes’s workaround. Whether it holds up against tougher attacks remains to be seen. SW

Match report: Chelsea 3-1 Brighton

Galton back on scoresheet

Leah Galton is a good player for Manchester United and it was hard to comprehend that she had not scored since January before she was on target against Birmingham City. The goal was slightly controversial as the ball looked as though it went out of play, but Hannah Blundell did enough to keep it in. Blundell assisted Galton to score on her 50th start for the club. The goal along with Ella Toone’s strike, which looked offside, meant Birmingham City set a new record for most consecutive home losses with 17. The outlook seems dismal for Scott Booth’s side but one bright spark can be found in their captain, Louise Quinn, who was superb in defence. SR

Errors haunt goalless Reading

Reading are yet to find their first win – as well as goal – of the season as an error-strewn performance combined with decisions not going their way ended in a defeat against Everton. After only two minutes, the captain, Natasha Harding, had multiple chances to clear the ball but failed to do so which allowed Anna Anvegård to pounce and score Everton’s opener. There were then protests from Reading as they felt Sandy MacIver had handled outside the penalty area but the referee judged the keeper to have chested the ball to the floor. Harding was then brought off with injury after clashing heads with Rikke Sevecke and the lack of leadership allowed Everton to take control. Claire Emslie and Danielle Turner added more goals with Reading lucky as Izzy Christiansen missed a second-half penalty. SR

Leicester are fizzling not sizzling

Leicester City have joined Yeovil and Brighton in a club they did not want to belong to: newly promoted teams who have lost their opening four WSL matches. Many thought Leicester would have a fighting chance in the top flight after an impressive campaign last season, dominant in the Championship and knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup, but they are struggling so far. The goalkeeper Kirstie Levell worked hard to try and win her team their first point of the season with a string of impressive saves against Tottenham but Rachel Williams broke the club’s resolve. Another goal arrived from Angela Addison and with Leicester failing to trouble the Spurs keeper Rebecca Spencer, their hopes of an equaliser dissipated. The result continued Tottenham’s perfect run with four wins from four. SR

WSL roundup: Tottenham win keeps them level with Arsenal at top