A mouthwatering second weekend of Barclays Women’s Super League kicks off with a north London derby guaranteed to break records.
More than 50,000 tickets having been sold for the Emirates Stadium, smashing the league’s previous record of 38,262 which was set at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the same fixture in 2019.
Last year’s runners-up Arsenal began their season in typically ruthless fashion with a 4-0 win over Brighton last time out. Euro 2022 Player of the Tournament Beth Mead netted twice, with in-form Stina Blackstenius also on target.
Two sides desperate to kickstart their respective campaigns then clash on Sunday afternoon with Chelsea and Manchester City going head-to-head at Kingsmeadow.
Chelsea’s defence of their title got off to the worst possible start with a controversial defeat against newly-promoted Liverpool.
Sam Kerr opened the scoring before having two efforts disallowed prior to a second half Liverpool comeback spearheaded by two-goal Katie Stengel.
Meanwhile, Manchester City came out on the wrong side of a 4-3 thriller as a new-look Aston Villa started their season in style. The question of how City cope with the departure of Kiera Walsh, for now, remains unanswered.
The weekend concludes at Anfield with the first Merseyside derby since November 2020 with Liverpool hoping to continue their dream start on their return to the top-flight. Boss Matt Beard anticipates a tough game against neighbours Everton but is backing his team to handle the pressure of playing at Anfield.
“As I've said time and time again, it's the first fixture that you look for," he said. “It's great that it's at Anfield as well so we're looking forward to playing there and it's going to be a tough game.
“I think once the whistle goes and they cross that white line, I've got every faith and confidence in the group that we can put in a good performance and work like we did the other day.”
In the opposite dugout, Everton manager Brian Sørensen will be taking charge of his first Merseyside derby and just his second WSL fixture, after the Toffees defeat at West Ham last week.
The Dane may be new to English football, but he says that the significance of Sunday’s fixture was made clear from his first day in office.
“When I started, we were meeting up with some of the core group. They talked about the game, that was the first one they really looked forward to. I think the whole city is buzzing when you have a derby,” said Sørensen. “It’s just really nice to be a part of that. In Denmark, I wasn’t an Everton or Liverpool fan when I was younger, I watched those games because of the intensity and just knew how much it meant.”
Striker Toni Duggan added: “We can’t wait, it’s a Merseyside derby, it’s the second game in, bouncing back after defeat and it’s at Anfield. There’s no better way to go out there, get three points and make the blue half of Merseyside happy.”
Elsewhere, Reading travel to Brighton, West Ham host Manchester United and the final local derby of the weekend comes in the midlands as Leicester play Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium.
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