Please find below stats from Opta ahead of the opening weekend of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League season and the fixtures for both the WSL and Women’s Championship.
Manchester City v Manchester United
Manchester United manager Casey Stoney faced Manchester City five times as a player in the Women’s Super League, only managing one victory in those games, appearing and scoring in a 4-0 victory for Arsenal in August 2014.
Manchester United romped home to the Women’s Championship title in what was their debut season – picking up 55 points from a possible 60, scoring 98 goals whilst only conceding seven.
Manchester City remained unbeaten at home during the 2018-19 season, the only side not to lose on home soil in the competition last season. The Citizens won seven and drew three of their 10 such matches.
During the 2018-19 Super League campaign, only Chelsea (427) had more shots than Man City (392), while only Arsenal (19%) recorded a higher shot conversion rate than the Citizens in the competition last season (13.5%).
Bristol City v Brighton & Hove Albion
This will be just the third Super League meeting between Bristol City and Brighton, with the Vixens remaining unbeaten during their two encounters in the competition last season (W1 D1).
Brighton also faced Bristol City on the opening weekend of the 2018-19 Super League campaign, with Hope Powell’s side starting their inaugural campaign in the competition with a 0-1 defeat at home.
Bristol City have lost five of their previous eight matches in the WSL on the opening day (W3), with their 0-6 defeat to Chelsea back in 2017-18 the highest loss suffered by a side on matchday one in the competition’s history.
Brighton & Hove Albion suffered 12 defeats in the Super League last season; only relegated Yeovil Town (17) and Everton (14) lost more games in the competition in 2018-19.
Only in 2013-14 (10) did Bristol City win more Super League matches in a single campaign then the seven they won last season.
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea will face Tottenham in a Women’s Super League match for the very first time following Spurs’ promotion in 2018-19. Indeed, Spurs will become Chelsea’s 14th different opponent in the competition, who have beaten each of the 13 other sides they’ve faced at least once.
These two sides did meet in the FA Women’s League Cup last season, with Spurs falling to a 0-5 defeat at home, with goals from Deanna Cooper, Alexandra Riley, Karen Carney and Bethany England (two) securing the victory for Chelsea.
Prior to the 2019-20 campaign, none of the last four sides playing in their first ever Women’s Super League match have managed to win (D1 L3), with Sunderland the last team to do so back in March 2015 versus Liverpool.
Chelsea have won each of their last nine Super League matches against newly promoted opposition by an aggregate score of 34-3. Indeed, the Blues have only ever lost one such match in the competition, a 0-4 defeat to Sunderland in July 2015.
Only current Super League Champions Arsenal (13) conceded a fewer number of goals in the competition last season than Chelsea (14).
Birmingham City v Everton
Birmingham have won each of their last four Women’s Super League games against Everton – their longest current winning streak against any of the current WSL sides.
Since winning on their first two top-flight trips to Birmingham in the WSL, Everton have remained winless in their last four such games in the competition (D1 L3), falling to a 0-1 defeat at the SportNation.bet Stadium.
Birmingham City also hosted Everton on the opening weekend of the WSL last season, when Charlie Wellings scored after 44 seconds to secure a 1-0 victory for the home side.
Everton have never won their first WSL match of the season in any of their previous six campaigns in the competition, drawing two and losing four of those games.
Charlie Wellings’ winner after 44 seconds in this exact fixture last season was Birmingham’s quickest goal in the WSL in 2018-19; indeed, only Olivia Fergusson’s goal for Yeovil against Manchester City was scored earlier in a match in the competition last season (19 seconds).
Liverpool v Reading
Liverpool are winless in their last four Super League matches against Reading (D1 L3), this after winning each of their first three such encounters with the Royals between July 2016 and April 2017.
Reading have won on each of their last two visits to Liverpool in the WSL without conceding a goal, scoring three without reply in September 2017 and taking all three points in a 1-0 victory in September 2018 in this exact fixture last season.
Liverpool are kicking off their Super League campaign at home for the first time since the 2016 season, when they beat Birmingham City 1-0 thanks to Shanice Van De Sanden’s first ever goal in English football.
Reading have alternated between a defeat and a victory in their four previous opening matches of a Super League season (W2 L2), running out 4-0 winners at home to Yeovil to kick off their campaign last season.
Liverpool managed just seven wins from their 20 Super League games in 2018-19, last winning fewer in a single season in the competition back in 2015-16 (four).
Arsenal v West Ham United
Arsenal completed the Women’s Super League double over West Ham last season, winning 4-2 away from home whilst running out 4-3 winners in this exact fixture last season.
West Ham failed to win any of their four London derbies in the Super League last season, losing twice versus Arsenal whilst losing one and drawing one against Chelsea.
Arsenal have only lost one of their previous nine opening matches in the Women’s Super League (P9 W5 D3 L1), a 0-4 thrashing by Liverpool back at the beginning of the 2013 campaign.
West Ham, who are competing in just their second ever WSL campaign, kicked off their inaugural season with a 0-0 draw with Reading in 2018-19, before travelling to Arsenal in their first ever away game in the competition, losing 3-4.
In Arsenal’s 4-3 win over West Ham in this exact fixture last season, Arsenal’s Daniëlle van de Donk was directly involved in each of her side’s four goals, scoring a hat-trick and also registering an assist.
This weekend’s fixtures:
Barclays FA Women’s Super League
Saturday 7 September KO 3pm
Manchester City v Manchester United
Bristol City v Brighton & Hove Albion
Sunday 8 September
KO 12.30
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
KO 2.30pm
Liverpool v Reading
Birmingham City v Everton
Arsenal v West Ham
Sunday 8 September
KO 12.00
Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers Ladies
Durham v Charlton Athletic
KO 2pm
Lewes v Crystal Palace
London Bees v Coventry United
London City Lionesses v Leicester
