It was another huge weekend in the Women's Super League, with late twists, a six-goal thriller and the return of a familiar face.
Six games saw 22 goals, as the league returned in style following the international break, with big results at both the top and bottom of the table, including the first draw of the season at the 42nd attempt. On Saturday evening, Marc Skinner lauded a ‘huge’ moment for Manchester United as they shattered Arsenal ’s unbeaten start thanks to Alessia Russo’s last-minute winner.
A pulsating Emirates encounter saw the Gunners bounce back from Ella Toone’s opener with goals from Frida Maanum and Laura Wienroither giving them the lead with five minutes to go. Millie Turner and Russo netted late on to send United into dreamland and pull off the biggest result in their history.
The visitors spoiled the party for the 40,000 crowd to draw level on points with Jonas Eidevall’s side and blow the title race wide open. “It’s huge, there’s no doubt about that,” said Skinner.
“It’s three points, let’s be very clear, we lost three against Chelsea. I’m not blowing it up but tonight we decided we did not want to leave this game without showing bravery and personality. When I look at a Manchester United team, famous on the men’s side, it’s about that never-give-up attitude, and we’re going to keep going until the final whistle.
"We got a full Manchester United spirit."
The result left Eidevall ruing his side’s lack of cohesion as they fell to a first Barclays Women’s Super League defeat in 15 games and passed up the opportunity to take control of the title race.
“In defence, we were not compact enough,” said Eidevall. “We had too much space between our different units. “It’s a similar problem in our offence – we became too disconnected. We thought one step ahead too soon and we started positioning too high up on the pitch.”
Instead, it is Chelsea who sit at the WSL summit courtesy of a comfortable 3-0 victory against Spurs at a packed Stamford Bridge the following day. Sam Kerr opened the scoring after just 12 minutes before Erin Cuthbert quickly made it two and Guro Reiten converted from the spot to leave the Blues three to the good after just 36 minutes.
Chelsea have played a game more than their title rivals, but do now have a six-point cushion from fourth-placed Manchester City, who kept up their hunt for Champions League football with a hard-fought 2-1 win at a resurgent Everton. Khadija Shaw was once more the match winner for Gareth Taylor’s side, netting her eighth goal of the season just after the break after Rikke Sevecke had cancelled out Julie Blakstad’s opener.
Elsewhere, Rachel Daly fired a stunning hat-trick to keep Aston Villa within touching distance of the top three with a 3-1 victory over Reading. The Royals took a shock lead after just seven minutes through Lauren Wade, before Daly continued her fine goalscoring form for both club and country with a pair of strikes before the break. She then secured the match ball with a third from the spot 15 minutes from time.
It leaves Villa fifth after seven matches, 12 points clear of basement side Leicester City who fell to late defeat at West Ham thanks to Izzy Atkinson’s 88th-minute winner. The Foxes remain without a point and rooted to the bottom of the table, as relegation rivals Liverpool piled on the misery with a dramatic point on the road in a 3-3 thriller with Brighton.
Missy Bo Kearns put Matt Beard’s side ahead but the managerless Seagulls hit back with three goals before the break from Elisabeth Terland, Danielle Carter, and Katie Robinson as the post-Hope Powell era looked to be continuing with another win. But Shanice van de Sanden gave the Reds hope with 15 minutes to play before stalwart Rachel Furness popped up with a 92nd minute leveller to give Liverpool their first point since the opening day.
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