The first month of the 2024/25 Barclays Women’s Super League season is complete and it was full of twists and turns.
Manchester United and last season’s champions Chelsea were the only two teams to win both their league games in September, although Manchester City currently sit top of the table having since played a game more than their rivals once October began. Last weekend’s meeting between Chelsea and United was postponed due to the London club’s involvement in the Champions League.
Brighton & Hove Albion have had a surprise start to the season with two wins from their opening three games, while Arsenal have won just once and drawn two. Everton and West Ham are bottom of the table level on just a single point, and on goal difference.
Now the dust has settled on a busy couple of gameweeks in September, 90min has ranked the top three WSL players in the opening fixtures of the campaign.
Best performance: Having joined Brighton from Japanese side Urawa Reds this summer, Kiko Seike was an unknown quantity coming into the WSL. The 28-year-old had shown flashes of quality while representing her country, but few would’ve expected her to have such an explosive start in England.
Seike made history in the opening game against Everton, becoming the first player to score a hat-trick on their WSL debut. She put the Toffees to the sword with three outstanding goals to get the Seagulls off to a winning start.
She was also a constant threat in their hard-fought, and narrow, 1-0 loss at the hands of Manchester City on 29 September and is certainly one to watch this season.
Best performance: After such a promising spell on loan at Tottenham Hotspur last season, the excitement around 21-year-old Grace Clinton has been palpable. It’s no surprise Manchester United had no intention of selling permanently ahead of the new campaign, and she’s already made her mark.
Clinton scored in both of United’s opening games against West Ham and Everton, but it was arguably the performance against her former club that was most impressive. She scored an early goal to give Marc Skinner’s side the advantage, and it proved to be crucial in what turned out to be a marginal 1-0 victory for the Red Devils.
Best performance: Sweden international Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is somewhat underrated in a Chelsea squad full of superstars. Sonia Bompastor’s side won both of their first two WSL games in September, and while Crystal Palace were thumped 7-0 in the second of those, the 1-0 win over Aston Villa is the game worth looking at.
Villa, who are also working under a new manager this season, were a constant threat at Kingsmeadow, and would have been worthy of a goal themselves. But, it was Kaneryd who provided the moment of quality to swing the game in Chelsea’s favour in the first half.
The 27-year-old was also influential in the victory over newly-promoted Palace as she set up teammate Aggie Beever-Jones for the opening goal in the first half. Chelsea have immense talent within their ranks, but Kaneryd has arguably been the most influential in their opening two wins.
