Rosa Simkin (@rosatalksball) – 31/01/24
Last weekend in the WSL (27th-28th of Jan), the Seagulls failed to take flight against rampant Chelsea, alleviated yet re-emphasized pressures for Marc Skinner and Carla Ward after United beat Villa 2-1, 1 – 0 Miedema returns as Arsenal seek revenge on Liverpool and so much more. Catch my review of all six ties including all the stats, team information, word from the managers and more below!
Review Order – 1. Manchester United vs Aston Villa, 2. Liverpool vs Arsenal, 3. Bristol City vs West Ham, 4. Brighton & HA vs Chelsea, 5. Everton vs Leicester City and finally 6. Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City.
Image Credit – Henry Browne, The FA
Manchester United 2 – 1 Aston Villa – Pressure re-emphasized?:
Manchester United were victorious at home to Aston Villa with their first league win of 2024. The match saw alleviated pressure for United and more specifically Marc Skinner, after a difficult 1st half to their campaign, which has seen them knocked out in the preliminary rounds of the UWCL and after an admin error from Aston Villa, out of the Continental (League) Cup. United currently sit in 4th place, 7 points from third and therefore European football and 10 points from leaders Chelsea.
Victory for some does however mean woes for others, with pressure once again mounting on Aston Villa’s manager Carla Ward. Villa accomplished the best result in their history last year, placing 5th at the conclusion of the WSL and heading into the season they were even the whispered about favorites to cause an upset. The reality has been very different, currently sat 8th in the league and knocked out of the FA cup, there hopes for success riding on their highly controversial League Cup campaign. I however, would argue that success should not be measured through facing one of the “big four” and I reckon Ward isn’t done just yet.
It wasn’t a bad performance from Villa, starting the game with dominance and control, with a few early chances courtesy of Kenza Dali. However, against the run of play, United went on an attack of their own in the 8th minute, with Hannah Blundell intercepting a misplaced pass and sending a first time cross onto the head of Nikita Parris who glanced it in. Parris was involved again in the 33rd minute, redirecting a rebounded Lucía García into an empty net to get her second. The second half saw a change in the run of play, with Rachel Daly going down early, resulting in a penalty which she converted in the 60th minute. The Villains confidence grew significantly off the back of their goal, but fortunately for the Red Devils they were unable to successful convert any of their chances, making the final score 2 – 1 to Manchester United.
“It was a tale of two halves, we probably showed them a little bit too much respect in the first half. I thought we dominated the second half and were the better team. If we can continue to perform in the way we are we will continue to climb up the table. My girls were outstanding and deserve a huge amount of credit and we probably did deserve a point today. We’ve got to continue working hard. We have been excellent in the last couple of months but you can’t show too much respect like we did in the first half and that will be the bit that is annoying us.” – Ward on Villa’s performance
Liverpool 0 – 2 Arsenal – What did the Fox say?
The Gunners took revenge on the Reds on Sunday, beating them 0 – 2 away. Their opening game of the season was a headline maker, but not the reason for Arsenal would have hoped, with Liverpool beating them 0 – 1 on a historic day at the Emirates. The pressure of a victory in the following fixture against the side didn’t overcome Arsenal however, with a dominant and possessive performance in Merseyside.
The much changed Liverpool side had a positive first half, frustrating the Gunners in all areas of the pitch and providing them limited opportunity for shots on goal, also receiving opportunities of their own to test Arsenal GK Manuela Zinsberger, but similarly to Arsenal, being unable to take them. As Gandhi said, “to lose patience is to lose the battle” and that point certainly stood for Arsenal, coming out for the second half with the score at 0 – 0.
With frustration building for the London side, it was clear something special was required to break the dead lock and what happened yet was typical let unpredictable. An Emily Fox break on the right hand side lead to a square pass to Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema who struck one just outside the box, over Liverpool GK Rachel Law’s head, to celebrate her first WSL goal in over 400 days, after returning from an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury towards the end of last year. Foord was responsible for the second, scoring in the 69th minute to extent their lead. January signing Emily Fox won a well deserved player of the match award, with the right-back assisting both of the Gunners goals and very much creating the first through her movement forward.
It takes a special occasion for Vivianne Miedema to celebrate like this!
“I’ve not thought about it that much but on the bus this morning, I said to Beth, ‘it just feels good today,’ I have been scoring a lot of goals in training and it might happen here. I had read online that I am decent at scoring against Liverpool too so I thought I needed to keep up that stat. It is really nice that it went in and that first one is done now. The way the girls celebrated with me says it all too it has been a long time and I worked really hard for it. Since the winter break I feel so much more like me and this is really nice that this is ticked off and we can all move on.” – Miedema on her goal and its significance
Bristol City 1 – 2 West Ham United – The Hammer comes down on the Robbins:
On Sunday, West Ham traveled to Ashton Gate to take on relegation rivals Bristol City in a crucial tie in the Barclay’s Women’s Super League. Both sides went into the tie equal on 5 points at the bottom of the league, with only three goals separating them in goal difference. The highly anticipated game had a twist added in the build up, with West Ham faithful Lisa Evans joining the Robbins on a permanent deal just three days before the battle.
Honoka Hayashi opened West Ham’s account, scoring early in the first half, with a low left-footed shot finding its way past Shae Yañez after a mess at the back for City. With the score at halftime 0 – 1 to the traveling Hammers, the Robbins managed a swift response scoring just three minutes after the second half kicked off, in rather dramatic circumstances! West Ham were caught out the other end, celebrating debutante Zadorsky’s first goal in claret and blue, where she was then flagged for being offside. The Robbins took advantage, taking their resultant free kick quickly and breaking down the right with Ffion Morgan crossing the ball into Amalie Thestrup who fired City equal with the Hammers in the 48th minute. However, the hopes for a first home win back in the WSL were short lived for Bristol, with Viviane Asseyi scoring through the legs of GK Yañez in the 55th minute, securing a crucial win for the side, setting them three points clear of the relegation zone.
Bristol City are now well and truly in the danger zone, and it will take a remarkable second half of the season, in my opinion, for Lauren Smith’s side to survive their first season back at the top.
“We took the two goals superbly, to be fair. It’s just great for the team and staff, with all of the hard work that everyone has been putting in, to get the three points over the line is massive. We want to keep improving on our results, we don’t want to be in the position that we’re in. We’re taking things one step at a time and one game at a time. That’s all we can do and we’ll keep chipping away with the aim of climbing the table.” – West Ham United manager Rehanne Skinner on the result
Brighton 0 – 3 Chelsea – The Seagulls fail to take flight against the reigning champions:
Saturday’s stand alone fixture saw ruthless Chelsea take all three points away in Crawley, maintaining their 3 point lead at the top of the WSL. Brighton started well, with a well-managed first half performance, even testing Chelsea at times. However, many would say they were just in luck with Chelsea increasing the pressure and intensity during the second half, scoring their three goals in just a 13 minute interval, starting just a minute after the first half kicked off.
Lauren James opened up the scoring, with a left-footed shot hitting the top left hand corner after a Niamh Charles assist. Fran Kirby was next, with a header soon after a corner. Lauren James ended affairs for Chelsea, this time with her right foot, once more in the bottom left hand corner. James is now the joint top goal scorer in the league, with 12 goals from her 11 appearances.
“I really enjoyed today. It was controlled. It looked like things we work on all the time. I thought it was a confident performance.” Hayes said regarding her sides performance, she added on the topic of Lauren James’s performance that, “Certainly nobody is teaching [James] that, What she has, not one of us can teach her that gift. She’s decisive in the box and proved that again today in the right moment, at the right time.” – Emma Hayes
Everton 0 – 1 Leicester City – The Foxes sneak past the Toffees with a 0-1 Win:
A Janice Cayman second-half strike ended a nine-game winless streak for Willie Kirk’s Leicester City in the WSL, in a well contested battle at Everton. Although Leicester started the better of the sides, the momentum continually shifted during the clash, with Everton looking the more likely to score in the first half, there closest effort coming from Katja Snoeijs who fired a Heather Payne cross onto the cross bar.
Janice Caymann started proceedings for the Foxes, receiving the ball from Jutta Rantalla and turning around the Everton defender, taking the opportunity to shoot. Her curling effort made its way past Everton’s Courtney Brosnan, securing Caymann’s fifth goal of the season for the side. After the goal, there was unfortunately no looking back for Everton with a newfound energy coming the way of Leicester City, who did well to hold on for the remainder of the game and take a crucial three points, moving them into 7th and well clear of the relegation zone. It was a tale of missed chances for Everton however, who now slip to 9th in the table with ten games to play.
“We had a big win against them on Wednesday, which potentially could’ve been a mental barrier, in a sense, that they had a point to prove, and we needed to make sure we weren’t complacent. We knew it was a completely different Everton team but I’m pleased with how we dealt with it. We just asked the players to be a little bit more decisive because we almost conceded a goal when we were in a five vs. two position in the box, and the numbers don’t matter if you’re not decisive in your actions, so it’s about having leadership in those minutes.” – Willie Kirk on Leicester’s winning performance
Tottenham 0 – 2 Manchester City – City keep up their chase of leader’s Chelsea after victory in North London:
Manchester City traveled to London on Sunday, to face Spurs. Bunny Shaw struck again against the side, after scoring a hat-trick in the alternative fixture back in November, which saw ruthless City beat Spurs 7 – 0 at home.
The story this time round was different despite the result, with 2nd place City being tested at Brisbane Road. It was however once more a tale of frustration for the Lilywhites and especially for their star striker, Scotland’s Martha Thomas who had a number of chances. In the 19th minute Thomas fired wide after a stunning assist from Grace Clinton and just 10 minutes later, she was called out for being offside after rippling the net, but only after a Ronaldo esk celebration. If they had taken their chances, it is safe to say that it could have been a very different story!
City opened their account courtesy of an own goal by Amy Turner in just the ninth minute and did well to absorb the pressure Spurs fired at them throughout the 90 minutes. The League’s top scorer, Bunny Shaw scored from close range in the 51st minute, resulting in her 13th goal of the season and securing a crucial three points for City, who continue their chase of leader’s Chelsea who sit three points ahead – both side’s have to play one and other again.
“We have shown progress and were better defenders today, but I think it also shows we are on a journey and we are not there yet to compete with the best teams in this league. Manchester City are absolutely brilliant in how they play and they have played for a while with this team. It was a little bit tricky because we wanted to make sure we defend well with this team and have a good plan, but [their first goal] loses energy for us. We are still on a journey to beat them but I think next year we will be more ready.” – Robert Vilahamn on Spurs performance
WSL Match Week 13 Fixtures (All times GMT):
Saturday 3rd February:
Aston Villa vs Bristol City – 12:30, The FA Player
Sunday 4th Feb:
Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion – 12:00, The FA Player
West Ham vs Arsenal – 12:30, BBC Two (& FA Player EXCLUDING UK)
Manchester City vs Leicester City – 13:00, The FA Player
Liverpool vs Tottenham – 14:00, The FA Player
Chelsea vs Everton – 18:45, Sky Sports (& FA Player EXCLUDING UK)
Current Standings – WSL Table:
