Tom Garry’s report has landed, so you should dive right into his piping-hot take from a sunny Goodison Park. Thanks for following along with us today!
Alessia Russo, who scored on her 100th WSL appearance, discusses her fine all-round display on Sky Sports: “It’s all about finding the spaces – the teams in this league, it’s hard sometimes, they all have different approaches. I want to be in the box, but if I need to drop deep or go out wide, I can do that.”
That was Russo’s 51st goal in 100 league games. It was originally credited to Caitlin Foord before it was reviewed. Foord also put in a commendably busy display.
“What a reception Leah Williamson is getting,” reports Tom Garry. “The England skipper is back and Arsenal’s fans are over the moon for her.”
WSL table update. Arsenal rise to second … but could be back down to fourth by tomorrow. Here’s Sunday’s fixtures.
Brighton v Chelsea
Leicester v London City Lionesses
Manchester City v Aston Villa
West Ham v Liverpool
Manchester United v Tottenham
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City Women | 10 | 17 | 27 |
| 2 | Arsenal Women | 11 | 13 | 22 |
| 3 | Chelsea Women | 10 | 10 | 21 |
| 4 | Man Utd Women | 10 | 11 | 20 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 10 | 0 | 19 |
| 6 | London City Lionesses | 10 | -6 | 15 |
| 7 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| 8 | Aston Villa Women | 10 | 1 | 13 |
| 9 | Everton Women | 11 | -8 | 8 |
| 10 | Leicester Women | 10 | -14 | 6 |
| 11 | West Ham Women | 10 | -15 | 4 |
| 12 | Liverpool FC Women | 10 | -13 | 2 |
A game of real ups and downs: there was a flurry of action in the first half as Arsenal went ahead, Everton equalised, then the visitors went back in front inside five minutes. Olivia Smith put the game to bed with a sumptuous late strike, but it was a scrappy second half overall.
Everton will be a bit disappointed. Despite another all-action display from Ruby Mace and some terrific Courtney Brosnan saves in the first half, they couldn’t match that titanic effort against Chelsea. Understandable, perhaps.
FULL TIME: Everton 1-3 Arsenal
Arsenal up to second in the WSL before Sunday’s games as they get the win they want before the league’s mini-break!
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94 min: Arsenal hit the bar at the end! Russo’s rocket of a shot hit the woodwork – it was seriously travelling.
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93 min: Blackstenius is almost sent clear on goal but Mace pulls her back. An absolutely deserved yellow card.
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91 min: Snoeijs and Kitagawa both try to test the Arsenal defence as Everton make one last attempt. Nothing doing so far.
Russo gets given the official player of the match award. I can understand that. Her goal was fortuitous, but her all-round play and involvement has been excellent.
90 min: Russo plays a low free-kick into the box, but Everton are wise to it. They look to counter – Snoeijs does well but Williamson intervenes smartly. We’ll play five extra minutes.
88 min: Just when it seemed this game was stagnating, and Smith hadn’t done a lot since coming on – but she’s a threat from outside the box and she showed it there.
Martina Fernández is booked for a shirt pull and Arsenal have a free-kick on the right of the Everton area.
GOAL! Everton 1-3 Arsenal (Smith)
Olivia Smith – a sublime finish out of nowhere! McCabe’s ball finds her on the edge of the box and if her first controlling touch doesn’t quite connect, her second does – it’s a lovely volley that screams into the net.
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85 min: Robinson tries to spring a break after Everton deal with the corner but her threatening run is stopped by a smart Cooney-Cross intervention.
84 min: Russo with a driving run into the box! The tight angle was against her and the ball is bundled out for an Arsenal corner.
83 min: Williamson’s first touch, an accurate pass to Fox. Arsenal work the ball towards the Everton goal – McCabe can’t find a ball through the Everton defence, however. An Arsenal throw.
82 min: Arsenal crowd around the Everton box on their left, but Foord gives away a free-kick. Scrappy stuff in the second half.
Leah Williamson returns
The England captain is on for the final 10 minutes, as she replaces Steph Catley! These are the first minutes Leah Williamson has played since the Euro 2025 final.
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79 min: Borbe getting a bit of treatment on her ankle, she fell slightly awkwardly catching that free-kick. Brian Sørensen takes the chance to rev up his players for a final push.
77 min: Payne has the ball on the Everton left; doesn’t have a lot of help but draws a foul from Wubben-Moy. A free-kick which will be swung into the Arsenal box… Borbe just about collects it! That was moving in the air.
75 min: A long Everton pass gives Kitagawa too much to do, she can’t keep it in play. Vignolla is replaced by Katie Robinson as the home side make a fourth change.
74 min: Wubben-Moy clears a ball into the box; Russo comes deep to pick it up. Everton won’t mind seeing her inside her own half. But not Arsenal do build a promising attack. Ruby Mace – who else? – clears it.
72 min: Everton have a spell of possession, the substitutions seemingly working a touch better for them than the visitors early on. Vignola is getting plenty of the ball.
70 min: Holmgaard wins the ball in midfield but once again it goes backwards for Everton. It’s worked forwards well but Vignola’s ball into the box is easily gathered by Borbe.
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68 min: Both sides giving the ball away as the game settles (or unsettles) into a sloppy passage of play. Everton’s Kitagawa chases down a long ball but Fox gets their first and clears.
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66 min: Arsenal are sweeping the ball around smoothly but, unlike the start of the first half, are yet to really show any cutting edge.
64 min: Emily Fox is too cunning for Payne as Everton try to search for an opening – she guides the ball back to her goalkeeper on the edge of the area. Arsenal back with the ball.
62 min: Little goes off, alongside Mead, as Arsenal make some subs. Blackstenius and Olivia Smith come on – so that’s not bad. Smith was superb against Liverpool in her last WSL game.
60 min: Caldentey fires in a shot after the short corner but Brosnan is equal to it. Mead has a shot from way out, but it was, well, let’s say optimistic.
Especially because, as Tom Garry tells me in a much-needed sunshine update: “Everton fans will be glad to know the sun is now below the stand now, so Brosnan can see everything.”
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57 min: Everton clear, but the red and white wave is soon back upon them, switching play. A 10th Arsenal corner. Can they make one count?
Not before Everton make a triple change: Snoeijs, Holmgaard and Van Gool all come on.
56 min: Russo races into space and gets a shot away – Mace blocks smartly and puts it behind. Again. Arsenal’s ninth corner already.
55 min: Cooney-Cross delivers an incisive pass to Mead, but her path is blocked. Everton’s defence looking a bit more solid at the start of this half, but of course they will need more than that at some stage.
53 min: McCabe gets in behind and slips in a fine pass, Russo is running across the goal and gets a close-range shot on target, but Brosnan is firmly behind it.
52 min: Everton deal with the corner and try to play the ball around in defence but they’re struggling a bit with Arsenal’s press. The visitors soon have the ball back. Mead wins a free-kick, taken quickly.
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50 min: Everton have a spell of possession but can’t find a route to a chance, Arsenal win the ball back, Foord drives into the box and Mace manages to get it out for a corner.
48 min: Sørensen, earpod firmly in, is offering plenty of loud instructions. Slegers looks more considered as she gives some chewing gum a thorough going over in the style of a former Manchester United men’s manager.
On the pitch, Brosnan gets a firm fist away on an Arsenal cross. Everton look to mount an attack.
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46 min: Everton work their way to Arsenal’s goal and Ornella Vignola has a shot which goes straight at Borbe. Not a direct threat but mild encouragement for the hosts.
The second half kicks off
Everton, who need to try to match Arsenal’s intensity, get the second half rolling.
Thanks for the excellent mid-game analysis, Tom. Like a true Pro, I missed Tom’s pre-kick-off missive, which was thus: “The Arsenal keeper Anneke Borbe has the sun shining directly into her eyeline in this first half. Tricky.”
Well, Everton did score from their only shot on target (not that Borbe could do much about that pearler). But does this mean it’s disadvantage Courtney Brosnan in the second half?? Everton need some cloud cover, along with defensive improvements.
It is hard to fathom how Arsenal only have a one-goal advantage, given the pressure they have applied on the Everton penalty area for large chunks of that first half. At times, the rare moments where that pressure eased off seemed only to arise when there were physios called on, to treat players from both sides.
There were very few other moments of respite, for Everton’s backline. Kim Little and Mariona Caldentey are pulling a lot of strings in the middle. As soon as Everton equalised, Brian Sørensen rushed immediately to try and give some tactical instructions to his players but they are still struggling to get the ball off this dynamic Arsenal team, and the home fans have been relatively quiet as a result.
The away supporters have been singing through their repertoire about being European champions. They’re going second in the table as it stands.
Some half-time reading: Tom Garry has analysed Liverpool’s winless WSL start. West Ham on Sunday feels massive.
No wins, no clean sheets and – on Thursday night – no shots on target. It has been a horrible first half of the WSL season for Liverpool and, while the gaze of the world’s football media has been drawn towards the future of “the Egyptian King”, Mo Salah, on Merseyside, the women’s team look increasingly in danger of slipping down the pyramid.
Half-time: Everton 1-2 Arsenal
Four-and-a-half crazy minutes brought us three goals. Not sure how Arsenal didn’t score in some of the other 40+ minutes, but there we are – a terrifically entertaining half of action.
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45+6 min: Gago plays a neat layoff to Momiki but Arsenal’s defence is firm and Everton are forced to go backwards. A ball over the top and Gago is just offside.
45+4 min: Mace holds off the busy Foord inside the box and Everton clear. A little bit of respite at the end of the half. Will either side get one more chance?
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45+3 min: Brosnan boots the ball long – perhaps not particularly encouraged by her defenders’ passing game – and the ball is well worked to Payne on the right. She briefly looks in behind! But the offside flag goes up.
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45+1 min: Everton almost give the ball away to Mead inside the box! It goes out for a corner but that was very risky. We’re getting seven additional minutes in this half thanks to a few stoppages earlier.
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44 min: Arsenal sweeping the ball from left to right, searching for gaps in the Everton defence. Mead’s ball into the box is booted away by Brosnan.
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42 min: Foord crosses the ball into the box and Russo heads into the side netting – it was just a touch to high to be fair; she couldn’t quite get the right angle.
40 min: Emily Fox and Kim Little combine excellently on the right, zipping the ball around, but Caldentey can’t quite collect a pass inside the area.
39 min: Mead’s corner is put behind by Everton, she gets another go and it’s a more dangerous cross – right into the mixer, but the hosts react quickest and get it away.
37 min: Interesting for Everton is they’ve hardly had the ball but in the few attacks they’ve mounted, there has been some promise (and a goal).
Beth Mead is back on and we go again; Russo is tackled by Mace and Arsenal have a corner.
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35 min: Back under way, Everton on the attack for a change – Payne plays a nice ball into the box and Gago’s finish goes wide. Arsenal a little open there. Now Mead is getting some treatment for a challenge earlier in that move; another break in play.
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33 min: Foord and Mead combine in attack but the latter gives the ball away, before Yuka Momiki and McCabe battle for the ball – the Arsenal player landing on Momiki by accident. A short break for treatment.
30 min: Arsenal have had 87% possession after half an hour and by far the bulk of the chances. A one-goal advantage the least they deserve. Everton can thank Brosnan’s handling and that one moment of magic from Hayashi for still being in this game.
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29 min: Courtney Brosnan with another world-class save! Russo is through on goal – a superb turn and run – and looks to tuck it inside the far post. But Everton’s keeper sticks out a hand and turns it around the post.
28 min: Another Arsenal corner and Brosnan lets the ball slip through her grasp but quickly snatches it at the second attempt, just before Russo can capitalise.
27 min: McCabe tries the sneaky free-kick, I think, looking to slide it under the jumping Everton wall, but instead it just clattered into feet. Everton manage to clear the resulting corner.
25 min: Mead is fouled on the edge of the area. This free-kick is a great position to test the overworked Brosnan …
23 min: Everton have been far too open in the first quarter if this match, Arsenal could arguably be further ahead. They finally get some possession, but look a bit edgy.
Update: Russo has been beleatedly credited with Arsenal’s second goal, the ball deflected off her and – apparently – over the line (despite Brosnan’s best efforts).
21 min: A minor knock to Courtney Brosnan, superb despite conceding twice, gives both teams a small rest. At the restart, she’s called into action again to stop another close-range Russo effort.
17 min: Kyra Cooney-Cross almost makes it 3-1! Her excellent shot deflects off Ruby Mace and just past the post. A breathless start!
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GOAL! Everton 1-2 Arsenal (Russo 15)
What is going on here? Arsenal are back in front! Caitlin Foord makes the final finish after another excellent Brosnan save – after the ball had deflected off Russo’s chest and almost in. Foord was fastest to the loose ball and the visitors are back in front.
(Corrections dept: officials belatedly confirm that Brosnan could not quite keep out that initial attempt – the ball snuck over the line. Russo gets credited with the goal, on her 100th WSL appearance, not Foord.)
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GOAL! Everton 1-1 Arsenal (Hayashi 13)
Whatever McCabe can do, Honoka Hayashi can do better! Another excellent finish – the ball comes to Hayashi in space on the edge of the area but she still has plenty to do. And she does it. Curling the ball inside the post. What a start.
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GOAL! Everton 0-1 Arsenal (McCabe 11)
Katie McCabe with her first WSL goal of the season – and it’s a sublime strike! Caldentey tested Brosnan, who made an excellent save, but the ball fell to McCabe on the edge of the box and she fired in a superb shot, just where the Everton goalkeeper couldn’t get it. Outstanding.
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8 min: Kim Little, in space, floats in a delightful ball – Beth Mead from close range heads it straight at Courtney Brosnan in the Everton goal! That was a chance.
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7 min: Arsenal do some neat work on the left, Caldentey with a slick pass, but Foord has Mace stuck to her like glue. The visitors dominating the ball early on.
5 min: Everton snatch the ball back and try to break but Lotte Wubben-Moy is first to it. Arsenal look to play in Alessia Russo, but the pass is not quite right for her to collect.
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3 min: Mariona Caldentey puts the ball into the box, Ruby Mace clears – Arsenal come again and Caitlin Foord fires wide from the other side. Not much of a chance but Arsenal probing for openings.
2 min: Everton and Arsenal feel each other out, taking turns to ping it around at the back. You can definitely here the sold-out away support already, they’re making a noise early on.
Kick-off
We’re under way at Goodison Park – Arsenal, quite literally, get the ball rolling.
Backing up Tom Garry’s scene setting: it looks lovely and sunny at Goodison. A perfect winter’s day (but for which side??)
The music switches to Z Cars now, replacing Mariah Carey/Wham!, as the teams step on to the pitch.
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Here at Goodison Park the sun is shining and the Christmas songs are playing, with around 1,200 Arsenal fans having woken up before dawn and made the journey up from the capital. The visitors sold out their initial allocation of around 900 before receiving some additional tickets. They are doing their best to liven the atmosphere, as their team try to avoid slipping up against a side who beat Chelsea last weekend.
Renée Slegers has her say pre-match: “We are very aware that we need to work hard for it – as we did in the last three games – and we will really need that today.”
The Arsenal coach praises Everton for their display against Chelsea: “Clinical on the transition - and they defended for their lives … It was very impressive, and they will do everything to defend their goal [this afternoon].”
It’s just over 15 minutes to go before kick-off – let’s remind ourselves of the Women’s Super League Standings after 10 games. Stating the obvious, fourth is not where Arsenal hoped to be; out of the Women’s Champions League spots as it stands. But a long way to go!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City Women | 10 | 17 | 27 |
| 2 | Chelsea Women | 10 | 10 | 21 |
| 3 | Man Utd Women | 10 | 11 | 20 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 10 | 11 | 19 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 10 | 0 | 19 |
| 6 | London City Lionesses | 10 | -6 | 15 |
| 7 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| 8 | Aston Villa Women | 10 | 1 | 13 |
| 9 | Everton Women | 10 | -6 | 8 |
| 10 | Leicester Women | 10 | -14 | 6 |
| 11 | West Ham Women | 10 | -15 | 4 |
| 12 | Liverpool FC Women | 10 | -13 | 2 |
Ruby Mace was a defensive colossus for Everton last Sunday – and, of course, the 22-year-old is a former Arsenal player. Safe to say she’ll be motivated this afternoon.
Arsenal have the upper hand in this fixture: Everton haven’t beaten the Gunners in the past 22 WSL games.
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Everton’s Brian Sørensen insists “the future is bright” after they ended Chelsea’s 19-month unbeaten WSL result – and that he’s “positive” before today’s home game.
“I am very happy with where we are in terms of staff,” said the manager. “The future is bright – maybe even more than it was in August … In the beginning, there was pressure because we really wanted to [win at Goodison Park]. I said to the girls: when we win it because they are doing amazing and when we lose it is my fault because I haven’t set us up right; to take the pressure off of them.
He added: “That paid off and the girls were excellent. They didn’t want to lose that [Chelsea] game, that’s for sure! If we can do the same against Arsenal, that puts us in a good position.
“I’m positive going in to the Arsenal game. We know it is going to be a tough game against a good team.”
One Arsenal and England player who won’t be involved today is Chloe Kelly. She has a minor ligament injury, but she did a fantastic interview with the Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson this month. Well worth reading.
“I went on to the pitch and my legs were just like jelly,” she recalls. It wasn’t until she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in 2021 that her mindset began to shift. “Before my ACL, I was definitely more of a nervous player. Having the injury allowed me to think, what am I nervous for? I’ve gone through the worst situation and I’ve had to do my rehab for that. So what is fazing me?”
Leah Williamson is on the bench for Arsenal, where she’s been for the past two matches. The defender hasn’t played any minutes since winning the Euro 2025 final as captain of the Lionesses. She’ll be itching to get on to the pitch this afternoon.
The Teams
Alessia Russo makes her 100th WSL appearance as she starts up front for the visitors. Perhaps more importantly, Kim Little returns to the starting XI – her guile has been missed at times.
Everton welcome back Maz Pacheco, who is on the bench after an injury. But it’s the same XI that saw off Chelsea, as you might expect!
Everton: Brosnan, Kitagawa, Fernández, Mace, Ishikawa, Wheeler, Hayashi, Momiki, Payne, Vignola, Gago.
Subs: Ramsey, Hobson, Van Gool, Ladd, Robinson, Galli, Snoeijs, Holmgaard, Pacheco.
Arsenal: Borbe, Fox, Wubben-Moy, Catley, McCabe, Little, Mariona, Cooney-Cross, Mead, Foord, Russo.
Subs: Liddiard, Williamson, Codina, Hinds, Harwood, Pelova, Smith, Blackstenius.
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Preamble
Everton host Arsenal on the back of the outstanding result of the WSL season so far. Brian Sørensen’s side ended Chelsea’s 34-game unbeaten league run – which had dated back to May 2024 – with a hard-earned 1-0 victory last Sunday. In theory, it was good news for Arsenal who have serious ground to make up if they’re to mount a title challenge (though it was even better news for Manchester City, currently six points clear the top).
Arsenal’s frustrations are brought to you by the letter D: they have drawn four of their 10 WSL games this season. Their failure to turn their possession into clearcut chances is the root of the problem, although Renée Slegers’ team are on a three-game winning streak, albeit two of those coming in the Women’s Champions League.
Everton showed against Chelsea that they know how to play against the bigger teams: a solid defence with dangerous players on the counterattack. They conceded 30 shots on goal against the defending WSL champions but, crucially, kept a clean sheet. Stats to make Arsenal wary, even with the firepower in their ranks. Kick-off as at midday GMT – please do join us!
