Key events
Tom Garry
Spurs are playing some decent buildup stuff here, intricately working to get the ball out wide to their wingers Araya Dennis and Jessica Naz, both of whom are having a good half in terms of dangerously running at their full-backs and causing problems, but it’s the final ball that’s missing.
Chance for Spurs: Holdt produces a lovely piece of skill down the Tottenham right before Naz’s shot is tame and drifts over the bar.
Goalmouth scramble at Spurs! Lize Kop does well to bat away a West Ham corner from under her own crossbar and pinball ensues. Shekiera Martinez tries to squeeze the ball in but her shot is blocked and Spurs survive.
Off the post! Liverpool threaten to retake the lead in the derby, with Holland cutting inside from the right and seeing her curling shot come back off the post.
Kirby goes close for Brighton, getting in behind the Villa defence and fizzing a low shot beyond the far post.
Off the bar! Villa’s Rachel Daly rattles the crossbar with a right-footed shot from range that so nearly found the top corner.
30 minutes gone:
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-1 Everton (Kapocs 11; Vignola 24)
Man Utd 2-0 Leicester (Toone 13, Terland 25)
Tottenham 0-0 West Ham
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Leicester (Terland 25)
After 10 goals in the WSL last season, Elisabeth Terland opens her account for the campaign with a header from Riviere’s cross. Leicester look in trouble.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Everton (Vignola 24)
Liverpool’s corner is cleared long to Ornella Vignola who twists and turns past Holland in the penalty area and finds the far corner with a glorious curling effort!
Liverpool continue to press for a second goal. Mia Enderby forces a corner at the Kop End. Everton clear it and go on the counter …
Anfield rises in the 20th minute in honour of Diogo Jota. The rain is still coming down on Merseyside.
20 minutes gone:
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Everton (Kapocs 11)
Man Utd 1-0 Leicester (Toone 13)
Tottenham 0-0 West Ham
Fran Kirby is denied an opener for Brighton. The former England midfielder taps home from close range but the offside flag is up.
Off the bar! Gemma Bonner stretches to get on the end of a Liverpool free-kick and Courtney Brosnan tips her effort on to the crossbar.
Brighton’s Michelle Agyemang is causing problems against Aston Villa. She finds Rachel McLauchlan on the edge of the box and the left-back’s shot is well saved by D’Angelo.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Leicester (Toone 13)
Ella Toone gets off the mark for the campaign as the ball falls to her inside the box and she cooly slots past Leicester’s Janina Leitzig in goal.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Everton (Kapocs 11)
First blood in the Merseyside derby goes to the hosts. Cornelia Kapocs comes in off the left flank, goes past Martina Fernández and smashes her shot in off the crossbar!
10 minutes gone:
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 0-0 Everton
Man Utd 0-0 Leicester
Tottenham 0-0 West Ham
Hansen is OK after receiving treatment and tests Brighton’s debutant goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie with a low shot.
At Anfield, Ceri Holland fronts up Maz Pacheco and sends a really dangerous cross through the corridor of uncertainty but it comes to nothing.
Villa’s Kirsty Hansen is down and receiving treatment after a collision in midfield.
Tottenham have threatened from a couple of corners in the opening stages at Brisbane Road.
Meanwhile at Crawley, Brighton’s Kiko Seike has had a shot saved comfortably by Villa’s Sabrina D’Angelo.
Sophie Downey
It’s a rather blustery and drizzly day here at Anfield for the opening Merseyside derby of the season. There was an excited atmosphere building around the stadium as Liverpool and Everton fans started to gather and queue to get to their seats.
It is a fresh start for Liverpool this season after the frustrations of the last campaign and a first game in charge for manager Gareth Taylor who was appointed over the summer. He will be hoping that he can bring a change to Liverpool’s fortunes in this encounter – the Reds are winless in their last seven WSL meetings against the Toffees and have lost the last two encounters.
For Everton, it has been an exciting summer for Brian Sørensen who has made good use of the influx of funds provided by The Friedkin Group since their takeover. Nine players have come through the door – eight permanent and one in on loan – and he will be hoping they will be able to help him start to move the Toffees up the table after a rollercoaster of a few seasons.
Kick-off
All four games are under way!
Tom Garry
The pitch here at Brisbane Road is soaked in sunshine on the day of Martin Ho’s first game in charge of Tottenham and the mood is optimistic. The hosts have given a debut to the 19-year-old Japan international Toko Koga – who is held is such high, she tends to start for her country – and the club are understood to be particularly delighted to have persuaded her to join them from Feyenoord this summer because there were so many other big clubs enquiring about her.
What Spurs feel they can offer a young star like Koga, that perhaps current Champions League clubs can’t, is game time, and that seems to be what helped them do this deal. Their far more critical summer signing was the appointment of Ho, the former Manchester United assistant coach who led Brann of Norway to a Champions League quarter-final. Ho was understood to have been selected from a shortlist of around 30 candidates and came with glowing recommendations from some of his former colleagues. Spurs like that he is obsessive and passionate about the job and now they’ll hope it can translate into better results on the pitch.
Ho has just been introduced to the crowd here to warm applause and cheers, with the Merseyside-born coach raising both of his arms in the air to wave to the Spurs fans. He is wearing – as almost every WSL manager seems to do these days – white trainers, (what else?) with smart dark trousers, plus a grey top, and all the pitchside photographers are pointing their cameras straight towards him.
We are five minutes from kick-off in all four games.
There are plenty of new faces in the starting lineups at Anfield – Sam Kerr and Lily Woodham make their full debuts for Liverpool, while Martina Fernández, Maz Pacheco, Katie Robinson, Rion Ishikawa and Ornella Vignola are the new signings in Everton’s XI. Club-record signing Ruby Mace could also make her debut for the visitors off the bench.
Chelsea are, of course, the team everyone is chasing. The champions began their tilt at a seventh successive title on Friday night but were given a run for their money by Manchester City at Stamford Bridge:
Leicester are the only side starting the campaign without a manager after the sacking of Amandine Miquel 10 days ago. Rick Passmore was appointed as interim manager earlier this week and has had just two sessions with the team before facing Manchester United today.
“The last couple of days have been manic, a whirlwind,” Passmore said this week. “I would love to stay at this club.”
Manchester United v Leicester team news:
Manchester United (4-4-2): Tullis-Joyce; Riviere, Le Tissier, Janssen, Sandberg; Toone, Zigiotti Olme, Miyazawa, Bizet; Malard, Terland
Subs: Middleton-Patel, Turner, Naalsund, Park, Griffiths
Leicester (4-2-3-1): Leitzig; Ale, Kees, Boureille, Thibaud; Tierney, Cayman; Cain, Van Egmond, O’Brien; Eríksdóttir
Subs: Clark, Wellesley-Smith, Rantala, Payne, Las, McLoughlin, Sherwood, Ayane, Kaczmar
Tottenham v West Ham team news:
Tottenham (4-3-3): Kop; Koga, Hunt, Rybrink, Nildén; Dennis, Spence, Summanen; Holdt, England, Naz
Subs: Ahtinen, Tandberg, Graham, Grant, Gunning-Williams, Heeps, Jackson, Maite Oroz
West Ham (4-2-3-1): Szemik; Denton, Nyström, Zadorsky, Hanshaw; Siren, Gorry; Piubel, Ueki, Asseyi; Martinez
Subs: Bellomou, Brasero-Carreira, Cemal, Houssein, Morgan, Paví, Tysiak, Walsh, Wandeler
Spurs finished second bottom last season but there is hope for improvement under former Everton and Manchester United assistant manager Martin Ho.
As for West Ham, they have the winner of the Women’s Super League’s Rising Star award for last season: Shekiera Martinez.
Brighton v Aston Villa team news:
Brighton (4-3-3): Nnadozie; McLauchlan, Rule, Minami, Olislagers; Kirby, Cankovic, Symonds; Seike, Haley, Agyemang
Subs: Auée, Baggaley, Camacho, Carabalí, Hayes, Kafaji, Noordam, Rayner, Tsunoda
Aston Villa (3-4-1-2): D’Angelo; Wilms, Patten, Deslanders; Grant, Kearns, Baijings, Maritz; Daly; Salmon, Hanson
Subs: Kelly, Kendall, Maltby, Mayling, Mullett, Parker, Roebuck, Taylor
The Gareth Taylor era at Liverpool begins with the visit of Everton to Anfield in the Merseyside derby. The Reds finished 7th last season and will want to kick on now under the former Manchester City manager.
As Tom Garry points out, Everton have won on each of their last five trips to Anfield, which their manager Brian Sørensen joked was “our training pitch” last season.
Merseyside derby team news
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Kirby; Fisk, Bonner, Evans, Woodham; Nagano, Kerr; Kapocs, Höbinger, Holland; Enderby
Subs: Morgan, Parry, Risa, Kiernan, Roman H, Olsson, Clark, MacLean, Silcock
Everton (4-2-3-1): Brosnan; Ishikawa, Ladd, Fernández, Pacheco; Hayashi, Van Gool; Robinson; Momiki, Vignola; Snoeijs
Subs: Ramsey, Wheeler, Payne, Gago, Weir, Stenevik, Holmgaard, Mace
In case you missed it yesterday, Arsenal got off to a winning start as they look to challenge Chelsea in the title race. The Gunners didn’t have it all their own way though, having to come from behind against promoted London City Lionesses.
Suzanne Wrack was there to watch £1m signing Olivia Smith turn the game in Arsenal’s favour:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Sunday in the Women’s Super League. Four teams have already kicked off their campaigns and the rest will follow at 12pm (BST) today. Four matches kick off simultaneously at midday and we’ll endeavour to bring you all the key moments from each of them. Those getting their season under way today are …
Brighton v Aston Villa (at Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium)
Liverpool v Everton (at Anfield)
Manchester United v Leicester (at Leigh Sports Village)
Tottenham v West Ham (at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road)
That’s a Merseyside derby and a London derby, plus Michelle Agyemang’s second Brighton debut – and all starting before we’ve even thought about lunch.
If you’d like to get in touch with your predictions for the season or thoughts on Chelsea and Arsenal’s opening victories, you can email me here.
