Key events
GOAL! Leicester 0-2 Crystal Palace (Blanchard pen 69)
Blanchard doubles up.
FULL-TIME: Tottenham 2-3 Liverpool
A thriller comes to a close. Liverpool have nicked the win right at the death.
GOAL! Leicester 0-1 Crystal Palace (Blanchard 55)
It’s all happening in the WSL now. Leicester are loose trying to play out from the back, with Palace securing the ball with their press before some wonderful technical work in the area. Annabel Blanchard plays to Katherine Stengel, who backheels for Blanchard to seize upon, the finely placed finish following to give Palace the lead.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-3 Liverpool (Höbinger 90+5)
Spencer gets a hand to it, diving to her right, but Höbinger has her second!
PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL!
In the fourth minute of added time! It looks soft, with Sophie Román Haug going down in the box after a cross from the right, sandwiched in-between two Spurs shirts.
90+1 min: Tottenham 2-2 Liverpool Spurs are looking more likely to get a winner here. Seven minutes are added on as a corner comes in from the right … Laws tips it away before Hayley Raso cuts in from the left to strike … her shot is deflected out for another corner. Beth England nearly slams home after the corner comes in. Nervy times.
GOAL! Tottenham 2-2 Liverpool (Hunt 83)
Well, that didn’t last long. It’s another case of poor near-post defending from Liverpool. Clare Hunt spins her marker around on the right, inside the area, and launches a hopeful shot with her left foot. Gemma Bonner gets in the way, in front of Laws, but appears stuck in the turf as she diverts the ball into her own net. Hunt will claim the goal but it’s another tame way for Liverpool to lose their lead.
82 min: Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool Rachael Laws, the Liverpool keeper, scampers out of her area to make herself big and deny Jessica Naz, who was through, one on one. Top save.
FULL-TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Everton
A frustrating afternoon for Jonas Eidevall’s side comes to a close, with the visitors holding on to get their first point of the WSL season.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool (Höbinger 75)
Another cracker! Marie Höbinger steps up for a free-kick – central, just outside the D – and finds the top right corner with a curling strike. Delightful from the Austrian.
90+3 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton A huge chance for Blackstenius in the middle after a cross from the right … she leaps up at the front post … only to head over.
90 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton Foord strikes the bar with a top effort, chesting the ball down before launching from the right-side of the area. Four minutes are added on.
Half-time: Leicester 0-0 Crystal Palace I’ll show this fixture a bit more love when the other two games wrap up.
83 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton The rearguard continues from Everton, with Courtney Brosnan continuing to sweep up the ball at the back.
60 min: Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool Spurs are piling forward, with Martha Thomas, inside the area, forcing Rachael Laws into a strong save with a powerful left-footed hit.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool (Hinds OG 54)
Matt Beard, Liverpool’s head coach, covers his face in despair. Jessica Naz skips downs the right and sends in a low cross, where Taylor Hinds, at the front post, diverts the ball into her own net. She only had her keeper around her but couldn’t launch a full-blooded clearance.
65 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton Arsenal make three changes to get things going: Leah Williamson, Caitlin Foord and Stina Blackstenius are all on the field.
61 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton Arsenal have a free-kick out on the left to be whipped into the box … Mead delivers but it’s cleared before a cross from the right finds the safe hands of Courtney Brosnan.
55 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton The Gunners wheel the ball around, looking sharp until they get to the final third; Karoline Olesen pulls off an excellent sliding challenge to win the ball off Kim Little on Arsenal’s right.
Half-time: Tottenham 0-1 Liverpool The visitors hold their lead through to the half-time whistle after Cornelia Kapocs’ cracking hit, her first for the club.
FULL-TIME: Manchester City 2-0 West Ham
City go top of the WSL after a comfortable victory, with Mary Fowler setting one up and then scoring the sealer. The hosts flexed their depth, making several changes from their last league game, and will head into their bumper Champions League clash with Barcelona all smiles.
Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Everton It’s not been a thriller.
40 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton Justine Vanhaevermaet leaps high from a corner, with her header cleared by Katie McCabe, defending on the line for Arsenal. I’m not sure if it was trickling in or just going wide of the post.
Leicester City v Crystal Palace team news
The final fixture of today:
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 West Ham (Fowler 71)
That should be the game for City. A backpass goes wrong for West Ham, with Khadija Shaw, on as a sub, intercepting in the area. She keeps a hold of it by the byline before hanging up a cross at the far post; Mary Foster leaps high to guide a header into the net.
GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Liverpool (Kapocs 10)
Stunner! It’s an error from Becky Spencer in goal that creates it, her kick out from the back going straight to Cornelia Kapocs in the left channel. With Spencer off her line, Kapocs quickly launches from more than 20 yards out, perfectly placing it into the net.
17 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton Any sense of drama is yet to emerge at the Emirates. Elsewhere in London, Spurs have kicked off against Liverpool.
48 min: Manchester City 1-0 West Ham Hemp nearly has her and City’s second, striking the crossbar before blasting over a simple chance less than a minute later, having been perfectly set up by Chloe Kelly’s pass across goal.
46 min: Manchester City 1-0 West Ham Jill Roord is off for City, with Vivianne Miedema getting a run out for the second half.
1 min: Arsenal 0-0 Everton We’re up and away at the Emirates, where Everton are searching for their first points of the season.
Half-time: Manchester City 1-0 West Ham City have had an overwhelming amount of possession but haven’t tested Kinga Szemik enough; the Hammers remain in the contest.
39 min: Manchester City 1-0 West Ham City seem unable to lose the ball, a gazillion-pass move only breaking down after Leila Ouahabi’s attempted ball across goal to Chloe Kelly is cut out.
30 min: Manchester City 1-0 West Ham Hemp remains a nuisance, drifting from the left into the area to threaten the goal. This time she gets her head on the end of a cross from Yui Hasegawa, the ball looping over the bar.
27 min: Manchester City 1-0 West Ham It’s all City at the moment at the Joie Stadium, forming a game of attack versus defence in the West Ham half.
Tottenham v Liverpool team news
On to the line-ups for the 2.15pm kick-off.
The Reds to face Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon 📋🔴#TOTLIV
— Liverpool FC Women (@LiverpoolFCW) October 6, 2024
I should add: feel free to drop me a line here with your thoughts on any of the action. Book/film/TV recommendations also welcome.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 West Ham (Hemp 10)
Lauren Hemp gets City up and running. Mary Fowler is surrounded by West Ham shirts on the edge of the box, with her back to goal, but somehow gets the ball to slip into the area. Hemp makes a sneaky run inside, nails the dummy and calmly slots in.
Arsenal v Everton team news
Here’s the situation at the Emirates:
🔴 ⚪️
🏟️ An Emirates Stadium debut for @DomselaarDaphne
🫡 Kim Little with the armband
🤩 @bmeado9 makes her 200th Arsenal appearanceCome on you Gunners! 💪
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) October 6, 2024
DISALLOWED GOAL! Manchester City 0-0 West Ham
Viviane Asseyi is through on goal, with her deflected shot trickling into the net to give West Ham a shock lead inside two minutes … but the flag is up. It was a killer through ball from Katrina Gorry to split the City defence.
Things are about to get underway at the Joie Stadium. The Netherlands’ Jill Roord, by the way, is in the starting XI having made her return from an ACL injury off the bench last weekend.
Another pre-match read for you, courtesy of Tom Garry:
The international flavour of the WSL no doubt has many benefits, not least in widening the broadcast appeal of the division across the globe, engaging fans on different continents and boosting sponsorship revenues. However, could it come at a cost to the development of young English players?
City’s XI – heavily rotated – means they’re giving the big names a rest before the big clash with Barcelona in the week. Speaking of the Champions League, here’s more on the mess surrounding that Chelsea-Manchester United postponement.
This, from a couple days ago, is a really lovely read.
Manchester City v West Ham team news
Here’s how we’re looking …
Today’s squad to face West Ham! 📋
XI | Yamashita, Aleixandri, Greenwood (C), Fowler, Kelly, Roord, Hemp, Ouahabi, Casparij, Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa
SUBS | Keating, Layzell, Miedema, Coombs, Kennedy, Fujino, Shaw, Thomas, Murphy#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/WWvAEvf6ca
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) October 6, 2024
So Vivianne Miedema drops to the bench for City, as does Bunny Shaw – City make five changes from the side that started in the 1-0 victory over Brighton last weekend. West Ham have just the one switch, with new signing Camila Sáez replacing Shannon Cooke from the XI that drew against Liverpool.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to coverage of Chelsea’s bumper WSL clash with Manchester United today’s WSL clockwatch! There’s been a controversial postponement but we’ve still got plenty to keep an eye on:
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Manchester City v West Ham – 1pm BST
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Arsenal v Everton – 2pm
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Tottenham v Liverpool – 2.15pm
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Leicester v Crystal Palace – 3pm
City will be eyeing up a spot at the top of the table even if it is brief, with Arsenal and Spurs both on four points, too. Brighton kicked off the weekend’s action with a victory against Aston Villa yesterday, Fran Kirby slotting in the crucial spotkick. Tom Garry was there for that one.
