The Women's Super League returned from the international break this weekend, and apparently everybody decided that defending was optional, finishing was a lottery, and keeping your supporters' blood pressure under control was completely unnecessary. Seven matches. 26 goals. One perfect record. And several defensive coaches seriously reconsidering their career choices. Here's what happened in Matchweek 6 of the 2026/27 WSL season. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham City: 27 shots, 75% possession, and one very confused Emirates Stadium Arsenal had over 75% possession. They had 27 shots. They had enough opportunities to produce an entire compilation of "HOW HAS THAT NOT GONE IN?" And somehow, Birmingham nearly walked out with all three points. Océane Hurtré chipped Birmingham into the lead in the 53rd minute, presumably causing several thousand Arsenal supporters to stare silently into the distance. Olivia Smith eventually rescued a point with a thunderous strike from outside the box, but Birmingham goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley was having absolutely none of Arsenal's attempts to complete the comeback. Arsenal have now gone five consecutive WSL matches without a win for the first time in their history. Birmingham haven't won a league match either, but they'll certainly be happier with this point. Arsenal's attacking strategy currently appears to involve trying absolutely everything except putting the ball into the net more than once. Someone needs to explain that possession percentages aren't redeemable for league points. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Chelsea 6-2 Tottenham: Stamford Bridge becomes a crime scene for defensive football Oh, Tottenham. Just when you thought conceding six goals in your previous WSL match was quite enough, Chelsea decided to make it two consecutive matches with six conceded. Lauren James scored twice. Ellie Carpenter scored twice. Sjoeke Nüsken joined the party. Maika Hamano scored an absolute rocket from around 30 yards. Hamano apparently looked at the penalty area and decided that was far too close to goal. Spurs were actually level at 1-1 at half-time thanks to Matilda Vinberg, and even started the second half reasonably well. Unfortunately, somebody seems to have told Chelsea that the match was still competitive. Chelsea responded by scoring five second-half goals. Sonia Bompastor celebrated her 50th WSL match in charge of Chelsea with victory, taking her tally to 125 points from those 50 games. That's a league record for a manager's first 50 matches. Chelsea have now won five consecutive league matches. Meanwhile, Spurs have conceded 12 goals across their last two WSL fixtures. Twelve. In two games. That's not a defensive record. That's a customer loyalty scheme for opposition forwards. And guess who Spurs face next in the league? Arsenal. One team can't stop conceding. The other can't convert its chances. The North London derby is about to become a fascinating scientific experiment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Palace 0-1 West Ham: One goal, three points, and absolutely no need for unnecessary excitement After Chelsea and Tottenham decided to turn football into a basketball match, West Ham and Crystal Palace kindly reminded everyone that football can still be won with a single goal. Kelly Gago scored the winner after Palace lost possession, and West Ham successfully defended their lead. Bethany England thought she'd equalised for Palace before half-time, only for the offside flag to intervene. Palace pushed for a late equaliser, but West Ham held firm to secure their first victory in four league matches. No six-goal extravaganza. No ridiculous comeback. Just a proper 1-0 away win. Somewhere, a traditional football manager is watching the highlights with a tear in their eye, whispering, "That's how you do it." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Aston Villa 2-1 Liverpool: Liverpool discover that dominating the first half doesn't guarantee anything Liverpool started brightly. Natalia Ramos scored a fantastic long-range opener, and Liverpool registered 11 first-half shots, including six on target. Villa? Two first-half shots. It looked like Liverpool had things under control. Unfortunately for Liverpool, football matches last 90 minutes, which appears to have come as an unpleasant surprise. Chasity Grant equalised in the 62nd minute after racing onto a long ball from goalkeeper Akane Okuma. Ten minutes later, a Villa corner ended up in the net off Liverpool captain Grace Fisk. Villa completed the comeback and celebrated their first WSL win of the season. Interim manager Brian Sørensen has now overseen two wins and a draw across all competitions, with Villa having confirmed he will remain in charge until at least the end of the campaign. Liverpool, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four league matches. Liverpool's first-half performance said, "We've got this." Their second-half performance said, "Terms and conditions apply." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Charlton Athletic 1-3 Manchester United: Eva Olid has apparently found the instruction manual Remember when Manchester United had that difficult start to the season? Well, apparently Eva Olid has located the reset button. United made it three consecutive WSL victories after putting three goals past Charlton in a very lively first half. Ella Toone opened the scoring after just six minutes with a brilliant strike off the underside of the crossbar. That took Toone to 35 WSL goals for Manchester United, drawing her level with Leah Galton as the club's leading WSL scorer. Andrea Medina doubled United's advantage shortly afterwards, before Leah Davidson pulled one back for Charlton. For a brief moment, Charlton supporters had hope. Julia Zigiotti Olme then scored United's third, presumably just as everyone was preparing their dramatic comeback predictions. All four goals came before half-time. The second half was considerably quieter. Maybe both sides had used up the entire match's entertainment budget. United are now fifth with 10 points, while Charlton remain bottom with no points, having conceded 18 goals in six matches. Three consecutive league wins for United. Next Sunday? Manchester City. The Manchester derby is approaching, and United will need rather more than a good opening 45 minutes against a City side that has apparently forgotten what losing looks like. ------------------------------------------------------------------ London City Lionesses 2-1 Everton: The newcomers are not here to make up the numbers Can we talk about London City Lionesses for a moment? Four consecutive WSL victories. A place in the top three. And another three points secured against Everton. Delphine Cascarino opened the scoring with a lovely finish after combining with Daniëlle van de Donk. Freya Godfrey, fresh from making her senior England debut, then scored London City's second after Everton lost possession. Not a bad week at the office. Hannah Cain pulled one back for Everton, ensuring that the closing stages involved the traditional football ritual of everyone frantically checking how much stoppage time remained. But London City held on. Four wins on the bounce, and suddenly these newcomers are making themselves very comfortable near the top. Other clubs were presumably expecting them to spend the season learning how the WSL works. London City appear to have skipped the tutorial and gone straight to career mode on a high difficulty setting. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Manchester City 3-2 Brighton: Three goals in 17 minutes, followed by an unexpected cardiovascular examination Manchester City entered the weekend with five wins from five. Brighton entered the match presumably hoping to avoid becoming victim number six. Seventeen minutes later, City were 3-0 up. Khadija Shaw scored twice, both assisted by Lauren Hemp, before Niamh Charles added a third. At that point, Brighton's defenders must have been wondering whether requesting an early international break was an option. But then Brighton remembered that they were also allowed to score goals. Olivia Garcia pulled one back after Fran Kirby's delivery, and Caitlin Hayes headed in another six minutes later. Suddenly, it was 3-2. City had gone from looking like they were about to win 7-0 to needing someone to check their collective pulse. Brighton threatened an extraordinary comeback, but City eventually secured the win. Six matches. Six victories. 18 points. And Bunny Shaw now has seven WSL goals in just six matches. Seven! At this point, Shaw isn't competing for the Golden Boot. She's putting in an early application to have it delivered directly to her house. And now we have a Manchester derby next weekend. City are unbeaten and perfect. United have won three straight. Something has to give. Unless, of course, both teams decide to draw, in which case football will once again have made fools of absolutely everyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Matchweek 6 verdict The biggest winners: Chelsea, for turning their London derby into a goal-scoring exhibition; Manchester City, for maintaining their perfect start; and London City Lionesses, who apparently didn't receive the memo about newly promoted clubs needing time to settle. The biggest relief: Aston Villa, finally getting their first league victory of the campaign. The biggest headache: Arsenal. Twenty-seven shots and one goal is the sort of statistic that makes a manager start questioning the laws of mathematics. The most unfortunate defensive statistic: Tottenham conceding six in consecutive WSL matches. At this rate, opposition strikers will be asking whether they can play Spurs every weekend. The form team to watch: Manchester United. Three straight wins under Eva Olid, with City up next. The derby should tell us rather more about how far this revival has come. The most stressful victory: Manchester City. Going 3-0 up inside 17 minutes and still needing to survive a comeback attempt is certainly one way of keeping the supporters awake. The surprise package: London City Lionesses. Four consecutive victories and sitting in the top three? Someone needs to check whether they've secretly been playing in this league for years. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Next weekend could be ridiculous We've got Tottenham against Arsenal in the North London derby, and Manchester United against Manchester City in the Manchester derby. Spurs need to stop conceding. Arsenal need to remember how to win. United want to prove their resurgence is genuine. And City want to maintain a perfect record that is becoming increasingly irritating for everyone trying to catch them. The scriptwriters are having an absolute field day. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Over to r/soccer: Which was more ridiculous: Arsenal having 27 shots and failing to beat Birmingham, or Tottenham conceding six goals for the second consecutive league match? Are London City Lionesses genuine top-three contenders? Can Eva Olid's Manchester United actually bring City's winning run to an end? And most importantly, is anybody going to tell Bunny Shaw that other players are allowed to win the Golden Boot? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Official WSL Matchweek 6 roundup and full match reports: https://www.wslfootball.com/news/wsl/barclays-wsl-matchweek-6-roundup Football is a simple game. Twenty-two players chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, Manchester City somehow win again. Unless you're Arsenal, in which case you have the ball for 75% of the match and still spend Monday wondering where the three points went.   submitted by   /u/MonthRemarkable9919 [link]   [comments]