Finally, the 2022/23 FA WSL season is under way following Arsenal and Brighton’s trial of the Friday night slot.
The first weekend of action was, of course, postponed in light of Queen Elizabeth’s death, with the most disappointing aspect of this being all four matches scheduled for last Saturday and Sunday had been due to be played in front of record crowds.
Champions Chelsea were supposed to kickstart their league defence in front of a huge crowd at Stamford Bridge against London rivals West Ham on Sunday – and this game will now be rearranged to take place at the Blues’ women’s traditional Kingsmeadow home.
Reading, meanwhile, were meant to welcome Liverpool to their main club stadium, and Brighton, similarly, missed out on a bumper crowd for their meeting with my team, Aston Villa, at the American Express Community Stadium.
The day before, in Saturday’s cancelled curtain-raiser, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was supposed to be the venue for the visit of Manchester United.
United will be first up in action today against Reading, and there will be some added pressure on the Red Devils.
Marc Skinner has spent significantly this off-season, adding to his squad ahead of his second year in charge.
Aissatou Tounkara, Rachel Williams and Nikita Parris are three names expected to make an impact immediately, as United will not want to once again fall short of the top-three.
In a blow this week, Skinner has lost the services of Dutch midfielder Jackie Groenen – after drawn-out negotiations with PSG ended with the move going through on Thursday.
The unexpected chance to start their campaign at home against Reading will be deemed a must-win.
The rest of this weekend’s games will all be played on the traditional Sunday afternoon.
The #BarclaysWSL starts tonight!
Watch @ArsenalWFC v @BHAFCWomen live on the FA Player. pic.twitter.com/RlWdI8xrOy
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) September 16, 2022
We are at home to Manchester City, and the Villa Park clash will be live on television as the BBC’s showcased lunchtime kick-off.
It is one I am personally looking forward to as, apart from the obvious excitement of getting the season under way, City are one of the sides I have not faced since my time with Notts County in 2014.
They will also be looking to find a positive start to the season as they are another team who have endured a lot of squad changes over the summer, but carry a reputation of being one of the teams who should compete for the title.
Liverpool-Chelsea meeting has clash-of-the-weekend potential
West Ham will play Everton and Leicester City will host Spurs in the two Sunday afternoon matches, with Chelsea against Liverpool being played as the 5pm kick-off.
The latter fixture is full of intrigue, as it will see the champions play against the newly-promoted Reds in what could be the fixture of the weekend.
Chelsea have won the last three WSL titles and have maintained virtually their entire squad through the transfer window, while Emma Hayes has also added a few shrewd additions.
Canadian centre-back Kadeisha Buchanan joins from Uefa Women’s Champions League-winning side Lyon, and French right-back Eve Perisset also adds defensive calibre, joining from Bordeaux after being one of the top performers at the Euros this summer.
Across the league, many of England’s Euros-winning side will be in action as the majority of the squad plays domestically in the WSL.
Their presence is topped up with international fire-power, which looks set to make this season the most competitive and certainly most-watched English top-flight campaign yet.
Hopefully the weekend will live up to anticipations and the spectacle will be a glimpse of what we can look forward to for the rest of the season.
Extra few days’ break looks to have boosted Rangers’ early SWPL 1 charge
After last weekend’s games were cancelled, the SWPL was able to continue through the week with Hearts, Glasgow City and Rangers all picking up three points on SWPL 1 duty.
Hearts continued their good start to the season with a 2-0 win over Dundee United that puts them into fourth place in the standings.
Another Georgia Timms goal means she also sits second in the running for golden boot with six so far this season.
For Glasgow City, they faced a midweek trip to the capital to face Hibernian, a fixture which has been renowned for producing classic after classic in recent seasons.
However, Hibs’ demise as a force in the Scottish game was once again laid bare as City cruised to a 4-0 victory.
Lauren Davidson opened the scoring inside two minutes, before an own goal added to Hibernian’s difficult start within 10. Emily Whelan and Kinga Kozak scored before half-time to ensure that the points would be returning to Glasgow.
In Glasgow itself, Rangers visited Partick Thistle and they continued on their relentless form.
A 6-0 win keeps them top of the table on maximum points, ahead of City only by goal difference after five games.
Following the international break, the extra few days of preparation before the league recommenced only helped Rangers re-find their rhythm.
Six different scorers helped showcase how dangerous this Rangers team is growing to be.
Kayla McCoy and Brogan Hay gave the Gers the half-time lead, before Chelsea Cornet, Lizzie Arnot, Lisa Martinez and Dina Orschamann completed the scoring.
The three final fixtures of the round will be played this Sunday, with Aberdeen back in action as they travel away to Spartans.
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