Here is how the WSL table looks.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea Women | 7 | 11 | 19 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 7 | 10 | 18 |
| 3 | Man Utd Women | 7 | 14 | 17 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 7 | 1 | 15 |
| 5 | Arsenal Women | 7 | 10 | 14 |
| 6 | London City Lionesses | 7 | -9 | 9 |
| 7 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 8 | Aston Villa Women | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| 9 | Everton Women | 7 | -4 | 5 |
| 10 | Leicester Women | 7 | -8 | 5 |
| 11 | Liverpool FC Women | 6 | -9 | 0 |
| 12 | West Ham Women | 7 | -16 | 0 |
And that is all for today’s WSL clockwatch. Join us next weekend for live coverage of Arsenal v Chelsea.
Full-time: Spurs 2-1 Liverpool
The visitors undone once again as Martin Ho’s side come from behind to keep their momentum going. The was a long delay before Mia Enderby was stretchered off in what appeared to be a neck brace but hopefully that was all for a precaution.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: Hunt gets a yellow after pulling back Olsson, who probably made the most of it. The free-kick is whipped into the box but Spurs deal with the danger.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: The ball loops into the box and Silcock has the chance to head it in but Kop claims it. Kapocs then gets past Neville and has a shot from the left but her shot blazes over.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: Enderby receives a round of applause as she is stretchered off the pitch but the cameras only pan to the supporters, not the player. Hopefully she will be OK. Silcock, a 21-year-old Liverpool fan, is now on the pitch.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: 100 minutes on the clock as Silcock is getting ready to come on.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: Enderby is still being looked at. There was six minutes of added time but almost none of that has been played.
Spurs 1-2 Liverpool: This is not good. Enderby is in tears as the medics rush on to the pitch. Her neck is being held up after she hit her head on the ground.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: Even though it is the visitors that need a goal, they are being pinned back as Thomas tries to get onside after being slipped in.
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool: From a free-kick, Holland sends it to the far post but Kop deals with the danger.
Earlier, Matt emailed in to say: “A rare example of Liverpool attacking the Kop end in both halves. Arf.” Because someone had to say it!
Full-time results
Leicester 1-4 Arsenal
Brighton 2-3 Manchester United
Aston Villa 3-3 Everton
The game at Spurs continues due to the late kick-off.
Updated
GOAL! Aston Villa 3-3 Everton (Gago 90+4)
AND THERE IT IS! It looks initially like Gago has lost the chance to score after a mistimed header but she reacts quicker than everyone else and fires the ball from close range.
GOAL! Brighton 2-3 Manchester United (Seike 90+2)
Brighton are not down and out quite yet! Seike manages to bypass Le Tissier after the defender’s poor touch and finishes her move off with a chipped goal. Lovely goal.
Updated
GOAL! Brighton 1-3 Manchester United (Naalsund 89)
Park sets up Naalsund with a cutback for a simple, easy finish.
Aston Villa 3-2 Everton: Gago’s shot is blocked and moments later Ishikawa hits the crossbar. The visitors are pushing for that equaliser.
GOAL! Leicester 1-4 Arsenal (Blackstenius 85)
Immediate response from the Arsenal! Almost straight after kick-off, Kelly finds Blackstenius who fires from a tight angle into the roof of the net. Light work.
Updated
GOAL! Leicester 1-3 Arsenal (Mouchon 84)
The visitors had the job done and dusted in the first half but Leicester seemingly won’t go down without a fight.
From midfield Mouchon breaks and evades a sea of red shirts. The French forward then fires a goal below Van Domselaar.
GOAL! Aston Villa 3-2 Everton (Mace 75og)
End to end here. Mace is trying to defend her space but all she ends up doing is volleying Salmon’s cross into her own net. She had the cover behind her which makes it all the more disappointing for Everton.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-2 Everton (Kitagawa 70)
Instant impact from the substitute! Villa think they have got rid of the danger until Wheeler finds Fernandez near the edge of the box. She picks out Kitagawa, who bends it beautifully into the corner. No one is saving that.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool (England 52)
Nilden finds England in the middle and, with no Liverpool shirts around her, easily puts her side in front.
GOAL! Brighton 1-2 Manchester United (Kirby 69)
Here we go! Kirby runs into the box with the ball and fires past Tullis-Joyce. Great bit of skill to get her side back into it.
Updated
Brighton 0-2 Manchester United: Skinner makes some changes as Rolfo, Awujo and Blundell come on for Malard, Toone and Riviere.
Brighton also make a change as Camacho makes way for McLauchlan.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Everton (Hanson 60)
They have turned it around! Mullett, surely feeling confident after her earlier goal, crosses a low pass into the box that Hanson just manages to stretch to and poke home. Before today, Everton had won every WSL fixture against Aston Villa in their history. Will the streak be broken?
Spurs 1-1 Liverpool: We’re back under way at Brisbane Road.
GOAL! Brighton 0-2 Manchester United (Park 58)
What a beauty! Park has worked tirelessly for United all afternoon and she is rewarded for her efforts. She combines with Toone, who holds the ball up and lays it back to Park for a lovely finish. Her fourth WSL goal of the season.
Leicester 0-3 Arsenal: Mead with a rare poor cross that is easily collected by Leitzig. Leicester have done a bit better in this half but have a mountain to climb if they want to get back in this. Arsenal make a triple change as Foord, McCabe and Caldentey make way for Kelly, Pelova and Fox.
Leicester 0-3 Arsenal: The substitute Mouchon impresses as she glides between Codina and Catley with ease. She takes a shot, Leicester’s first of the game, but Van Domselaar makes the save.
Brighton 0-1 Manchester United: Not sure if that was a cross or a shot but Kirby blazes it well over the bar.
We are back underway in Leicester 0-3 Arsenal, Brighton 0-1 Manchester United and Aton Villa 1-1 Everton while Spurs and Liverpool have just gone down the tunnel for their half-time.
Spurs 1-1 Liverpool: Hunt has an effort from distance and it is well high and wide. She definitely had better options around her.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 Everton (Mullett 45+8)
It is eight minutes into added time, which was initially supposed to be five minutes, and all of Everton’s defensive work has become undone. They don’t clear their lines and Maritz finds a free Mullett who taps it home. Sucker punch for the visitors as the whistle blows and both teams head down the tunnel.
Updated
Half-time whistles blow at Brighton and Leicester, with the visitors in both games – United and Arsenal – leading at the break.
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Manchester United (Terland 45)
You can’t say it hasn’t been coming. Toone plays the ball in and Olme, who is probably offside, lets it glide past her and Terland latches on it to score against her former club. Terland may have also been offside, but no flag.
Updated
Brighton 0-0 Manchester United: Park with another good ball for Terland that just hits the strikers feet awkwardly and the hosts clear. Toone then has a go and her shot is spilled by Nnadozie but the keeper recovers in time.
GOAL! Leicester 0-3 Arsenal (Blackstenius 36)
Arsenal cruising to a win here at the King Power Stadium and Leicester have been woeful defensively. Mead finds Blackstenius in the middle and there are no blue shirts to stop her from sliding it in.
GOAL! Spurs 1-1 Liverpool (Koga 19)
Spurs respond as Holdt sends a looping cross over the goalkeeper and all Koga has to do is guide it in, opting to hammer it into the top of the net.
GOAL! Leicester 0-2 Arsenal (Kees 32og)
Arsenal make it look so easy. Hinds’s ball over the top is straight to Russo, who runs off the shoulder of her defender. She crosses the ball into the box and Kees, her face to goal, tries to clear away with McCabe breathing down her net but instead hits it in her own net.
Updated
Spurs 0-1 Liverpool: A damning stat for the hosts … they have failed to win their last 14 matches when conceding first in the WSL, a run that goes back to a win over West Ham on 3 November 2024 – 364 days ago.
GOAL! Spurs 0-1 Liverpool (Olsson 11)
Spurs struggle to get themselves sorted at the back as Fisk crosses it from the left into the box. The ball bounces into Olsson’s feet after Holland’s shot, and she fires from close range for her first goal for Liverpool.
She may have been offside but the flag stays down.
Updated
Leicester 0-1 Arsenal: Van Domselaar is shocked into action as she passes it straight to a blue shirt but she recovers well to collect the ball. A Leicester goal would have been completely against the run of play.
Leicester 0-1 Arsenal: After a corner, McCabe puts in a great ball but Blackstenius’s header goes wide. She completely mistimes it as all the ball needed was a slight touch to be guided in.
Brighton 0-0 Manchester United: Park is running the show here. She makes a great turn in midfield and finds Terland, whose shot is wide.
Brighton 0-0 Manchester United: Park and Toone combine as the two break but Minami speeds back and makes a very important block.
Spurs 0-0 Liverpool: After a delayed start, we are underway at Brisbane Road.
Brighton 0-0 Manchester United: Park takes a chance from the edge of the box but it is calmly collected by Nnadozie.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Everton (Gago 11)
Everton’s quick start is rewarded! Villa, who did not concede a single goal in October, fail to clear their lines. Fernandez plays the ball to Gago, Everton’s top scorer last season, and she takes a touch before finding the bottom corner despite a deflection.
Updated
GOAL! Leicester 0-1 Arsenal (Russo 7)
Mead with all the space on the right crosses it into the box. The ball bobbles off of Blackstenius’ foot and Russo reacts quickest as the ball falls to her feet and she rifles it in. Leitzig gets a hand to her shot but there is just too much pace on the shot.
That is Arsenal’s third goal in the first 15 minutes of a match this season.
Updated
Aston Villa 0-0 Everton: Close! Gago crosses the ball into Van Gool after some good buildup play from the visitors but the midfielder’s header is on the roof of the net.
Aston Villa 0-0 Everton: The hosts are already feeling hard done by. Wilms has a word with the referee after the official gives the visitors a corner despite Gago running the ball out of play herself while being chased down.
Leicester 0-0 Arsenal: Mead, who gets a rare start, crosses the ball into the box, but Ale clears it away.
Updated
Leicester 0-0 Arsenal: The visitors get straight to business as Blackstenius scampers ahead, but her shot goes out for a corner that Leicester deal with.
Updated
Kick-offs across the grounds
We are underway at Leicester, Aston Villa and Brighton. As mentioned earlier, Spurs v Liverpool will kick off in 15 minutes.
Back to today’s games then, here is Renée Slegers speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Arsenal’s task at Leicester:
A couple of players not available. That’s why we have the squad we have. We have so much quality on the squad and we have a good squad to travel to Leicester.
Leicester has done well in the league. They will try to make it really hard for us. We have to respect that, but we come here with a big belief in what we can do.
If you look at the last two games, we get the wins which is really important. We kept two clean sheets. What we want to achieve today is a good result and really good performance in the Arsenal way.
On the pressure of playing after Manchester City and Chelsea both won yesterday:
Whenever they play and whenever we play that’s out of our control. We’ve had a two day lead in, really hard work we’ve done from a football perspective, but also some work off the pitch and a very productive day. It’s good to have everyone back together and I feel a good energy in the group to get this block started.
What exactly did Mary Earps say about Hannah Hampton and Sarina Wiegman?
The former England No 1 says she protested to Wiegman, that “bad behaviour is being rewarded” when rival goalkeeper Hampton was restored to the England side.
In her autobiography, Earps says Hampton’s “behaviour behind the scenes had frequently risked derailing training sessions and team resources” during England’s triumph at the 2022 Euros.
In an interview with the Guardian to accompany the serialisation, Earps says of Hampton: “I think we had different ideas of what being a teammate should be. I think there was a mismatch, a misalignment, of values.”
Asked to elaborate on what the disruptive behaviour was, Earps said: “I don’t want to go into the specifics because it’s not my place … She is a very good goalkeeper and I’ve tried to draw a line under all that. I have messaged her privately to say: ‘Look, no bad blood.’”
The disagreement was ultimately the catalyst to Earps’s retirement, which came on the eve of England’s title defence at the 2025 Euros.
Chelsea managed to keep their lead at the top of the table yesterday with a 2-0 win victory over London City Lionesses.
However, the major headlines came after when Sonia Bampastor staunchly defended her No 1 keeper, Hannah Hampton against Mary Earps’s comments from her upcoming autobiography.
I think Hannah is fine. It’s tough because Hannah is an athlete but also a person and it is never nice to hear these comments. The only thing I want to say about Hannah is that, since I joined Chelsea, she has grown so much. She’s such a professional athlete and also a good person. We have a really good relationship together and I want to show her my support in this situation.
I just feel like with what I read in terms of comments coming from Mary Earps, it is not acceptable not to show respect to your teammate or your manager. We are talking about Hannah but I am also raising my voice for Sarina [Wiegman]. I just think when you use some words saying something about someone who won the European Championship three times in a row, you should probably think about it before you speak. Hannah has been fine with us and all the club, myself, the staff and the players are all behind her.
If you look at what Hannah said in the previous comments about Mary Earps then what Mary is saying about her now, one of them is class and Hannah is the class one.
Team news: Tottenham v Liverpool
Tottenham XI: Kop, Nilden, Naz, England, Holdt, Rybrink, Vinberg, Hunt, Spence, Summanen, Koga.
Subs: Heeps, Grant, Bartrip, Neville, Ahtinen, Graham, Gunning-Williams, Thomas, Tandberg.
Liverpool XI: Kirby, Risa, Fisk, Evans, Woodham, Nagano, Kerr, Holland, Enderby, Olsson, Kapocs.
Subs: Laws, Borgraffe, Szymczak, Lundgaard, Clark, MacLean, Silcock.
Team news: Aston Villa v Everton
Aston Villa XI: D’Angelo, Wilms, Patten, Deslandes, Martiz, Kendall, Taylor, Maltby, Kearns, Mullett, Hanson.
Subs: Roebuck, Sallaway, Seymour, Mayling, Scott, Daly, Salmon.
Everton XI: Ramsey, Pacheco, Fernandez, Stenevik, Wheeler, Mace, Van Gool, Hayashi, Payne, Vignola, Gago.
Subs: Startup, Ishikawa, Hobson, Kitagawa, Ladd, Weir, Momiki, Jones.
Team news: Brighton v Manchester United
Brighton XI: Nnadozie, Minami, Kafaji, Symonds, Cankovic, Seike, Kirby, Hayes, Olislagers, Camacho, Rule.
Subs: Baggaley, Mpome, Noordam, Carabali, Auee, McLaughlan, Tsunoda, Martin, Heron.
Manchester United XI: Tullis-Joyce, Sandberg, Le Tissier, Toone, Park, Malard, Terland, Riviere, Janssen, Zigiotti, Hinata.
Subs: Middleton-Patel, Rendell, Blundell, George, Rolfo, Awujo, Naalsund, Williams.
Team news: Leicester v Arsenal
Leicester XI: Leitzig, Kees, Tierney, Rantala, Cayman, Ale, Thibaud, Cain, McLoughlin, O’Brien, Swaby.
Subs: Keane, Sherwood, Van Egmond, Las, Ayane, Eiriksdottir, Mouchon, Goodwin.
Arsenal XI: Van Domselaar, Hinds, Codina, Catley, McCabe, Little, Caldentey, Russo, Mead, Foord, Blackstenius.
Subs: Borbe, Liddiard, Fox, Kelly, Pelova, Nighswonger, Reid, Harwood.
Here is how things stand in the WSL table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea Women | 7 | 11 | 19 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 7 | 10 | 18 |
| 3 | Man Utd Women | 6 | 13 | 14 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| 5 | Arsenal Women | 6 | 7 | 11 |
| 6 | London City Lionesses | 7 | -9 | 9 |
| 7 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Aston Villa Women | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 | Leicester Women | 6 | -5 | 5 |
| 10 | Everton Women | 6 | -4 | 4 |
| 11 | Liverpool FC Women | 5 | -8 | 0 |
| 12 | West Ham Women | 7 | -16 | 0 |
Preamble
It has certainly been a drama-filled week in the women’s football world. Supporters, media and managers have reacted to Mary Earps’s autobiography, serialised exclusively in the Guardian, where she has claimed Hannah Hampton’s “bad behaviour” was rewarded by Sarina Wiegman and was the catalyst to her international retirement.
We will cover all of that, especially after Sonia Bamposter leapt to her keeper’s defence following Chelsea’s win yesterday and more importantly, look to today’s games.
Women’s Super League
Aston Villa v Everton
Brighton v Manchester United
Leicester v Arsenal
Tottenham v Liverpool
All four kick-offs were scheduled for noon (dubious decision, but I digress), however Tottenham v Liverpool will be delayed by 15 minutes, with the home club citing the need to wait for the mandatory player ambulance resource to be in place.
As always, feel free to send me your thoughts, predictions and questions via email.
