Takeaways from the weekend’s WSL games | Matchweek 21
Every week we round up some of the biggest moments from the weekend's Women's Super League games, analysing the results and both team and individual performances.
There isn’t a lot to fight for now ahead of Saturday’s final day with the top three places being secured for Arsenal and Manchester United despite neither actually winning their respective games. Elsewhere in the league, Brighton look to have affirmed their fifth-place finish while Aston Villa continue on their winning streak to this season.
It’s a little bit later than usual obviously with all the games not being concluded until Bank Holiday Monday, but here are our takeaways from the penultimate game of the 2024/25 Women’s Super League season…
Man Utd secure top three finish with Man City dropping two-goal lead
Sunday’s result at Old Trafford means that Manchester United guaranteed their place in next season’s Women’s Champions League with United drawing on Sunday against the team who were the closest in being able to catch them before kick off.
They knew that a point was all that was needed before kick-off to secure their top-three place, but they did have to come from two goals down to be able to get that. Laia Aleixandri and Rebecca Knaak scored both of Man City’s goals, although Grace Clinton pulled one back for United before half-time.
Substitutes would be responsible for two main moments in the second half when Melvine Malard levelled things in the 68th minute, which got the crowd going and led us all to wonder if United were about to turn things around having got momentum on their side. However, that feeling wouldn’t last, as first-half sub Aoife Mannion would be sent off not long after United equalised. Mannion had replaced Jayde Riviere in the 29th minute, but her double yellow in the game meant that United would have to play on for the rest of it with ten players.
They had enough to hold on though as City did not threaten as much despite putting up as good a fight as they were able to. Nick Cushing’s team did have Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood in from the start, which was a positive and also seeing some of the players who were brought on off the pitch who also had been on the injury list such as Jill Roord, Aoba Fujino and Laura Blindkilde Brown was a needed benefit to improve their squad depth for this crucial game. However, much like the story of their season, they couldn’t get over the line with a victory.
To quote Nick Cushing in the aftermath, his team had “fallen short of the standards and expectations” required to finish higher in the league and be in the Champions League. Last year, they pushed Chelsea up until the final day and just missed out on the silverware. One year later, and it has been a disappointment. We can talk about injuries being a part of the issues and as I have said before, they do play a part. But also, there are further details that we can identify that have been a glaring issue which has caused their drop-off.
The question is now whether Nick Cushing stays on next season and becomes permanent head coach rather than as interim which he is currently. A big summer awaits them after next week when they face Crystal Palace.
Going back to Manchester United, it will be a return to Europe for Marc Skinner and his team as they are four points clear with one game remaining, and this season has seen them make progress following on from their underwhelming league campaign last season.
The target for them will be to reach the new league stage format next season and give them that first experience of being in that stage of the competition. Even if we focus away from that competition, they have set the standard for themselves now in the WSL and they can’t slip below that again. Individual players have had standout campaigns from Phallon Tullis-Joyce to Maya Le Tissier to Elisabeth Terland, so next season will be about developing that further.
Brighton take advantage of more bad Arsenal mistakes
After losing all 13 of their last meetings in the WSL against Arsenal, two goals from Jelena Cankovic and then one each for Fran Kirby and Kiko Seike gave Brighton and Hove Albion a historic first WSL win over the second-placed side, and it was a victory that Dario Vidosic’s team more than deserved despite statistical dominance from Arsenal.
It was a victory that managed to become the main story after pre-kick off all the talk had been on the confirmed news of five Brighton players (Poppy Pattinson, Guro Bergsvand, Maria Thorisdottir, Dejana Stefanovic and Pauline Bremer) that would be leaving the club this summer when their contracts expire. While he knew of the players leaving this summer, Dario Vidosic ended up finding out the news was made public during his pre-match interview on Sky Sports.
Then a change of goalkeeper was required when Melina Loeck suffered what was believed to be a finger injury, so Sophie Baggaley stepped up as starting goalkeeper again after being dropped for the last few games, and she definitely delivered a brilliant performance for her club in this one with the ten saves that she was forced into making.
Brighton now look set for their highest ever finish in the WSL staying in fifth place with a big goal difference swing required if they do lose on the final day against Aston Villa to drop down from their current position. They’ve set themselves a great foundation and now with a few defenders leaving them this summer, they will have to strengthen in that area to go with their strong attack who were ruthless yesterday.
On Arsenal however and it’s more problematic signs than anything positive now and if Wednesday’s big defeat brought them back down from a high of reaching a Champions League final, then this next big defeat will have truly shocked them, especially to a team who they usually get the better of.
The big problem they had was that in attack they actually had a lot of opportunities and yet didn’t take them as efficiently as needed. While they went for it against Brighton, it left them open and the opposition’s attack was punishing them. While they have secured a spot in the top three and next season’s UWCL, they really need to end the season with a good performance just to put them in a better mindset ahead of their biggest game of the season in 18 days. What’s also key is that Arsenal don’t have second place guaranteed yet either.
Finishing second or third is a big factor in terms of where you enter in the qualifying rounds of the Women’s Champions League and it will be an added incentive for next week’s final day clash with Manchester United. Of course it should be mentioned that if Arsenal do beat Barcelona in the final, then they will automatically be in the new league phase.
Everton complete the double over their Merseyside rivals Liverpool
No better way for Everton to respond after last week’s defeat in stoppage time to Brighton than beating their rivals Liverpool at Anfield by two goals to nil, and in the process completing a first league double over them since 2012, and only their second away win all season.
Katja Snoeijs and Karen Holmgaard were on the scoresheet, with Snoeijs getting her fourth goal of the season plus scoring in back-to-back games as well. The Dutch forward linked up well with Kelly Gago in the build-up to it and then struck it well to score in front of the Kop end.
It’s a second goal in three games as well for Holmgaard in only her third start of the campaign as she found herself at the back post, finishing from Toni Payne’s assists after she worked well down the left side. Bit of a mixed afternoon though for her sister Sara Holmgaard, who was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the final ten minutes.
It was an afternoon where Liverpool were left regretting not taking advantage of the pressure they put on their opposition, plus any of their chances that they had from Taylor Hinds going close, at one point hitting the crossbar for the home side. It’s been a bit of a common theme in these Merseyside derbies lately with Liverpool being frustrated by an Everton side who haven’t been afraid to sit in and soak things up.
Courtney Brosnan had another one of those games for Everton, getting her fifth clean sheet of the season and stepping up for her team when needed the most, proving how key she is for them once again.
Everton’s grip on Liverpool in WSL meetings is strengthened again, making it seven matches unbeaten against their Merseyside rivals which goes back to May 2019. So many times we have seen Liverpool outperform Everton on the stats front in these meetings except for the most crucial one of the lot. Goals.
Since going up to fifth not long ago, Liverpool do now have the potential of finishing in the lower half of the table this season and with them facing Chelsea next week who do have the incentive of finishing the season unbeaten, then could they end the final day in defeat to sum up a very inconsistent season, and end Amber Whiteley’s interim tenure in the way she wouldn't want.
Chelsea go one game away from an unbeaten league season
Chelsea stand just one game away from history following their 1-0 win against Tottenham on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Catarina Macario’s penalty the only goal scored by a much-changed Chelsea team after their last game against Manchester United. Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright weren’t even in the matchday squad for the 24/25 WSL champions.
It wasn’t the best performance we have seen from the champions this season and defensively they had a lot of flaws which Tottenham could have taken advantage of. Bethany England was doing well against her old club, playing a part in linking things up together, dropping deep for the team and trying to bring others into the game and break that Chelsea defensive line.
Tottenham’s closest chance and only shot on target in the 90 minutes came from Charli Grant, who went through on goal and had time to beat Hannah Hampton, but the Chelsea and England goalkeeper stopped the chance with Grant’s shot hit straight at her. For all the positives Spurs may have had in recent games, they still don’t have a victory in their last nine games now.
Five wins from their 21 games is not a good thing for them and a tenth place finish is far below the standards they should have, so it just confirms how poor the season has been for Robert Vilahamn’s side who will be desperate to not go into next season having not won since late January.
This game didn’t see Chelsea perform at their fluid best and you could probably say that they have an eye on that Women’s FA Cup final in less than two weeks, and with that a couple of players will be making claims to start that hugely important game at Wembley. With Mayra Ramirez potentially being unavailable does give a chance to Catarina Macario amongst others, with the American international having been getting a few goals lately.
Mia Fishel also started the game, playing 56 minutes of it in her first Chelsea start for 15 months after she had suffered an ACL injury. Someone else who had a chance to show what they are capable of was Lola Brown, the 17-year-old academy prospect.
History is one result away for Chelsea if they can avoid losing to Liverpool next week at Stamford Bridge and become the first team to have an unbeaten 22-game campaign in the Women’s Super League. Sunday’s win interestingly was also the ninth time they won a game 1-0 this season. A sign of fine margins that have pushed Chelsea that step further than everybody else.
Aston Villa win four in a row and end West Ham’s home unbeaten run
After the season they have had, this current run that Aston Villa find themselves on feels like an incredible one and they made it four wins in a row after beating a West Ham side who have been on their own good run, but suffered a first home loss after going unbeaten at the Chigwell Construction Stadium in their last five games there.
Ebony Salmon started things off for Villa in the fifth minute slotting the ball in the net across the goal. Shekiera Martinez levelled things to reach double figures for goals in this campaign and then Riko Ueki gave them the lead. It didn’t stay 2-1 for long though as Rachel Daly pounced on a mistake from Katrina Gorry to equalise, and the first half ended 2-2.
Aston Villa restored the lead for themselves when Chasity Grant scored to get her third goal in her last two games as she made the run in behind from Lucy Parker’s pass over the top. She drilled the ball into the bottom corner and as much as West Ham attempted to get back level again, they couldn’t find a way through as Villa held on.
The win means that Villa do have a chance of finishing at least sixth in the table for the season which would be an achievement after being down near last place for most of the campaign and having struggled for large parts. But things have really turned around under Natalia Arroyo.
West Ham could also finish as high as sixth on the final day if results go their way and they beat Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Saturday. It’s been a good season for West Ham having picked up some big results that have allowed them to aim a little higher than what they have been used to in the WSL recently.
The bottom two earn a point each after 2-2 draw
They went behind on two occasions but Crystal Palace also managed to fight back on two occasions as well as they got themselves into double figures for points this season following a draw with Leicester City.
It wasn’t a game that was packed with quality but we did see some good moments, mainly with the goals scored starting with Hannah Cain in added time of the first half assisted by Hlin Eriksdottir. Palace’s response to that came in the 69th minute with Annabel Blanchard scored from the penalty spot.
Then we get to stoppage time in the second half and it looks like for a moment that Palace’s last home game of the season is going to end in disappointment when Shannon O’Brien scores in the 94th minute and you are thinking that it’s a winner for the Foxes. But then four minutes later, Palace’s second-half substitute Abbie Larkin equalises as she finds herself open to tap it in when the ball is crossed across the area.
The big thing for Crystal Palace will have been to try and not go down with a whimper and aim for points in their last games now that it’s confirmed they will be back in the Women’s Championship. It helps to have a bit of pressure lifted and in doing so allowed them to climb back from adversity in a way and show a bit of fight back. It doesn’t change their fortunes but it has proven that they can bounce back next season.
A last word on Leicester City, who have been on a long winless run away from home and it means that they are only the fourth team in WSL history to have gone the full 22-game campaign without having recorded a win in their away games. Something to improve on next season.
