This weekend represents another major milestone in the ongoing journey of women’s football in England, as Women’s Football Weekend makes its return with a thrilling list of fixtures.
An opportunity to celebrate the strides taken in the women’s game, the inaugural weekend first took place in November 2019 off the back of the Women’s World Cup in France.
Since then, the weekend has become a staple in the football season, often featuring dramatic promotion battles and relegation scraps with its proximity to the season’s end. With Premier League and Championship matches also put on hold during the international break, a number of women’s matches are also set to be held at the grounds of their corresponding men’s teams.
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Women’s Football Weekend 2022 delivered the drama, goals and excitement and this weekend is poised to up the ante, with more record crowds set to pour into stadiums around the country. It was announced before Christmas the WSL had seen a 200 per cent increase on the 2021/22 season off the back of the Lionesses’ Euro2022 triumph.
It was also revealed at the end of last year that Championship attendance was also up 85 per cent.
Everton, who sit fifth in the WSL table, kick off the weekend as they host rivals Liverpool, who sit eighth, at Goodison Park in front of a record home crowd on Friday evening. The match marks the first-ever time the women’s Merseyside derby will be held at the historic ground.
On Saturday, an old-fashioned David and Goliath north London derby promises to serve up plenty of dramatics. Title-chasers Arsenal are gunning to recover from their quarter-final first-leg loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League as they take on relegation-threatened Tottenham Hotspur, who recently parted ways with long-time manager Rehanne Skinner.
Later on, Manchester United, who sit second in the WSL table, host mid-table West Ham at Old Trafford, and United manager Marc Skinner has hinted that January signing Jayde Riviere could make her debut at the Theatre of Dreams, where United boast a 100% winning record across three matches.
On Sunday, a potential title-deciding clash between Manchester City and Chelsea is poised for excitement. The reigning champions, hot off European success over Lyon, will travel north to take on Gareth Taylor’s side who are hoping to eclipse a dramatic upset at the hands of Aston Villa in the FA Women’s Cup quarter-final on the weekend.
Elsewhere, Villa Park is set to stage its third Women’s Super League clash as Rachel Daly and co. prepare to welcome bottom-of-the-table Leicester City on Sunday afternoon, while Reading welcome Brighton & Hove Albion in what is shaping up to be a critical relegation-deciding fixture.
In the Championship, the race for promotion is at full tilt after Bristol City fell to a 2-0 loss to title-rivals London City Lionesses. Lauren Smith’s side face a heady task in Southampton on the weekend as London City take on scrappy midtable Durham.
Everton kick-off at 7:30pm on Friday against Liverpool, with Sky broadcasting the match along with the north London derby and United’s home fixture against West Ham.
Manchester City’s top-of-the-table match against Chelsea will be aired on BBC.
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