What we learned from the Women's Super League's First Weekend Back
Upon their return from the winter break, the WSL provided a lot of goals and talking points for the second half of the league season.
Arsenal 0 – 0 Manchester United
The curtain raiser, Arsenal vs. Manchester United, provided nothing in terms of goals but did provide us with significant insight into each team’s hopes of achieving a top-3 finish by the end of the season. Renee Slegers’ Arsenal side were by far the better team across both halves at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday but were unable to convert their many goalscoring opportunities into goals scored.
With 25 shots (with 6 of those on target), Arsenal appeared destined to come away from the Emirates with a 3-point victory against a lacklustre Manchester United to begin building a much-needed gap away from their rivals for top-3 Tottenham and Manchester United themselves. However, Manchester United’s goalkeeper, Tullis-Joyce, was not in a generous mood upon her visit to the Emirates; keeping Marc Skinner’s United in the game every time she was called upon.
Skinner’s side faced more difficulty as full-back Riviere saw red after a second bookable offence in the 65th minute to force United down to 10 with 25 minutes of regular time to fend off Arsenal’s onslaught.
Fortunately, United were able to weather the storm to remain in touching distance of those all important European places. But, Renee Slegers and her team will be disappointed at what will be seen as a massive missed opportunity to pull ahead in the race for Europe.
Chelsea 5 – 0 West Ham United
Sonia Bompastor and her Chelsea side gave West Ham’s new manager, Rita Guarino, a very warm welcome to the WSL with a debut thrashing against the relegation-threatened club after going 4-0 by the half time whistle.
Even in the second half, West Ham looked far off the pace against a Chelsea side who appeared to be treating the last 45 minutes more like a training session.
It was certainly a WSL debut to forget for the experienced Guarino who will hope to see reinforcements in the coming weeks as the threat of relegation continues to loom for the Hammers.
For the home side, this game will hopefully be the catalyst to thrust them into closer contention with league leaders Manchester City as the second half of the season kicks off.
Manchester City 2 – 0 Everton
Manchester City continued their march towards the WSL title after an incredibly comfortable home win against a very poor Everton.
Brian Sorensen’s side struggled to ever gain a foothold in the game as evidenced by only managing nine touches in City’s box compared to 51 touches from City’s players inside Everton’s penalty area, and only managing to achieve two shots at goal (only one of those on target).
This is another disappointing display for Sorensen’s side who have struggled to gather any
kind of form in spite of a significant victory over city rivals Liverpool (4-1) at Anfield and another impressive away result against title challengers Chelsea (1-0). However, dreadful home form and a general lack of consistency has been a source of frustration for Everton fans throughout this disappointing league campaign.
Manchester City will be pleased with their confident display over Everton and will hope it will serve as a statement of intent going into the rest of the season: ‘we will not be complacent’.