The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Bunny Shaw is back and Chelsea stay perfect – Women’s Football Weekly podcast

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Tom Garry and Sanny Rudravajhala to review the weekend’s WSL action

This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker-Rothers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Is Arsenal's title bid over already, or is it far too early to make a statement like that? Aston Villa shocked the Gunners and take a point home from the Emirates. while it's four wins from four for Chelsea as they stay unbeaten along with Manchester United. Boney Shore is back scoring two goals in Manchester City's

demolition of London City lionesses and West Ham and Liverpool remain winless in the Barclays WSL. We'll discuss all the games from the weekend plus we'll take your questions and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. What a panel we have today. Sophie Downey, a very good morning to you.

Very good morning to you. This is very, very early. I need to click my brain into gear. I know. I'm looking at your penguin poster behind you, which says the big sleep, Raymond Chandler, and I'm thinking I really needed the big sleep and did not get it because we're recording at such an ungodly hour. Hopefully, if you're listening to this now, you have had a big sleep, all of you people out there. We haven't. Tom Gary, though, still bounces onto the pod as if it's 9 a.m. You're getting me in training, aren't you? As an expectant parent, you knew that I would want to have the early starts sort of nailed into me nice and early that I was

getting used to them. So this is, this is great. I feel fresh, running to go for a big Tuesday. It's practice. You're all in training. I like that we are your training squad. Sani Rydradarajala has to kind of stay quiet in the corner of the living room, however, not to wake up the kids. But it still looks like a recording booth, Sani. Yeah, it does. It's all smoke and But, you know, when it's 6am, you can't be picky with your panellists. So here I am. Oh, no, no, no. I'm not having that.

You were booked in before we decided we had to do it at 6am. So I'm not having that at all. Right, let's kick off, shall we, with some of the weekends action. And maybe the early kickoff this weekend was what was the biggest surprise, bearing in mind, the form of Aston Villa, because Arsenal were held by them at the Emirates, and 94th minute kickoff. equaliser from substitute Lucy Parker made sure that Natalia Arroyo's side went home with a valuable point. This is what Rene Slegger's had to say about it. I just don't think we have the intensity and urgency in and around the box to kill the game because we got an early goal. What do you make of

those comments, first of all, Sof? We are so used to seeing them dominant at the Emirates, but where did it go wrong for them? I think it was a bit of the same old Arsenal creeping in from seasons gone by. you know, were too hesitant on the board. They got the goal. They looked comfortable for a bit. They should have got a second or a third as well. And then they just kind of took their foot at the gas a little bit. And they were like guilty of maybe taking one too many touches before having a shot.

While the Aston Villa was so like defensively aware and compact and on their money. And yeah, the same old Arsenal just came in. It was really interesting because you haven't often seen that under Renee's leggers. And you probably would have expected to. see it more because it's been, when there's a habit, you know, you kind of expect to see it a bit more often, but she seemed to have broken that one. But yeah, I think it was just a question of nothing they were quite doing came off. They were, you know, they were brilliant up until that final third. They were playing pretty well. They were good in possession. They

were passing the ball around like Arsenal do. And then it would just break down in the box and just won too many people, players on the day were just guilty of that hesitancy and that kind of wanting to score the perfect goal rather than just like bang it in the back of the net. Yeah, it's interesting that, isn't it? When you've got to this point, as Arsenal have done, scoring the perfect goal, it doesn't always work. Sometimes you have to grind out and be a bit more gritty, which exactly what Villa were.

They were brave. They battled all afternoon, Tom. And Natalia Arroyo actually felt that a point. was fully deserved. Did you think they fully deserved it? Do you feel as if it's maybe turned a corner for them and she should start to feel positive? Well, I think she should have been feeling positive for quite a while, actually.

They finished last season very, very well, and they're hugely improved on where they were, not just this time last year, but where they were perhaps six months ago. I don't think they didn't deserve a point, if that makes sense. I don't think it would have been unjust if they'd lost the game narrowly either, if that is a roundabout way of answering a question. But what I would say is they had that desire that Arsenal were really missing in the box for a set piece right at the end of a game. And if you're going to win titles, that is where you need somebody to take the situation by a scruff of the neck and clear the set piece.

that's going to be so costly for Arsenal. To drop those two points, these are the basics. If you're going to try and win things, you've got to be able to do that. Yeah, so follow up to that. Is this it for Arsenal? Can we say this early that the title race is over for them? Or is that ridiculous? No, no, it's way too early for that, for sure.

Let's not go down that sort of hyperbowl. But what they have done now is made it really hard for themselves. Like, you know, we know historically that Chelsea, who's still not lost, the league game under Sunday Bon Pastour, you know, how many points are they going to drop, you know, if you're going to beat them into the title? So, what Arsenal probably need to do now is go on like a

flawless run until after Christmas to kind of make amends for it. And that, so they're just given themselves work to do. What do we see? Last season, Chelsea, probably what was there? There was the Leicester game where they dropped points. They will, you're not going to win every game, but

if you're the challenges, you can't afford to drop those kind of points at home. as good as Villa are. And that's what Chelsea have not done in the last six, seven years. He's dropped points in the way that Arsenal did on Saturday. And who had Tottenham above Arsenal after four matches? Now that Susie's not on the pod this morning, we can maybe say that louder than I would have done last week.

I don't think you'd even said it if Susie was on the pod this morning. We should have got Chris Poweros on without a doubt, shouldn't we? She would be absolutely loving this and we will get to Spurs in a minute as well because a fantastic win for them beating Leicester at King Power Stadium but just on this again and I know it's a media narrative

and I'm sorry I'm being so obvious and just jumping on that little bandwagon but unfortunately sometimes in the media we have to stoke up a little bit of excitement like that and I can hear any players, managers etc listening going oh don't be ridiculous what are we four games in

but you know they've got Manchester City next weekend and we'll talk about City in a sec because you know they had a brilliant win over London City lionesses back with their scoring boots on four points behind Arsenal at the minute and they themselves are the ones

sannie that have talked about the need for consistency and trying to match Chelsea in the league but here we are yeah well we've seen with City, you know, the season where he lost the title on goal difference, you know, the margins are so fine. You are kind of forgiven, Faye, for saying of Arsenal throwing it away, even though as silly as that is. Funnily enough, unlike Arsenal, like, last two games for them, Alessi Roos played all 90 minutes, and, like, she was behind Blackstanias and then was

pretty isolated, and then was up front and also pretty isolated. Whereas City, I've had Bunny sure not firing in all cylinders, and I've still managed to pile in a load of goals anyway until she's, like, scored two penalties in that win against London City. So there's contrast there in that you've got one side with all that firepower, you know, not quite able to pull it all together, and another side that actually do, and even though the main striker isn't, they're still able to pull it together. And that's what you kind of need, right? Because otherwise, Chelsea are just going to take it all. You know, it's all my, it's funny, because Chelsea, you're becoming, and, you know, as a listener to the pod, you know, I know you've all

kind of hinted that they're kind of the pantomime villains at times here, because we don't, you know, in the season preview, and it's like, is anyone going to win other than Chelsea? And it's like, there's like a split second before you've all gone, no, it's going to be Chelsea. Yeah, we do, we basically just need everyone else to keep on, keep it on, right? We can't really afford anyone to not do that. And so City, I know they've lost one game already, but, you know, eight different scorers already. And you did a great job against London City. So I think we need, we need more of this, right? We need more of this for a competitive. competitive title race. And with so few games, we can't not. And we're going to get it from

Manchester United as well, because they're also still unbeaten. Before we talk about their game, so, you know, I feel like we need to pile a little bit more love. It's not all about Arsenal, but Villa's strength in depth, which is, funnily enough, something that we've talked about with Arsenal and with Chelsea, how they can impact results from the bench. But that's exactly what Natalia Arroyo did. Yeah, they managed to keep in the game in the third. half and then bring on the substitutes in the second and it kind of just added they play a really direct style of football she likes to go straight through she's not really she's not a fan of like building up the play or all of those passes maybe in contrast to arsenal it's like hit

the hit the pacey players get them running at the defense on the transition and they'll break through and they did that and several times in the second half and they as Tom said they really did earn their equalizer they defended really well give a big shout out to Anna Patton I thought she was superb all afternoon. Obviously, she's from the Arsenal Academy. She played for Arsenal for a few years as well. So coming back to the Emirates and putting on a performance like that for her,

I imagine was pretty special. Fidder on a journey at the moment and they're starting to build really well over the last couple of windows. They've gotten some young players. They're trusting young players. There's a re-energized and more life about them. So I think they're going to be a force to contend with.

I think, you know, They've got two points in their first three games, but they played Arsenal and Chelsea in those two ones and two points away from home as well. So it's a good foundation for the season ahead to move forward. Yeah, Manchester United are making a good foundation already. Of course, it's going to be interesting to see how they handle Champions League football when that kicks off next week.

But three wins from four now for Mark Skinner's side. They're still unbeaten, and it was a pretty confident 2-0 victory away to Liverpool. from Hinata, Miyazawa and Ella Toon. A really emotional day at St Helens, as you would expect, with the late Matt Beard's wife, Debbie, and his mother, Margaret, in the crowd, women's football continuing to pay their respects after his tragic passing,

an inquest has now been opened into his death. It was a comprehensive first half from Manchester United, Tom. Mark Skinner called the Performance Electric. That's quite an accurate description, actually, but the way they've played. I've seen quite a lot of Manchester United this season live and I'm increasingly impressed with them.

This is a team that probably isn't getting the credit it deserves for how well it's playing. I do think they could have been four, maybe even more goals ahead at halftime against Liverpool. There was a significant gap in the quality in the first half. Garif Taylor kind of put it down to a disappointing lack of energy from his team, whereas Mark Skinner was putting it down. So, like, they're praising their intensity.

But more than that, I just think Manchester United just got completely control on the midfield. And any time Manchester United, like, lost the ball for a split second, like, they had it, they want it back. They recycled the possession straight away. They want it straight back. They kind of didn't give lip ball a second on the ball. And if they can play with that level of intensity against Chelsea, they're going to give them a real run for their money on Friday. They're not conceding many goals. Manchester United out of the back four looks really solid.

You've got players who've made massive improvements to their game like Jada Riviere, for example, who's just come on leaps and bounds. And Jess Parker settled into that team really quickly looks absolutely at home. I like the sort of balance they've got in the starting 11th. They really seem happy with their front four now. And the tune part, Turland Mallard, understanding, is growing with every single game. They've got a lot of reasons for optimism at the moment, Manchester United. and they, Sannie was talking about

needing the kind of challenges to give it a run. I think Manchester United will eventually further down the line in the season the kind of lack of depth might come back to haunt them, but for the here and now this is a really good side. And as long as their kind of core group

of, what is it, about 13, 14 regular players, as long as they are fit and healthy, this team will take some beating. Like, you know, when they're all starting, I think it's a good side. You mentioned the midfield there actually, Tom, and Mia Zawa has made herself quite an important part of that midfield unit. The goal was spectacular, by the way, in the fourth minute.

But she has had to bide her time, Sunny, hasn't she, to get into this United team since she arrived a couple of years ago in 2023. But what does she bring? Yeah, this is her third season now. And yeah, just been not quite able to nail down, you know, a solid position there. And yet on the goals, I mean, she doesn't really score many. And then in this one, pretty sure she's right-footed as well. And the ball kind of breaks to run the edge of the area. Absolutely smashes it in on the D. And in off the post, and later on,

again, on our left foot, ball breaks from the box and hits the post as well. And it kind of strikes as somebody who's playing with a lot of confidence. And perhaps the movement of a few other players aren't. I've kind of given her that space to kind of push forward. You know, lots made a Grace Glinton, Grace Blinton? Grace Clinton's, Grace Clinton's, Grace Clinton's departure and, you know, the attacking presence that she brings, when someone like that leaves, it kind of opens the door for someone else to come in. But it did feel like Miyazawa had some instruction here, like, you know, get your shots off. It really did feel like that. But yeah, really impressive. I've seen them online, some have called the Japanese Iniesta, which, um, okay,

I've been a bit of a way to go for that. But yeah, uh, excellent from her. And, you know, a lot's made of United having a small squad and it is thin. But the quality is really there. And the fact that, like, Elizabeth Turland didn't start the Arsenal game before, despite a hat trick in the week in the Champions League and then did come in for this one. I think it's really interesting because the idea of a work linking up with Mallard, maybe that still needs a bit of work. But, you know, it was great with with El-A-Toon, I think,

cross for the Mizor and also link with El-A-Latune. And, yeah, overall, it seems to be really good. But on United as well, and I noticed because I was at the Arsenal game in the week before, I think a huge impact for them is. isn't so much Mia Zauer getting a chance, it's Fallon Tullis Joyce, who in this one pulled off a couple of really good saves, you know, save one onto the woodwork in the first off and a one and one in a second. But like, it's just really brave and also pretty good with it as well. Like, you know, isn't it worried about, you know, getting yourself, it hurts

to get the ball. And I think that gives so much confidence to the players in front of her as well. And I think she came for quite a bit of money as well when she first did sign. There's a few United players. I know they're not too keen on letting you know how much they've signed the players for, but I think that's a women's football thing as well, right? But she's had to really buy the time, and she's been thrown in and has really kind of lived up to it,

and kind of to the point where you forget that they did have the former greatest goalie going in Mary Earps before her. So, yeah, Falunelist Joyce has been exceptional, and I think that's a huge bonus for United. They're able to build on that. As has Mayor Leticier, captain this season, 70th consecutive league start for Manchester United, which is incredibly impressive.

From a livable point of view, though, So, I mean, they did improve. The first half, they were completely overwhelmed, but Gareth Taylor brought on Meera Enderby at half time, and they were better in the second 45, but they've still got no points this season. What does he take from that second half performance? I think he can be positive from that second half, the way that they defended pretty well against United

they added more directness to the attack that's what Mia Enderby brings, she brings a bit of pace she can run in behind they had two big chances the one for Cornelia Kippox she should have hit it on target but you know that should have been a goal Mia Indaby herself hit the post so there were positive signs I think for me for Liverpool it's just that like lack of creativity at the end of the day they're not like they scored one goal

this season or something so they're not creating a lot of chances they, even against Lester, which obviously they lost, but they dominated the ball and they had possession, but they were just not really doing much with it. And I know Gareth Taylor is a possession-based team. He likes his teams to build up from the back and pass it through the thirds, but it's not very good when you're going side to side

if you're not going forward. And I think that's part of the problem at the moment, but I think a huge part of that is just not having the squad to be able to do that, not having the forward players, the forward line to be able to do exactly what he wants at the moment, and that will come with time. Just one thing on Melitizier.

She's 23 years old. She made her 100th appearance for United Against London City, which is incredible for a 23-year-old. And the last time she missed a club game was on the 16th of May, 2021, which is ridiculous, like, consistency. She performs every single time.

I remember watching her as a 17-year-old playing for England. And sometimes, you know, you just know when players have that extra quality. You knew that she was going to be a captain. She had that leadership quality. And yeah, the level of consistency that she's showing is insane. Just imagine being one of those young United fans, you know, one of the youngsters.

You've never seen your team play without Mayo Letitiae. Like the concepts of her not being there. This isn't in your wheelhouse of thinking. It's amazing. Wow. At 23 as well, that is something. We talked about Gareth Taylor not necessarily having incredible players at his disposal, which is what he had at Manchester City and what

Andre Jugglers gets to work with now. And they look quite revitalised, actually, kept up their winning run, an emphatic 4-1 win over London City lionesses at the Joy Stadium. And dynamic and fluid attacks have kind of been the theme of the season so far it feels under their new manager. What did we learn from this performance, Tom? Well, because they lost their first game in a season, sort of very understandably away to Chelsea, a difficult opening fixture for any new manager, they've kind of gone under the radar a little bit, haven't they?

Like they kind of, because they didn't win that first game. But very quietly, they're going about their business rather well and getting better and starting to get a little bit more cohesion and clicking things together. And they're not going to have the European football to juggle. with the threats they've got going forward now, they're looking really dangerous. I thought that they are.

What I think it sounds out for me is how many chances they're creating. Like they really are in attack looking very, very dangerous indeed. I'm still not completely sold on them defensively. And that might be fascinating to see if that's exposed against Arsenal this weekend and against the other sort of European hope falls over the course of the season. But for the time being, I think there's a lot of reason to do positive for, for Man City fans. I think Grace Clinton has slipped into the side really neatly.

It's great to see Bunny Shaw back on the score sheet as well. They've got Medemar looking sharp. All those things are very positive. And Yeglot's for somebody, you know, although very experienced in women's football, he's new to this league. And so far, I think he's kind of got, yeah, what's the one I'm looking for? Like, credit in the bank now with the Man City fans, I would think. and it's a positive time for them.

The big, big test now is on Saturday, isn't it? Because if it didn't go well against Arsenal, then you would suddenly, you'd be looking at them having, you know, potentially lost two of the games against their big rivals early on. But if they keep playing like that, then they'll get a good result, then they'll be feeling really positive about their starts of the season, I think. Yeah, a solid start, I think it's fair to say.

And actually, Bunny Shaw, Sannie, she hasn't quite looked herself this season, but she won and then converted both of the penalties for her side, which put the game out of reach for London City lionesses. Maybe the confidence boosts she needed. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And yeah, what's helped her out is everyone else kind of chipping in around her. I mean, she's still been linking up the play pretty well. I think, you know, it's easy to say, you know, jobs to score goals.

She hasn't been scoring them. And then, yeah, with the penalty miss against Spurs the week before, it kind of puts the pressure on. But she's still been making the chances. I mean, yeah, the penalty she won. Again, she managed to get like half yard in the box and had a shot and it hit an arm and then, you know, converted that time. So I think, you know, it's easy to say, oh, she's not been doing too well.

You know, obviously not winning the goals. But actually, I think her link up play has been there and we know what she can do, right? And I am looking forward to seeing her, well, not so much her, but the rest of the team, I suppose, like with a bit more freedom. Because, yeah, Gareth Taylor football can at times be, you can find yourself daydreaming, I noticed last season. I'd be there at City and it'd be a slow passage of play. And I'd just like, just zone out for a minute and then come back in and then they'd finally get going again. And I think it does, I hope.

Are you commentating at this point? I hope not. Well, thankfully, thankfully, I'm usually the reporter. So, you know, I can have a moment. You know, it's all you can eat pick and mix at Man City as well. You've got to be careful when you go there. I know. They look after you.

Yeah, before you know it, you're just eating it chomming on a cereal bar and you hadn't realised your second cereal bar. You didn't need to do that. But yeah, actually, I'm looking forward to seeing them playing with a bit more freedom. And I think we're seeing that at the moment. I think you can see that in the fact that you've had those eight different scores I mentioned. So, yeah, Bunny Shaw coming back into it, and overall, I think we're going to see an exciting team. And that both all.

And yet, the key not having that Champions League, that's, a big boost. I think we can my hopes are on City to do well. Even though, you know, I've got no skin in the game here. Barry aren't in the Premier, in the WSL or anywhere near this. So you know, I'm completely neutral. This is quite good. London City

are playing with that kind of freedom. They're pretty brave, aren't they? So for the way they tried to possess the ball, take the game to City, but obviously that left them a bit too open at the other end. Yeah, they played pretty well for the best part of, you know, until maybe halfway through the second half.

And the first penalty for Bunny Shore came along and that just made the score more comfortable for City. But they're trying to play a bit more expansive. They were getting, you know, the front line involved. Nikita Parris scored again. That will do her the world of good. Another goal against a former club, which, I mean, she's just, I mean, that's not hard to do because she's pretty much played for everyone at this point in time. But yeah, no, and Izzy Goodwin just looked so full of confidence she took on an audacious shot from about 40 years out

so that just kind of shows that she's brimming with that kind of energy and you can kind of see what Jocelyn's trying to do is he is trying to move the part so in real time and that just takes a bit of time for him to get sorted when I spoke to him

after the game against Everton the week before he was saying that he didn't get half his players in until the end of August so he's not had a preseason with them he's doing things in game that he wouldn't be doing normally but just because

you know he's not had the time with them so they are becoming more defensively cohesive as well despite the scoreland but they were just leaving themselves a bit too open to that kind of potent city attack but that will come with time and you know these games are for him to try things they're probably not expecting to beat Manchester City

at this point in time given where they are on the journey it will be the games against those below the top four that he will be really looking at to try and get those points out of Yeah. Right, that's it for part one in part two. We'll continue to look back at the weekend's action. Cuthbert hitting three in quick succession before Inis Ballumu saw a straight red card. Vika captain added the fourth then for Chelsea and actually it was a reasonably bright start I think

from the hosts but Chelsea's three goals in seven minutes kind of very quickly popped that little bubble Tom didn't they and I wonder whether Rian Skinner's going to be worried mainly with how much they wilted defensively in that first half. Yes, I think particularly when you see the Aaron Cuthbert goal and everybody in the West Ham shirt just backing off and almost looking a little bit afraid to kind of make a challenge or make a block. That's got to be a little bit worrying when you really need your players to be battling and kind of putting their bodies on the line when you're playing against a team like Chelsea. West Ham, they look bereft of confidence at the moment. They look disjointed at the back. But I think we do have to give more credit to Chelsea, actually.

The policy they showed going forward is getting better and better each game through the season. And we have to shout to Aggie Beaver Jones, four starts, four goals, really pleasing to see for her. She's got a great track record at the moment. And now scoring different kinds of goals, you know, this free kick showed perhaps the confidence that we're now seeing from her, you know, to have the audacity and the ambition to give that a go from that range. She's more than just you're kind of in the box

poacher striker she's got a lot to her game and they yeah with that free kick and the couple of really

eye-catching strikes and shout out to Captain as well who generally was a real thorn in West Ham's side and can we also just sort of

I don't know what the right word is but almost want to lead a campaign for an end to the hair tug like people need to stop

doing this it's like it's a it's like it's like a really stupid way to get sent off be like it was like a really horrible thing to do like why would you why would you do that like if you if you wanted if you wanted to cheat like by grabbing someone pull the shirt back like that's like a significantly less painful way to like try and hinder somebody in an unlawful way against also again it just needs to be stopped and um i kind of glad it was a red card because it was just a ridiculous thing to do do you know what

it is. I just think it's too tempting. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, but we're not 11. Like, it's, it's literally like you're at primary school again, and that's what you did in the playground when you were getting cross with each other. I just don't get it. No, you're a professional footballer. Um, on Aggie Biva Jones, by the way, Tom. Um, you mentioned four in four, but she's actually the first Chelsea player to score in five consecutive league appearances since she did it herself back in November 2023 as well. So, I mean, she is some player, for sure,

maybe pushing herself forward for a starting position for England going forward, if you're listening, Serena Vigman. Yeah, I mean, look, no doubt of the red card, without a doubt. But the tinkering of the team is what I'm interested in. So, you know, it's really interesting seeing what Sonia Bonpastor is doing with the team. And you had Alyssa Thompson and Ritting Canerid playing at Wingback. what do you make of the rotations or would you prefer

that they found a little bit of stability where do you stand with it? I think she's feeling quite comfortable that she can win games and tinker and that's where she's at at the moment I think it might change it will change probably when they come up against your United's and your Arsenal

and that's going to be an interesting game on Friday they're playing United on Friday night so that's going to be an interesting one but I think she's just trying to like she's got so much style quality and so many players to fit into the puzzle and she's just trying to figure that out. You're starting to see signs of it

like Aaron Cuthbert is that permanent figure alongside Kiri Walshyn in the midfield. So that's kind of the heartbeat of the team. Aggie Beaver Jones is getting these starts up front. She's pretty much made herself undroppable, I think, at the moment, despite the fact that you've got Sam Kerr waiting in the wings. I know she's not quite fit yet, but she will be building that fitness every week that passes.

So it won't be too long until she is. but you know you saw alicea thompson and johanna retting canerra playing both playing wingback and they're both traditionally you know wide players maybe not so often seen in those defensive roles so she's just trying to figure things out trying to figure out what options she has and when the games get really heavy when european football starts next week she's going to need those rotations and tom mentioned about the kind of depth with problems with manchester united you have completely opposite problem with chelsea right they do not have to worry about their squad depth going into that European competition.

So it's going to be super interesting. But I think she's said it herself in postmatch, you know. She is tinkering. That's why maybe the performances haven't been all top-notch at the moment. But she knows what she's doing and she's getting those wins and she's unbeaten, you know, in the league as Chelsea Boss. Yeah, yeah. It's impressive to watch.

That is for sure. I'm not sure if I'm fully on board with all these like big fixtures this early on in the season, by the way. everyone playing each other. I don't know about that. I haven't made my mind up. I agree with that. Not so much that they're early in the season, but they don't all need to happen on the same weekend.

Yes. This happens a lot in the WSEL. It's what we have to have like a blockbuster weekend when they all play each other. Like, spread them out, spread the joy, spread the love across the season and stagger these blockbuster head-to-head games

when... There's not enough teams to have a blockbuster weekend that, like, with no disrespect to the other teams in the league, by the way. But when we're talking blockbuster, We're talking, you know, former WSL winners, the big teams that are in the European competitions, et cetera. And so maybe they are trying to spread the love by having blockbuster weekends, including other teams, which I absolutely applaud and push forward. Just very quickly on West Ham, that's now two wins in the last 10 WSL games going back to the last season.

It's very worrying. It's 13 goals conceded as well. I mean, I noticed they've had some difficult games, but overall, in fact, the only win was against Crystal Palace, of course, relegated. So, I mean, it's very worrying. I'm not really sure what exactly is going so badly. But, you know, the 5-1 at home to Arsenal, 4-1 up right, and then this against Chelsea, where he was so kind of insipid and it allowed Chelsea on so much. Yeah, very worrying for Rianzkinner. And that only goal, they've scored all season, was an SAE penalty. Their XG is four, so they should have scored a few more.

But yeah, pretty alarm bell times for West Ham. It's not working at all. They were listening to our preview pod where I said Shakira Martin S could win the golden boot and they thought, you know what, we'll prove him wrong. We won't score any goals. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly predictions ruining life for everyone.

Tottenham put last week's tricky defeat well and truly behind them, two-one victory away to Leicester, Katinka Tamberg and Olivia Holt giving them an early lead. Sam Tierney did pull one back for Leicester, but they couldn't salvage a point in the end. But it was so important for Martin Ho and his side

to get back to winning ways. Against a team who we know can be tricky to break down, what was impressive for you about their performance? I think they came out in the first half, full of energy and got those first two goals, you know, quite early on. I think within 20 minutes, they were kind of two goals up and that really, really helped them. Their press is really impressive.

They're really energetic in terms of closing. down the spaces. And in the form of Katinkatamberg and Olivia Holt at the moment, who is also in really, really good form, they're finding ways to score different kinds of goals, but also stretch the lines of the opponents. And for Lester, who are very compact, but there is space in behind if you do get there. That's what they were exploiting that first half. I think it was so important for Martin Hohn, kind of his journey as a spurs manager, to get back to winning away so quickly because, you know, they were defeated quite comprehensively by Manchester City last week. And that could have had a real, despite Manchester City being the favourites

in that game, the way that they were beating, it could have had a quite a negative effect or maybe sat the confidence, but they bounce straight back, they have the energy, they look like he's such a tactically astute kind of manager, he knows exactly what he's doing. And, yeah, it's very exciting to see this team to come together and kind of the way that they want to play football. Lester are looking a little bit more comfortable, Sani as well. Rick Passmore will be proud of their second half performance I'm sure. Yeah, he's still interim manager isn't he? But he's really like tightened them up. I mean you need a later later the goal he's having a good season, a good start so far as well. But yeah, I mean, solid and Sam Tierney as

well was their one kind of kind of shining light. So I've been quite impressed with them at least a bit more solidity. I do wonder at some point, Are he going to hire pass more? Is you just going to keep being into rim? Is it going to just carry on indefinitely? He seems to working at the moment. But yeah, I mean, like, you know, they, I think they can do okay, impressed by Lester so far, given that, you know, the resource and everything else is not quite there.

And yeah, a good one against Liverpool before that, albeit I'm a bit worried about Liverpool as well. But yeah, give the job to pass more. Or maybe not. Maybe just keep him into rim forever. I don't know. Working okay. Yeah. He's a good manager.

He used to be Riann Skinner's number two. been in the women's game for a very long time as well. Let's talk Brighton to round things off. Another bright start for them. Victory over Everton, Michelle Adjimang, on the score sheet. Her goal, the decider in a tight encounter in Crawley, it finished 1-0. And actually, over the first three games, Tom, Michelle Ajumang has recorded one of the highest XGs in the league, but she's actually been frustrated in front of goal. Does that bear it? in mind her exploits in the summer, does this goal and her overall performance in this match kind of ease the pressure on her a little bit? I'm sure she will have felt quite a lot on

her shoulders. Yeah, I hope there's no pressure on her because you have to remember how young she is, right? And this was a proper striker's goal, wasn't it? A lovely bit of control and awkward body shape and managed to have the strength to get the finish in from close range. Not an easy finish, but she did really well in the box there. I hope there's some sensibilities. I hope there's some sensibility. Thank you. There's some sensibility around what we expect from her this season. You know, so important in the Euros, but that came so early in her career. I don't think it was ever really the plan for her career trajectory. You know, until April, she wasn't involved in the England senior setup. It was only, only an injury to Alessia Russo that brought her into the squad as an injury cover for that trip to Belgium. Then she scored the Wondergoal in Nervin and then kind of the rest was history with the Euros. But, you know, there is another universe where none of that happened because she wasn't involved in a senior setup. And then what would our expectations be of a teenage, Michelle Azerman this season? It would be to keep improving to maybe kind of improve on her goals tally from last season and get more match minutes under her belt and get that experience.

And I think she looks stronger than last season. So there's one box being ticked already. And she's just going to get better with more and more games. She's got a bit more responsibility this year in that Bryant, team, but anybody who maybe was starting the season thinking, oh, Azamang's amazing, you know, I hope she gets 20 plus goals. Come on, Michelle. That's probably a little bit unrealistic at the moment. And so I'm really pleased for her to get onto the tally board, get herself at a goal. And we know she's going to be a big, big, big, big striker in this league for a

long, long time. But no pressure on her too early, I think is probably the best thing. And as of Brighton, I think that's their fourth win out of five meetings with Everton. Got a bit of a got Everton's number at the moment. And Everton, meanwhile, I mean, I just think they need to look at their wayform. You know, aside from trips to Anfield, their wayform over the last like sort of six months is pretty poor, really. So maybe when they're leaving the Merseyside geographical region, they need to have maybe have a look at what they're doing on their away days because their way, their way form generally is letting them down a little bit. Do you think there's almost like a security tag on them? They go outside and like an alarm goes off.

Ink explodes Yeah, exactly I mean it was a third straight defeat for them And maybe the pressure is on Brian Sorenson, Sanny He's not quite finding the cohesion in his team That we saw at times last season, Marva close your ears Yeah, unfortunate I think And as brilliant as it is that they're playing at Goodison

That clearly is an extra element as far as at home and yeah they've lost four in a row in all competitions then since that incredible opening win against Liverpool I mean he's so experienced as well he brings in a lot of like you know compatriots from from Denmark or a Scandinavian region as well

I think that that's taken time to bed in in the past but yeah I mean it does feel like there's not been a massive investment and then you look at the other side you look at Brighton who like you know Rosa Kaffarge was just excellent and I think just going back

to Brighton for a moment Carthaghi I remember her debut against West Ham last season for Arsenal and she scored and she was great and then after Idavel left

she was just frozen out and then she's had a foot injury and missed the Euros and all the rest of it and like a scorpion kick assist for Adjimank so she's done really well and Brighton

had been able to bring in like some really good players and Everton maybe contrasting not been able to do that I mean a lot made on Vignola in her hatrick on debut.

But yeah, it's not really coming together at all. That loss to the London City was very worrying as well. But yeah, I mean, pressure, but he's got, you've got time. You've got time. I think, you know, Everton are a pretty sensible football club, aren't they? But yeah, not great. Not great. I think it's very clear with Brian Sorenson.

He's just trying to figure out, as with so many of these teams at the moment, the moving parts of his side. He did actually invest quite a lot in the summer. He bought in, you know, there's players like Yucumamiki, who's come in and it's super technical but he's just trying to pick out when to use them at the perfect time and it's not quite work at the moment.

They played very narrow in the first half against Brighton and it just left Brighton so much space on the flanks and behind to exploit so Brighton we know is such a good pressing team. They picked them off and then they could hit the wide areas and there'd be space for Kiko Seikid to run in, or Rosa Kofagi to run into. And he changed that in the second half

but it just didn't seem to quite flow together whereas against London City the week before he'd played quite using the wings using Tony Payne's pace to beat the London City defence down the right-hand side and the pace of Kelly Gargo as well so I think he is just trying to fit these pieces of a puzzle together

and he's having to, as with Justin Pressure having to do it in real time and it's just taking a bit a moment for him to figure out what to do and I think it's kind of you know before he had his back against the wall with injuries and stuff like that and the lack of investment.

Now he's got more investment and more players to play with and he's maybe not quite used to it quite yet. Yeah, and it has been a relentless start to the season, hasn't it? Right, that's all the games gone through. I just wanted to highlight a couple of things that have been going on the past week or so because on Wednesday, women in football released the results of their annual survey and it made for quite grim reading, to be honest,

reporting that discrimination for women working in the game was persistent and widespread. The findings showed that 63.5% of women working in football experience sexist banter or jokes. Well, 56% said no action was taken after reporting gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Chelsea Boss Sonia Bon Pastour was asked about it and said she wasn't surprised. She said we still have room for improvement in that area and I'm glad the people are honest and are brave enough to raise it. she also revealed and this wasn't a surprise to me either that one of the first questions

she often was asked in job interviews was whether or not she could lead a top club while also being a mother. She's got four kids by the way I mean what an incredible woman doing what she's doing she said a man would never be asked that question

absolutely agree with her she did make sure that we knew that Chelsea wasn't one of the clubs that asked her that by the way I don't think she'd have gone there if that had been the case but all it does is highlight Tom that there is still a very long way to go but we have to highlight it

it's key yeah I think for certainly all of the women that we're lucky to work with I don't think this was a surprise to any of them like these figures that's the kind of depressing thing to hear is that you know women are not surprised by this data and we all of us working in the industry should be should be really really really sort of

angry at those stats and we have to do better. It's just not good enough, but it's not just football, which is stressed. Like, this is, if you, if you change the word football in that data and translated it into like the wider societal workplaces, I would imagine depressingly that it would be quite similar, but world onto women in football for continuing to highlight it. And I just, yeah, you know, if you're reading the report, you can feel quite disheartened to put mildly, probably stronger words we should use there, but I would like to see more, I suppose what slightly disappointed me was the reaction to the report. I would like to see more clubs

and more of the kind of footballing bodies like reacting to that with dismay and kind of engaging with that data a little bit and trying to always like going on campaigns to try and address it. Like it's almost as though too many are happy to accept that status quo. So we know we know this situation that always women are reporting discrimination, well, what are we going to do about it? And we often see clubs embarking very admirable campaigns to so many other issues in the world. I would love to see more of them get on board with trying to address this particular problem because too many of our colleagues find that this is all too commonplace. And it came in quite a depressing week from a discrimination point of view.

If you think about the racial abuse that Jessica Nas received after their lead cut fixture last week, which is another, you know, dreadful thing to see just across the course of those few days, I think with that data as well, it was a really bad, a bad week for the sport. Yeah, I agree with you. And I do think that sometimes, and exactly the same in terms of racist incidents on the pitch, the more they happen, people almost say, oh, well, it's not, you know, it's prevalent, so it becomes part of the discourse and isn't as shocking. Because we're still talking about it all the time, and that's part of the problem. So there needs to be more action taken.

But when you see that the action doesn't always work, I think people then just go, oh, we've got other stuff going on. I think it's much wider than we think. It's not just about, you know, employees and women, you know, clubs employing women and women working in the game. It comes from the stands. It sort of infiltrates from everywhere within football. And there is a massive problem.

Football has a massive problem with women, unfortunately. across the board and no one wants to stand up and say yes there's a real real problem here it's not just you know in the workplace it's the fact that you don't feel safe necessarily at men's games anymore or maybe you never did I think there is a massive massive problem and it's it's wider in society as well as as Tom said you know it seems to be a much more common theme that it sort of permeates through everything in terms of the way that you people talk about women the way people treat women and the kind of willful kind of avoidance of dealing with the problems

from the more extreme issues to the bits in the workplace which are extreme in their cells but on the radar there's a whole kind of mixture of things happening in the game that football is just not standing up to deal with. Women's football in particular I find can be even as an ethnic minority male let's say just going to games it can be like a hurdle through a series of microaggressions depending on which club you're going to.

And I think WSL and Women's Poplar in particular are quite easily used by vehicles, like brands and all the rest of it because it's all shiny and stuff to make broad statements, right? You can go out and you can say no to racism, say no to sexism, and you can make it look very polished, right? But the reality is there are some clubs, you know, we know that aren't as invested in the women's game and it becomes a cultural thing and it permeates across the entire match experience. And you go to other grounds and you go to other

clubs where like the women's teams really valued. And I think that makes a huge difference. You know, there are people who work in women's football at matches who don't care about women's football whatsoever. Don't even understand that there even should be a match there. And I'll try not to name names, but if you went through my internet commentator database log of where I've been at games, you can figure it out pretty quickly. But there are some grounds and some clubs that really understand what women's football is and others that don't. And that comes across, even in my interactions, and I'm not a woman anyway.

So I hate to imagine what it's like when you go to one of those grounds where the staff are just, you know, it's not their own ground, it's not their own club, and they're just kind of there and all those little, tiny little things. And it's a huge frustration because it's really easy to have a culture at a football club that's like positive and you know it's just football right why can't we just like enjoy it and build a club around that and some clubs do that really well and some are just abysmal and really frustrate me yeah and unfortunately it's why women in football exist and as they always say you know i'm a member of women in football um i think the work that they do is absolutely

wonderful and but they don't want to exist they don't want to unfortunately they have to Anyway, let's end on a lighter note, shall we? Because the reason we're up early recording this morning is because many of us are heading off to the launch of the UEFA Women's Champions League, which is going to be broadcast on Disney Plus for the first time as part of a five-year deal. The competition kicks off next week.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in it from a WSL perspective. But Leon Barcelona, Wolfsburg, among the 18 teams that are in this new league phase, which I'm quite excited about. I think it worked very well in the men's game. I've been reading all the details. They're giving it some proper treatment as well.

All 75 matches live on Disney Plus, which is double what the competition had broadcast last season. ESPN are producing it, and they're giving it a six camera set up for games. Pitchside presenters and analysts at every match as well. And I wonder so, whether Arsenal winning it last year is probably going to mean more eyes on it than ever in the UK.

I would imagine so. think. That always happens naturally when an English team wins a competition. It gets people talking about it. There's so many narratives about this tournament as well. The fact that it's the first time the league phase is happening. Obviously, it's been in the men's game a couple of seasons. So it's a totally new way of doing things than the women's game. There's some really, really tasty fixtures. You know, Chelsea Barcelona is one that's going to catch everyone's eyes just because of their history. So I think, yeah, there'll be more eyes on it than every. before. Hopefully it's more accessible than ever before. I mean, I've seen that Arsenal are playing

some, if not all of their games at Meadow Park, which for me is a bit of a disappointment. And I don't want to get on Arsenal's back because they've done so much, you know, in terms of putting games at big grounds and the Emirates and what they've done there. But when you're looking across the board, I think Juventus are now playing all of their games in Turin by Munich are putting the Arsenal game on at the Allens in Munich. So they're like, Chelsea play all of their games at Stanford Bridge, mainly because I think Kings Meadow doesn't pass the test for Champions League, but I am

a bit disappointed in that fact because you know, you're the Champions League winners. You should be playing at the Emirates where it's your home and Meadow Park quite frankly isn't suitable in my book. Yeah, I agree with that. I tell you what is really exciting. When you talk about accessibility,

commentary is going to be in multiple languages. It's going to go across Europe, so the two teams that are playing, so every match is going to be in English. But the two teams that are playing, there's going to be commentary on whichever language that those two teams are from, which is fantastic. And it feels like they're giving it, well, no, they are giving it, the proper treatment, Tom, which is what the competition deserves. Yeah, it's a huge deal for the competition. Big, fascinating moment with a sort

of streaming platform getting on board with the women's game, kind of the first time really that we've seen a deal of this kind. I know also that Netflix have got on board with sort of US rights for Women's World Cup sort of coverage and it's heading in that direction, isn't it? But this is going to be a fascinating moment over the course of this deal to see whether there is the commercial success that Disney and ESPN are hoping for and that UEFA are hoping for, whether that kind of going down that route of the streaming platform is proves to be the way to go because I think there'll be loads of other competitions around the world and the Wounds game kind of watching that and keeping an eye on it and just seeing how that goes

because including the WSL, I'm sure, you know, for the future, like let's just think how kind of seesaw a moment it could be whether it proves to be the blueprint for the future or for attracting new audiences or whether everyone goes down a more traditional route. I think it's a really intriguing moment for the coverage and curious to see how it goes. Yeah, really curious to see what it looks like now that it's got a new home. Yeah, without a doubt. Right, we have cracked through quite a lot there. It's been lovely to see you all.

Sannie, hopefully see you soon. Yeah, hopefully so. Pleasure. Tom, take care. Early mornings. They're going to be starting for you again very soon. Not long, mate. Not long.

Thanks for the pre-season training. Sof, you didn't tell anyone that you were at Lady Gaga just about two and a half hours ago before we started recording. Yeah, I was part in the first. the night away at the O2 in London. So, yeah, not much sleep. And I'm going to see you in about an hour and a half, I think. I look forward to it very much.

Keep having your say. Send in your questions via X or email us at Women's Football Weekly at the Guardian.com. And as ever, a reminder to sign up for our biweekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search moving the goalposts sign up. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. Music composition was by Laura Iodale. Our executive producer is Joel Grove. This is The Guardian.