Hat trick history for Shaw as Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea win; Man United stalling

A big weekend of Women’s Super League action kicked off with a busy Friday night as Arsenal and Manchester City both dominated at home, roundly humbling Brighton & Hove Albion 5-0 and Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 respectively. On Sunday, Chelsea dealt a similar 3-0 hammering to Liverpool before Manchester United drew a blank against a winless Aston Villa and West Ham United grabbed their first win of the season with a narrow 1-0 victory against an injury-hit Leicester City.

The race for the playoff positions in France has begun to heat up with wins for Dijon, who impressed away to Nantes, and Saint-Étienne, who saw out a 3-2 victory over Fleury. In Spain, Madrid CFF claimed their first win since mid-September as they came from behind against an inconsistent Sevilla side.

Bayern Munich surrendered yet more points in the German league, this time in a frustrating 2-2 at Freiburg, while in Italy Juventus extended their unbeaten streak with a routine 3-0 win over AC Milan. And, in South Korea, Suwon prevailed against Hwacheon to claim their first WK League title in 13 years.

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Big wins for WSL’s big three

Last season’s top three in the WSL — Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal –dominated the weekend, each securing clean sheets and crucial goals. Manchester City powered to a 4-0 victory over Tottenham at the Joie, keeping them top of the table as they hunt their first WSL title since 2016. Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw scored her seventh WSL hat trick, moving her ahead of teammate Vivianne Miedema as the player with the most trebles in the history of the league and making her the first player to net three goals in three different WSL matches against the same opponent.

Arsenal, after a sluggish start to the season, extended their unbeaten streak under interim manager Renée Slegers to five games, posting their best scoreline so far this term with a 5-0 rout of a subdued Brighton. Despite the loss, the Seagulls remain in the top three, a point ahead of both Arsenal and United.

Chelsea continued their impressive form, beating Liverpool 3-0 at St Helen’s Stadium to maintain Sonia Bompastor’s 100% record since her arrival in the summer.

With all three teams facing crucial midweek Champions League matches, these goal-heavy performances provided a confidence boost. Next weekend’s WSL fixtures will be equally high-stakes: Chelsea and City clash in a potential title decider in London, while Arsenal prepare for the North London Derby at Tottenham, a game they lost 1-0 last season. — Emily Keogh

Man United missing spark

Manchester United’s season has begun to stall, with concerns surfacing alarmingly early. Their goalless draw against a struggling Aston Villa marked the team’s third consecutive draw, following 1-1s against Arsenal and Brighton. Against Villa, United failed to register a shot on target until the 72nd minute, a lacklustre performance mirroring their struggles against Arsenal. In both games, they managed just 10 touches in the opposition’s box — a worrying statistic for manager Marc Skinner.

While United remain undefeated this season, that tag does not tell the whole story as they’ve struggled to assert dominance in their last two outings.

These recent results and performances are far from the standards expected from a team aiming for a place in Europe and even the title. With United now slipping to fifth, with Arsenal moving above them on goals scored, they must find form quickly to avoid dropping further behind. — Keogh

Bayern slide continues

In the space of five days Bayern have dropped four points in the Frauen-Bundesliga. With just five points from their last four domestic outings, things are beginning to look a little worrying for the German champions.

It started with a frustrating 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg last month, a result to spice up the title fight in Germany rather than allowing the Bavarians to open up a wider gap. Since then, Bayern just haven’t looked as dynamic. Following their last-gasp equaliser against Bayer Leverkusen just before the international break, the Bavarians have been suckered into back-to-back draws, first throwing away a one-goal advantage against Eintracht Frankfurt before having to salvage a draw from a two-goal deficit against Freiburg.

Against Frankfurt, Bayern had a similar look to the team from last December that could take the lead but not put games to bed — something righted when Pernille Harder returned from injury. It’s hard to ignore the mounting niggles and knocks in the Munich squad, but, at the same time, that injury list shouldn’t equate to the tepid football being played by Alexander Straus’ team.

For the first half at the Dreisamstadion, Freiburg were simply better: more purposeful with the ball and comfortable out of possession and were, frankly, unlucky not to take all three points. For Straus and Bayern, who are now two points off of Wolfsburg at the top, it’s a question of reworking the players he has available, getting away from a predictable 4-4-2 and trying to re-ignite the attack. — Sophie Lawson

Quick hits

NINE All risk, no reward. WSL fans have already become acquainted with new Brighton boss Dario Vidošić’s brand of football, which is not a million miles from the ideals of his former Socceroos coach, Ange Postecoglou. Both coaches are wedded to their front-footed style which only works when it works. Against Arsenal, Brighton’s 3-4-3 left them entirely exposed and ripe for the plucking, but as well as the defensive frailties (something that will frankly need to be addressed in the upcoming transfer window), the Seagulls couldn’t cope in midfield, as they laboured to even get their attack going.

EIGHT. The best of the rest. Until Mayra Ramírez‘s opener after the hour, Liverpool were well in the game against Chelsea. Yes, the visitors had the majority of the possession, but the hosts looked bright enough on the counter and created some fair goal-scoring chances which is more than can be said for other teams when facing the Blues. The defending for all three goals, however, was nowhere near good enough even allowing for the multiple ways Chelsea can hurt a team.

SEVEN. Dijon’s back line shines. The plaudits for Dijon’s 2-0 win at Nantes will go to goal-scorers Wu Chengshu and Klaudia Jedlińska,but what will be pleasing for fans of the travelling side is how well they played as a team. Well balanced throughout, the resilience of the back line was key to Katriina Talaslahti claiming her first clean sheet of the season and Dijon’s third, with Alice Pinguet between the sticks for the trips to Saint-Étienne and Stade de Reims.

SIX. Villa improve(-ish). Coming into the weekend’s games, Aston Villa were bottom of the table with West Ham on two points from their first six games. But Villa were arguably out of place, with their performances not matching their dismal results. Against Manchester United, the visitors dominated the game from the off, and although their familiar goal-scoring problems plagued the visitors in Leigh, the defending was at least worthy of praise. Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo kept her second clean sheet of the year, in no little part thanks to the defenders in front of her. But still, it’s hard to see it as a point won rather than two dropped.

FIVE. Suwon break Incheon’s dominance. After 11 straight South Korean titles, perennial champions Incheon Red Angels failed to make the final for the first time in the WK League’s 15-year history, opening the door for a first-time winner. However, it wasn’t to be for Hwacheon who finished top of the table after the 28-game season, earning them a direct passage into the final. Instead, it was Suwon who came out on top after the two-legged final, to claim their first title in 13 years. Having led the final at the halfway point last season before Incheon’s second leg turnaround to win 7-5 on aggregate, Suwon were a more composed side this time around. They held on well against the younger Hwacheon team, and refused to give up their lead after Jeon Eun-Ha’s winning goal.

FOUR. Fleury’s fruitless flurry. After a good start to the season with losses only against Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain, Fleury were dealt a surprise loss away to Saint-Étienne, but the biggest surprise was how well ASSE handled the game. Still struggling for consistency and goals this season, Saint-Étienne were simply better across the entire pitch for the first hour and only began to wobble when Ewelina Kamczyk reduced the deficit before a late strike from compatriot Dominika Kopińska set up a frantic finish. The takeaway, however, is that middle pack in France, is finally starting to grow.

THREE. Madrid warm up. After a raft of departures over the summer, Madrid CFF hit the ground running this season with two wins from their first two before a run of six games without a win — although to their credit, it was only against Atletico Madrid and Barca that Las Blancas were wholly outclassed. But their showing against Sevilla on Saturday should give fans plenty to celebrate with the side starting to look a bit like their former selves and their newer signings beginning to find their feet in the capital.

TWO. Hammers up and running. There was only so much to separate West Ham and Leicester when they clashed in Dagenham on Sunday, but with players in their natural positions, the Irons had the better of it over the course of the afternoon. Viviane Asseyi‘s goal deep into first-half stoppage time was the moment of consequence for the hosts, and with four winnable games across league and cup coming up, it might just be the bit of good news to help the Irons gain momentum heading toward Christmas.

ONE. Serie A’s foregone conclusion? Other than a scoreless draw against Inter Milan last month, Juventus have been showing some of their vintage best so far this season with a style that offers a spread of goals from across the pitch, rather than relying too heavily on any of the individual forwards. Although they raced to a two-goal lead inside of the first 10 minutes, the way the hosts controlled the game in Biella with ease, leaving Milan with very little in the way of ideas until late in the second half, is what really shows the strength of Massimiliano Canzi’s team. Roma‘s rise and back-to-back titles had left Juventus out in the cold with an over-dependence on ageing and injury-prone players. But this season Juve have something of their swagger back, with confidence and strong performances feeding off of each other. — Lawson