The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - North London is red again as WSL’s top four all win: Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Marva Kreel and Jamie Spangher to discuss Arsenal’s derby rout, Bunny Shaw’s emphatic return for Manchester City, and Chelsea’s late show against Everton

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normal this week in the Barclays WSL as the top four all win. A five-star performance from Arsenal means North London is red again. Manchester United's winning streak continues, City get back to winning ways while Chelsea continue their march to the title. We'll check in on the championship, update you on some Lionesses news, plus we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Sissy Rack, how are you? Good. Good. Apart from like really achy shoulders from a lot of press ups yesterday that really hurting me. PT session, not me just randomly doing them for fun. I could just imagine you rocking

up to a press room and going hang on a minute got to do my 10 for the day. I can't I wouldn't be able to interact in a press conference because I can't currently raise my arms above my shoulders so like I won't be able to put my hand up to ask a question. Amazing amazing oh you're making me feel really bad I'm gonna have to try and do some press-ups after this pod. Jamie Spanger it's been a while, how are you doing? Hey Faye, not too bad. Yeah recovering from a bit of a cold that I feel everyone in England has right now. So back in action today and excited to talk about some football. Excellent, yeah it's been doing the rounds. I had it, it lingersers that's all I'm gonna tell you Marva Creel oh so close to a big point at the weekend how are you? I'm good I'm

good it could have been worse right it could have been worse so I'll take it yeah without a doubt without a doubt listen we've been we've been talking a lot about Everton we've needed you the last few weeks but let's talk about the showpiece event of the weekend. If you like, it was at the Emirates. Arsenal hosted the latest North London Derby. Over 56,000 fans turned out to see the home side comfortably beat their local rivals.

It finished Arsenal five, Tottenham nil, an own goal in the opening 15 minutes from Spurs defender Claire Hunt opened the scoring before Mariona Caldente, Frieda Manhamham and Alessia Russo got on the action. Emily Fox though hit one of the strikes of the season in the final minute sealing the points in quite spectacular fashion. It was an absolutely relentless display from Arsenal. Susie keeping up the chase to stay third. How pleased are you and how pleased is Reni Slager's gonna be be? Yeah, I think the performance was really, really strong from an Arsenal point of view.

Just super, super dominant and I think that's partly Spurs just look really off colour at the moment. I don't know what's going wrong, whether it's a confidence thing, whether it's belief in Robert's project shaking given the start of the season and how many goals they've conceded. But I don't understand how the team that did what they did last season and had such a good cut run and looked like they were building something can switch away from that so dramatically without too much change. So I'm a little bit confused by that. Arsenal rampant. So, you know, it'd be a bit more interesting maybe to see how Spurs are doing against sort of the mid and low table teams in the next few weeks,

sort of this next period. But based on the first half of the season, we can't expect too much. So I'm really confused by the Tottenham project. I mean, Jonathan Louvot, a really, really good piece on the lack of investment and sort of just accepting of mid table mediocrity almost and not really kind of caring to go much higher than that because they're always safe from the drop, never near the top, you know, like that in between. That was sort of rhyming. That was gross.

Well, there's questions over new investment at the club, isn't there? And maybe that's why, you know, they're just, you know, we're seeing obviously the dip with the men's team and injuries that they have. But, you know, it feels like that DNA, we've talked about it all season, haven't we, about the DNA that runs through the club and it's not quite working? Yeah. You know what I find really weird is the attempt to make the North London Derby a thing. It's not a big rivalry, right? Removing the bias. Asked all the most decorated club fact in English women's football history and Spurs have been in the league, what, five, six years now, and have beaten them once.

And yet there's this, you know, they're top of the women's football show. It's the hype story of the weekend. I mean, it helps this at the Emirates with, you know, a bumper crowd, 6,000 tickets or something, or whatever it was by the end of the day. Getting to the lingo, Suzie. Showpiece. Bumper crowd. All of those things, right? So it was, you know, decent turnout. It was going to have the biggest turnout of the weekend, but it's not a rivalry, like in any meaningful way. And if anything, I think that makes it harder for Tottenham because the expectation then is for them to perform and meet the standard of Arsenal to compete in a North London derby, which is picked as

a big rivalry when it's not. And in reality, they should be going in there as underdogs with expectations quite low at this stage of where they're at. But yeah, five nil is never nice, is it? It's never nice. No, it isn't. And actually, you know, you mentioned that goal difference there and the amount of goals that they concede. They've got the second worst defence in the league, 31 they've shipped this season. Only Crystal Palace have conceded more with 38. And I find it interesting actually that the focus is more on Tottenham and their lack of competitiveness in this game, as opposed to Arsenal's brilliance and dazzling performance, if you like.

So why don't we unpack that, bearing in mind that's the first thing that you thought about and it's your team, Susie, because this is what Robert Villahan himself had to say. The numbers say it all in one way. Is it still the same gap from last last year what we are doing this year is to see where we are if you lose against Arsenal away from home most teams will do that but if you lose 5-0 that's not good to find the right level is to be brave when you don't succeed of course I'm sitting here looking a little bit stupid I get that that's part of my journey with this team captain Bethany England then posted on social media, masters of our own downfall today, that performance was not good enough and our fans deserved more. We'll see you after the break. Marv, what do you

make of all of that? Yeah I mean I completely agree with Suzie, it was incredibly poor. I will speak to Arsenal's brilliance for a bit because they do deserve it as well. I thought Risa particularly was one of the best overall performances I've seen from her. We know her overall play as a player but I think what she's really improving on is her overall play as a striker because I think we know what she can do is like dropping in, dropping deep, sort of playing in that number 10 role and if anything we sort of criticised her for that when you need her to be a number nine for Arsenal and I think what she's really really bringing to her game is her ability as a number nine and what she did to Claire Hunt that game, I mean poor poor Claire Hunt because time after time she just rolled her, she was

aggressive, she just put the ball past her, ran past her like she just couldn't deal with her and it's really exciting to see her game evolve in such a way. I think as well, Kyra Cooney Cross coming into the team has done really well these last few games obviously she didn't get that start that we kind of wanted for her and I think that's really exciting for Arsenal as a whole because there was maybe some kind of worries about what that transition would look like. Obviously you've got Kim Littall who's aging, what that transition will look like. Obviously you've got Kim Little who's aging, Leo Volte who's incredible, but the injuries have kind of stopped her slightly throughout the past few seasons and to have someone like Kyra Cooney Cross come into your team, be so young

and be exactly what you need in that midfield, I think it's really exciting for us as a whole. Alessi Russo now has eight goals in ten league matches and you know Marva mentioned there her importance. She has been out on the wing a little bit more recently but back in that number nine role on Sunday where she seems to thrive. Let's discuss Chloe Kelly though, Jamie, because long-awaited return to Arsenal. 2,815 days is what producer Sophie tells me. She also has a message to Susie which is it's marketing, looking for engagement, very good point. But Chloe Kelly got you know an amazing reception at the Emirates at the weekend. What did you make

of her cameo? Yeah it was nice to see wasn't it? It felt like it sounded like a goal went in when Chloe Kelly took to the pitch which is always exciting because I think you know there's always a big hype around these England Lionesses and we obviously saw what she did in 2022. So you combine that with a club like Arsenal that obviously has a lot of fans flooding through the turnstiles. It's going to be a big market move for everyone. I'm pleased for her.

I also thought that she was really bright. If Stina Black-Stenius had to put that first shot away, Chloe Kelly would have had an assist with her first touch at the Emirates. So I think that she really, really put on a bright showing. She made, I think it was four big chances created, which was second most on the pitch. She only played 30 minutes, but it's a testament to the kind of aggressive player she is. She likes to get the ball to her feet. She kind of wants people watching her.

She likes having eyes on her. And I think that this next four months for her, it's going to be very, very valuable for her, obviously, now that be very, very valuable for her. Obviously now that she's back in the England squad, you know, as a supplementary injury player, but she still needs to prove her spot. And I think that you're going up against, you know, a play like Jess Nas, who has that spot in the England squad and you're making that impact in such a short time. It's good for her.

And I think that she's a player that she really, really thrives off energy and volume and fan support and people watching her. So I was really, really pleased to watch her come on and make an impact. Yeah. And yes, she was called up after Beth Meade had to pull out with injury to Serena Vigman's squad. I'm just unpacking Arsenal, Suzy, at the moment and what fixtures they've got left. And it's looking kind until the last game of the season at Manchester United. I mean, obviously, look, it all depends on Chelsea. I think everybody on this pod pretty much over the season has said it's

Chelsea's to lose and it still feels as if it's a bit of a Feticom plea. But could Arsenal make a charge bearing in mind their fixture list? I mean you'd hope that they would go on and win the majority of those games and that the Arsenal United game on the last 10th season will be a really tasty tie. Obviously they've got FA Cup and Champions League in that time as well which can disrupt the flow of things significantly. If those games are particularly intense, if there are any injuries, that kind of stuff, you can see teams taking points off of them potentially in those circumstances in the same way that you could see in Chelsea. But we're trying

hard to find a challenger for Chelsea, aren't we? The reality is they've basically won the league already. They have to have a major collapse for it to not be there. So if they drop points, I think everyone else is too. So that's the reality of the situation. So yeah, I think they could have a great run into the end of the season as long as like I say, injuries and Champions League and FA Cup aren't too disruptive and don't impact the squad too much. But yeah yeah it's a done deal. It's a fight for Champions League at this stage. Yeah and in the battle for those Champions League sports Manchester City got back to winning ways they're keeping up the chase it was a strong 4-0 win over Liverpool

in the end. Bunny Shaw kept her first start in over two months with two goals in 13 first half minutes. Jill Rourde and 20 year old Gracie Pryor scored in the second half as well. I mean, I'll tell you what, Marv, it was some comeback for Bunny Shaw, especially after the terrible racist abuse that she suffered in previous weeks. We spoke about that last week, but marked her return with a really powerful celebration as well. How much has she been missed? Oh, massively. And obviously because of the reason as well as you miss her even more. I just do want to say on that though I think I really admire Bunny Shaw for actually taking that time out. I think it's something we often don't see and I think it's really such a strong

thing for her to do. So often we kind of get into these conversations of just such a strong thing for her to do. So often we kind of get into these conversations of just piling for it, you know, on the pitch and there's no right way to respond to racist abuse, but I think it really showed something and especially, you know, as someone from an ethnic minority who's also had to deal with a load of racist abuse for the last few weeks. Sometimes you can just kind of get into this cycle of just saying, oh, we're used to this, we'll just mute it, we'll move on. But for her to kind of take that stance and someone so prominent in the game and say, no, I'm not okay, I'm not going to play, was really, really special.

So, yeah, to see her back is incredible, to see what she does on the pitch always is incredible. She's just one of the best strikers in the world, if not the best striker in the world right now. And that performance she put in was so good. I thought her and Mary Fowler's connection was really, really, really good. And she's just her ability to kind of just score from any angle. I will get on to it with the Chelsea games, because Myra Ramirez gives me that same feeling. But no matter where she is in the box her ability to just roll the defender her ability to finish with a tap in her ability For long shots. It's just she's such a special player. And yes, so good to see her back. Are you okay?

Yeah, you know Right, it's been a couple good couple of weeks for Manchester City after it looked like their season might be starting to derail. Gareth Taylor now has depth to play with after Vivienne Miedema's superb return, the form of Mary Fowler as well. I mean, they're both really key, Suzy, aren't they, fighting on all four fronts, which is not what we were maybe expecting at some points of their up and down season. So first off, I hope you're relatively okay, Marva, before I answer this question. I think there's a real responsibility for the whole of football to step up here. It can't just

be a bit of another, oh no, there's an investigation the individuals are being sought out and dealt with because look at the wide impact that it has. It goes far beyond, you know, Bunnyshaw being specifically targeted. I think that's the point, right? It's a society problem, not an individual problem. I can't help but think back to... I've mentioned this on the podcast last week with Ian Wright's post on social media after the abuse of Bunny was revealed, where he just listed all of the people through the generations who he's watched face abuse as well as himself personally and then just goes, man's tired, I don't have the fight left to go on shows

and sit on tables and convince and explain to people this is racism, blah, blah, and then called it an expletive cycle. And I think that's true. We are just going around and around in circles and there's got to be something bigger done here. Like, yeah, more than just talk that involves clubs and football association stuff really stepping up and taking some responsibility of challenging ideas more generally in society, particularly like, you know, we've got such a horrific like anti-immigrant, like racist

narrative like playing out in in politics all the time at the moment, prompted by Trump and Musk type talk of the world that seems to be quite dominant. Football can influence the way people think, but we're not necessarily using that. Everything is just reactive. It's not like going out and actually trying to do some think about it and being proactive in these discussions. I think that's really important and we should put a lot more pressure on all of the bodies to do more on the issues of racism and take it far more seriously. Onto the actual question, obviously we wondered how City would fit Bunny and Viv into the team together when they signed Viv in the summer and this game

like showed that they both can fit in the squad together and be super effective and I actually think Mary Fowler is critical to that relationship between them like she really like is the little kind of I was gonna say third wheel but it's the opposite of what I mean in that it's a good thing. The little cog in between them that really like ties things together and that they're able to play off in between. But they've also shown in recent weeks that they can also rotate between Viv and Bunny. An unfortunate impact of the racism is that Bunny didn't play and Viv had to step into that position. And and you know that is not the situation where you want that kind of thing to be tested but in terms of like where they've both had like little injuries over the recent periods and this season and you know kind of previous

seasons like the opportunity to be able to rotate between those players and then also to have the option of playing them together I think really really strengthens their attack significantly because when they don't have even those players, they look significantly weakened and it could be the depth up top that really helps them get through this sort of end of season, like end of season, like second half of the season period with Champions League Cup competitions and stuff like I think the options that they provide is really key they've got three there they can play them both together or they can play either of them separately and all of those are really really really strong available options. Yeah it really will. Liverpool though I tell you what Jamie I can't just I think I say this every

single week and I'm sorry to any Liverpool fans listening, but I wonder whether they feel the same actually. What is Matt Beard going to be thinking of Liverpool's performance? I mean, they had chances in the opening stages. We've talked about this wastefulness in front of goal before, haven't we? Yeah, it's a hard one to watch Liverpool this season because it feels like last season was the breakthrough. This young squad, they've got a lot of rich talent coming up and it felt like,

okay, they're making real progress. They're competing. You know, they knocked off Manchester United. It's a club that was building that had beaten Arsenal on the first day. Like these are young players that we can really, really see building towards a future. And you look at a club as big as Liverpool in England, you think, wow, this is great because they've got the foundations to build and grow their women's team. But then their summer window,

they brought in Olivia Smith, who is sensational. Like her ceiling is so high. But other than that, there wasn't a lot of movement. They lost a lot of key players. It feels like the intent from the club isn't really there. And we're seeing that transpire this season. It feels like they're toothless. Like we're talking about a club like Spurs

who are underperforming across all fronts, but Liverpool is still sitting below them on the table. And this is a club that Spurs who are underperforming across all fronts but Liverpool are still you know sitting below them on the table and this is a club that should be performing better and you looked at the performance on Sunday Faye and I really thought that in the opening 10 minutes Liverpool really held their own and Leanne Kiernan had that really good opportunity to open the scoring and maybe that shifts the momentum but it feels right now with Liverpool as soon as they lose or lose you know 10 seconds of focus or they can cede a goal the mentality for the rest of the game does feel shot. It doesn't feel like

they have a lot of grit to get back in contests right now. So it's disappointing because I did think last season we saw, okay, there's a big men's club who are now, you know, putting a lot of focus into their women's team and we're seeing that work out. And now it's kind of going down. It's not transpiring in the way it should be. I think Matt Beard's a fantastic manager and he's just not being given the resources to work with. So yeah, it's disappointing. It's definitely disappointing. I think so that point about the men's club is so important because we saw it with the North London Derby thing as well and the way we project it. We kind of expect more from

a team like Liverpool or Spurs women because of what their men's club is and what you kind of expect them to be. But you look at the investment into the women's team and it's like, well, it's not that much better than a Brighton. So why are we expecting that much more? And I think with Liverpool as well at the moment, it's just you kind of see that, yeah, the Olivia Smith signing is big, but you look around the rest of their team and the level of quality of talent across the board isn't quite there. But also I do think there were some strange decisions I think. Nogano not starting at the moment is a bit odd for me. They didn't seem to have kind of any control through the middle but if they score those

chances right at the beginning then we're talking about a completely different game. Absolutely. Oh dear, Aston Villa are going gonna wish it was a completely different game at King Power Stadium aren't they? Let's focus on the the bottom half of the table. Leicester hosted a refreshed Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium but it was the weekend that the Foxes finally found their shooting boots. They got three goals and bagged a clean sheet as well. Janis Kamen scored a brace, second goal was a beauty by the way if you've not seen it. Julie Thiebaud added a third. It was a big day as well in terms of the table optics if you like for Leicester

because they started the day 11th but finished it in 10th and six points clear of bottom side Crystal Palace and it feels like a massive result for them as they fight to avoid relegation Suzie. Yeah it's absolutely massive. I mean it's pulled them six points clear of Crystal Palace. I think Palace will have been looking at that result and really, really ruining the fact that Leicester had got points. I think there was some hope that they might catch them and that Leicester would be the ones to go down, but they seem to have sort of got themselves together. I think January transfer window has helped getting players back from injury has helped. And now we're sort of starting

to see the Leicester that we expected at the start of season. Amadine McGill demonstrated a lot of promise and spoke really well before the season started. And you could see a vision to what they were trying to do and they were really hamstrung by injury. So like it's quite good to see them back. Aston Villa are now the team at risk of going down I think is really, really interesting. But yeah, like yeah, they're going to be pleased aren't they? I mean, to move like yeah, two games, two defeats clear of the relegation threatens team is just such a massive, massive step in the right direction. They brought in reinforcements, didn't they, Jamie, over the winter. Is Amandine and Mikael

going to feel like they're finally turning the corner? Yeah, it definitely felt like the January period was the most important period for Leicester because I think last time, like I spoke on this show, we were talking about Leicester City and how they were my relegation pick. I think if they didn't get bodies in over the window, then they were in some real strife because they are thin on the ground. They're squadless, especially up front with those injuries. It felt like they had absolutely no one in that squad that was going to score goals. And if you look at Leicester's season so far, those games are often one-nil, two-nil, nil-all. They're not really, really big margins. It's not like they have huge defensive gaps or

gaping holes in defense there. It's up front. So now that they've got some players back and they're bringing in bodies in the winter window, it was so important for them because echoing what Suzie said, I think Amanda McHale speaking to her, I think it was the one they lost to Arsenal at King Power Stadium. She said that defensively, it feels like we've got it all sorted. We just need to work that up the field. And we're seeing that now transpire a little bit. So it's good because it does feel like they've got the manager, they've got the philosophy. She knows what kind of football style she wants to play,

but it's whether or not she has the players to do that with. So I'm really pleased for them. I think that performance against Villa really summed up the intentions of that team and the manager and what she's trying to trickle down into her players. So yeah, I'm pleased. And there's a lot of questions have to be asked

about Aston Villa though, that's for sure, because that was a very woeful display. Yeah, well, I'm gonna ask Marva about that because four games without a win now, they have had some positive performances, it's felt, since Natalia Arroyo came in. But where did it go wrong in this game? And in fact, the past four games four games really they've still not come away

with any points. I can't quite work out what's going on. Yeah, I mean, well, Auréna said herself that she felt like the energy just wasn't there at the beginning and kind of speaking to where they are in the table, watching the game it did feel like Leicester were very aware they were in a kind of this is our last chance to get out of a relegation fight and Villa kind of saw it as a mid-table game. Not that they necessarily did, but that's how it felt in terms of their energy and it's what Arroyo said as well. So, so what in terms of they're not really worked out their position, they haven't really kind of thought, oh, actually, we're in quite a precarious.

Yeah, exactly. It didn't, it didn't feel like they were understanding the gravity of the game because you win that game and you do create that space and everything feels a lot better and then maybe you get your confidence back, which is kind of what we saw with Lester. I do just have to shout out that Caven's second goal though, because that's up there with one of the goals of the season. But yeah, I thought as well, it's a bit strange to not be playing Rachel Daly as a number nine and up front. I mean, she's the one who has built them out so many times. That's what she does and so many times on this pod we've talked about how okay Villa didn't have a great performance, but Rachel Daly, she's gone and saved them. So to sort of be playing her behind Gabby Nunes

I just didn't think it quite worked out. Again, they had some chances at the beginning. Kate Robinson probably should have scored but it just wasn't enough and as a whole it kind of just seemed like once they conceded that first goal, they kind of just didn't know what they were doing. So it is a bit worrying, I think they'll be fine, but that's not what Villa fans want, they don't want them to just be fine. They've, you know, for the last few seasons have shown signs that they can really push on and to just sort of be safe due to Palace being a bit worse isn't what they want from their season. Nope, they definitely don't. They are second from bottom, four points above Crystal Palace,

who we'll discuss in part two because that is it for part one. In part two, we're going to look at the rest of the WSL fixtures, catch up on the latest championship action as well, and look ahead to the international break. fixtures, catch up on the latest championship action as well, and look ahead to the international break. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at ZenSurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen.

Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So Chelsea continued their unbeaten run but again left it very late to take home all three points against Everton. It finished Chelsea 2-1 Everton. Kelly Gargo fired the visitors into the lead before Mayra Ramirez levelled in the second half. Lauren James scored a 93rd minute winner though to make sure that the Blues maintained their distance at the top of the table. These two had actually played each other last week in the Adobe Women's FA Cup you'll remember. Chelsea were 4-1 winners on that occasion but this game felt quite different Marva didn't it? How proud can your Everton team be of that performance despite not taking any points out of it? I think very proud. I mean, when I saw I was on the schedule for the

pod for this game, I thought, oh no, like, here we go again. Let's talk about a 7-0 loss or something. It's stitched you up again. It's happened before, but then there's also that thing of we were so close that it was so gutting. No, so proud. And also just that thing of of when you see that your teams actually learned from the mistakes of the week before, that's always nice to see and see that your manager is tactically adapting to what's in front of him. And I think Gago has just brought something so special, not just her goals, which obviously that goal is incredible. Like the technique on that is brilliant. And, but we had some cracking goals this week. I really have, really have. And I think our XG for the first half was zero.

But I think that goes to show that, you know, when it comes to having a player like Gago in a team like Everton, how important it is because it's not just her goals, but it's the way we're now able to play, someone like her with pain and snowyce on our attack because it puts way less pressure on players like Hayashi and Van Hevema in the middle to have to be getting up and down. They can just sort of stay back, they can play that low block which Chelsea really struggled to break down this time but we actually have a bit of threat on the counter attack which means that you know the opposition defense don't want to just all push up because they know

what that threat is in behind because paying with her pace, gaga with her finishing, you don't want to risk it anymore whereas an Everton team of prior seasons you can risk it, you can push all your players up and we're not really going to do anything on the counterattack. So yeah it was it was great to see absolutely gutting because if you get a point away at Chelsea, that's just huge, but I think we're showing some really good signs that we're finally looking a bit more balanced and that kind of squad depth as well, maybe depth is too far to say, but it's not as thin as it was before. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean and I tell you what for all the other teams in and around that

tiny little glimmer of hope that Chelsea dropping two points would have given people because they just do have this kind of mentality don't they Suzy? It's what champions have and they've got it in abundance for sure they had to make some changes in defence but even when they're a little bit makeshift, where Everton don't have that kind of huge strength in depth, Chelsea do and they they managed to find a way. Yeah and like I think the one interesting thing about sort of the second half of Chelsea's season is how the defence is going to cope with the volume of games they've got, Champions League, two cup competitions, and then the league running, you know, they've obviously clearly Natalie Bjorn must have some kind of issue that she was kept

out of the starting eleven for this game, they've rotated Lucy Bronze out of it in terms of playing Ashley Lawrence, head of her, and then brought her on at centre back because they clearly were light in that area. So I'm sort of semi-assuming that they're teething problems given that Bjorn was on the bench, but like if clearly they're light in those areas at the moment, obviously Buchanan's ACL and stuff. So like it's gonna be interesting to see how it copes under the sort of constant pressure of games every few days in this next phase. But yeah, I mean, like the quality in the side is just so, so strong, particularly going forward that they can dig themselves out holes when you've got Lauren James in your side, like the chance of you making the most of any opportunity that falls your way is

quite high. And that's what they do and that's what they do best. But yeah, I really do think the defense is going to be the interesting thing to watch in this next period because it's never looked amazing. Like even at the start of the season, we were saying that they're winning and they're winning convincingly, but they've not looked particularly solid and we've repeatedly said, I'll bet our teams will pick them apart and then they haven't. But I think there is a case now when you go into this stage that we could maybe see them conceding a few more goals. Producer Soave's given me a bit of an injury update. Our Chelsea correspondent,

Natalie Bjorn apparently felt her hamstring in the FA Cup game and Naomi Germa's still recovering from the calf issue that she had but you're exactly right that the amount of games that they have they're going to have to have to get that sorted but then they have a player like Lauren James, Jamie, don't they? Sonja Bonpastor described her as precious and said, if she wasn't on the pitch, we probably could not have won that game. I mean, it's brilliant to see her back to full fitness and kind of hitting the ground running. She is a real special talent. I completely agree with Sonja. I think that if Lauren James weren't on that pitch, Everton maybe could have held out because honestly,

like watching a player like Lauren James, I don't think we have another one like her in the WSL. I think there's not really a player like her in the world. She's one of those footballers who has the ball at her feet and it doesn't even look like she's dribbling. It feels like it's glued to the top of her foot and she's just running with it. The way she commands the box, I think, you know, Everton did get lucky a little bit earlier on because she dribbles into the box. She kind of comes down the right flank and then hits it into Courtney Brosnan. But you never know there because it feels like people don't want to defend her because she's so silky in possession.

But you cannot give Lauren James a second of space on the edge anywhere, but not on the outside of the box, because she's going to bury that shot and she's going to do it with so much class. I think the player of her level at her age, her ceiling is very terrifying. And I think that we're gonna see a player that's gonna continue to grow, gonna continue to improve. I think with Lauren James,

it's just about nurturing her talent because I do think she needs to be nurtured in an environment and that's why she thrives so much under Emma Hayes, but it does feel like Sonia Bonpastel is doing that as well. Because I was concerned with this transition of whether a manager can come in

and nurse such like a high volume of world-class players because not many players would be happy sitting on the bench every week and and knowing their role coming off the bench and it feels like Sonya has done that so seamlessly so for a player like Lauren James my god like she is an exceptional talent and I wish I was English and could be saying, oh she plays for my country because what a player. Oh well you've had Sam Kerr so. That's true. Come on. That's true. I feel like I'm being a little selfish though, that's true. A little bit, I think so. Listen we were treated to another goal field encounter in Dagenham, West Ham added to Brighton's recent poor run of form with an impressive win. It finished West Ham 3, Bryson 1, Shakira Martinez put the host ahead just for three minutes before the Inform Nikita Paras hit back. Great to see her back in the Lionesses squad as well for the first time in a couple of years. We'll discuss that in a bit. Inspired by the performance of their goalkeeper, Kinga Semick though, Rian Skinner's side found a different intensity in the second half. Goals from Rico Weckie and Viviana Sae saw them

rise up to eighth in the table. I mean back-to-back home wins for West Ham, Marva, that is not something we've been able to say for quite a long time. An eight-point gap opening up over Crystal Palace at the bottom. She's got them firing hasn't she? What did you make of their performance? Yeah she has. I mean I do think the scoreline maybe doesn't fully reflect the balance of the game and I feel like this could have been like a 3-3 or something because Brighton did have a lot of chances as a Cankovic one in particular that she just she has to score but West Ham took their chances and particularly

you know Brighton kind of did that thing they often do sort of playing out the back but were really poor on some of those occasions and West Ham just really took advantage of it but what's great to see with West Ham is that slowly slowly they have been just adding this this great talent to their team and you're starting to see it come through I thought obviously we you know we know about Gori we know about Weki we we know about Asahi, but I've mentioned that before but Pavi for me is a really, really exciting one to watch. And when you keep sort of adding this level of just flair and fun to a team like West Ham, it does bring so much more. And I think they can be really

proud of that performance because they've had some difficult moments this season and to come away with a win like that against a team who we were talking about you know pushing on for the top four is actually a really really big win for them. Yeah huge. Rihanskin has always said it kind of takes time for new players to settle into the squad and and get used to what they're trying to implement but Shakira Martinez isn't wasting any time Suzie is? No, and I think that's the thing, right? Like it's time to settle and get to know the players around you and stuff, but it's also just like form and like playing regularly and feeling good in yourself. And she got what five goals in 11 games, I think it was for Freiburg,

where she was on loan. So she's been playing well. And when you're feeling that confidence, you're going to come back to your parent club, bringing that level of confidence with you, which can often make up for some of the gaps that there may be in relationships and stuff. And they can also build quite quickly. We've regularly talked about the talent that West Ham have in their squad and the experience there. And when you've got players that really understand what it means to play the game at the top level for such a long time, at international level too, where you are having to swap and change between who you're playing with fairly regularly, like you've got players that know what unknowns will do in a weird way, more

than kind of the less experienced players will. And I think we're starting to see the quality of West Ham squad show what it can do, which is what I think has really been missing. I think every single week we've sort of said, oh, it doesn't really make sense. They've got all these great like international players within their ranks that sort of like a nice balance to the team of sort of some young talent and then some real top quality experience. And it just hasn't really been delivering.

And it feels like that, you know, they've got the balance there across the pitch a little bit more. I'm like actually really interested to see what they do with the rest of the season, because I actually think they could finish in a pretty decent position. Like I think Liverpool and Spurs above them should be worried for example. Do you know what's really interesting because it feels like both these teams have just their

seasons flipped around because Brighton's last win was over West Ham back in November. They beat them three-two. And we were so impressed, weren't we? And they're still fifth, by the way. They're the best of the rest, if you like, but there is now a 10-point gap between fifth and fourth, which is very, very stark in terms of where all the clubs are in their progression.

But why have the wheels come off, do you think, Jamie, for Brighton? Yeah, look, I think with Brighton, it was a matter of, you know, you get this young manager, Dario Vitticic, who's only actually managed as a head coach for two seasons now in Australia, and then he's come over to Brighton and it's a club that we know have very clear intentions on the direction of their women's team. Like they're a club that, if we're looking at teams in the WSL outside of the generic top four, they actually have a future plan of where they're, the direction of their women's team and where they're taking it.

So it felt like, okay, they knew where their squad level was last season. They knew they didn't have the superstar players to really take them across the line in those close contests. They had some exciting young talent, but they needed big players. They went and bought Nikita Paras, who's made the world of difference, and obviously brought in Brian Kirby,

and a player like Elena Kankovic, who's a very experienced footballer. So it just felt like they needed this injection of energy, and they did, and they brought over Dario, who has this very exciting brand of football, where he likes to attack. And it feels like we kind of got a glimpse of what we got with Robert Villahan last season, this young manager who has an exciting identity and they came out with this injection of energy but it feels like they're

getting found out a little bit. And I think the biggest example was when Brighton went to the Emirates and lost to Arsenal 5-0, it felt like Dario Vidercic went in there with his attacking philosophy and refused to let up and said, let's try our very hardest to play the way we want to play. And they got torn apart and it feels like we're seeing a little bit of Ange Postocoglu in that as well as maybe a little bit of a refusal to let go of the playing style, even when you need to. And I think right now Brighton need to go back to the drawing board and say,

Hey, this isn't our season to be competing for champions like football. This is our season to be building our identity with the players that we have. So I'm not going to say it's, it's a completely bad fall off for them. I just think they need to maybe manage what they have a little bit better and go into the new season with a little bit more clear intentions of how they're gonna manage the league.

Cause it's not an easy jump coming from the A league in Australia, which is not a high level, no offense to anyone listening. And then coming over to the WSL, you need to concede a little bit cause you're playing against world-class talent. So I think for Brighton, it's a positive project. It's heading in the right direction. I think with some more investments and bigger names, they will be a very, very impactful team in the WSL. But I think it just it's a little bit

more bending from what you have compared to, you know, trying to compete with the Chelsea's and the Arsenal's. Manchester United are competing this season they've kept up their winning form with that win over Crystal Palace it finished Manchester United 3-3 Crystal Palace 1. I think it's the sixth league win in a row for Manchester United actually. Elizabeth Turland scored two of the goals, Grace Clinton bagged a header and Mila Gale equalised for Palace in the first half. Manchester United have

kind of quietly been going about their business since the start of the year, Marva, haven't they? They're seven points off Chelsea in second, three points clear of Arsenal. I sometimes wonder whether we're actually giving them enough credit for their performances. What do you think? Yeah, I think that's changed around in kind around in the last few months, I would say. I think at the beginning of this season, they were getting the results but not the performances. And I think that's why United fans were quite frustrated because they thought we're going to be found out here. Whereas I think recently they've turned that around as well in terms

of they feel a lot more settled. I think particularly particularly with Turland. And what we've seen with Man United, particularly the last few seasons, well, since we saw left is not knowing kind of what their best front three is. And I think now that Turland settled in so well, and as a clear number nine, it allows them to kind of experiment around her in a fun way, in a way that they can adapt the tactics and, you know, put out Clinton on the right and then bring on someone like Mallard to make it more exciting, or JC when she's ready to play. Whereas before they were still kind of figuring that out, whereas now it's like, okay, we know what we're trying to do. I think Janssen in the middle as well has brought a lot of composure. And so they've just been kind of quietly going about their business. They haven't really,

you know, pulled out those like five nills and sort of exciting performances like that. But I still think that the chances they're creating have massively improved. Whereas in some of the kind of wins they were picking up before, you were looking and going, you got lucky there to, you know, come away with a point or to to come way over win. Whereas now like I think that game against Palace, yes they conceded, yes Palace had like one or two more chances but Man United were really all over them and starting to actually create a lot of chances per game which I'm sure United fans are happy to see. Yeah without a doubt and actually Palace were kind of the architects of their own downfall weren't they at times. Mistakes played a part in at least two of their goals. Susie tough battle but not quite enough. Yeah, it's frustrating because they show so much promise in pretty much

every game they play. Like they're really well organized, really battling sides, just the gap and the level is too big but you can tell they're really, really well coached. battling sides, just the gap and the level is too big, but you can tell they're really, really well coached. And I thought, you know, Mark Skinner was right afterwards, he said that, like, they were really, really strong in that game. They gave them really good tests. Like, so when we look at teams that have come up, I think they're probably one of the best equipped to have a chance of staying in the league.

They've got a good setup and the club are supporting them, was his exact words. And like we're seeing that week in week out, but it's not turning into points. They can't do it across, they can't sustain it across 90 minutes. And we're saying it every single week that they have flashes of real, real quality and they're creating chances, but they are just conceding so many goals and they can't sustain the level of performance that is required in the WSL across 90 minutes and that is what is going to ultimately be their downfall as much as like I would love to see them stay up because I really think they're doing good things but I think that they're

the closest we've ever seen to a team coming up and really, really kind of testing the teams at the bottom end of the table and even like mid and higher up the table as well. Like they're not an easy game. You know, they're losing, but they're not an easy game. Anything to add on this game, Jamie? You've been nodding away. Yeah, I honestly echoing what Susie said, it feels like an injustice with Crystal Palace because I think Laura Kaminski is a really bright manager and they've got young players, it just doesn't feel like they've got the players to compete in this league because they can't sustain it. It is experience, it feels like they get to the 60th

minute and they fall apart and it's just experience and it's youth and if you're united right now, honestly I think it's about just plugging away at results because they want to stay in that top three. And if you look at their last three games of the season, it's Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City. So it's going to be a hard run home from them. So I think if they can be getting results over the line right now, that's all they need to be focusing on. Without a doubt. They don't want to be back down in the championship because it is competitive.

The Barclays Championship return this weekend. The title race is just brilliant to watch and the game of the weekend saw Durham snatch a last-gaffs win over Blackburn Rovers to remain three points off top spot. Rovers had moved into a 2-1 lead but the hosts fought back with Beth Heppel scoring a 97th minute winner. Oh my god when they when they go in as a fan it's the best feeling. Birmingham City still at the top they recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Sheffield United thanks to Shannon Cook's amazing 40-yard strike. London City Lionesses they maintained the chase in second they beat Sunderland 2-0. Goals there from Isabel Goodwin and Kossavaro Aslani. Meanwhile, Charlton Athletic put five

past struggling Portsmouth to keep their good run of form. I think Karen Hill's one manager of the month, didn't she, for January. It ended goalless between Bristol City and Southampton, which is why that's at the bottom, because there were far more interesting games. Right, into the international break now. First one of 2025, and it's pretty busy as well. The Nations League starts across Europe, while the USA hosts the She Believes Cup, and Casey Stoney gets her tenure as Canada manager underway in Spain.

There's also qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations, so loads to get through. England though, kick off a really busy year with Games away to Portugal. Producer Sophie's flying out today. Susie's flying out tomorrow. I'm covering it from back here. Who's winning in life? Not me. Two updates to the squad since the one that Susie and Sophie covered for you last week. Chloe Kelly and Lucy Parker have come in for the injured Beth Meade and Lotte Wubben Moij. What kind of test of the Linus is going to encounter this week Susie? What is Portugal's side like

compared to the one that we saw? They were in the Arnold Clarke Cup weren't they the last time these two played? Yeah they're a really good team. They've got some really quality players in there and they're well managed at the moment. We've seen them come a long way. Even, I think, back to sort of Phil Neville's tenure when one of his final games in charge was against Portugal and it was a really tough game. England weren't in a great spot at that time. I think it was a Beth Mead winner, like deep, deep, deep into added time that basically saved his career at that point for a little bit longer. But they are a very good side and they can cause some real problems. And

you know, obviously everyone is looking at the Nations League group and looking at the Spain fixtures. But like I actually think, yeah, Portugal could be a little bit of a banana skin if England aren't really switched on, particularly the first game of the year. You've not played together for a little bit of time, there's a few injuries in the side. Luckily Chloe Kelly has a point to prove. I think England and Arsenal are really lucky at the moment because she really, really wants to make a statement, so that's a good thing. I feel gutted for Lottor Bermoy because she has had such an in-out relationship with England over

the past couple of years in that she is often left out of the squad, called up to replace people for injury. She finally gets a call up of her own, obviously, Alex Greenwood's injury and things like that, could help contribute to that and Then she has to pull out for injury and I just like she can't catch a break I just like I just feel really bad for her because she's so good and she's really earned her like Her spot in that squad like she's been working so hard she's been doing really well for us and whenever she comes in and Like I think you know is building a decent building a decent relationship with Leah when they play together. Just, you

know, like, how many times is she just going to be sat on the bench in an England shirt or, you know, kind of missing out for injury or only making it in for injury? I just, I want her to get her chance on her own merit. That's, I've gone on a little bit of a side, side pitch there. But I just, I don't know, like just whenever I see her to get her chance on her own merit. That's, I've gone on a little bit of a side, side pitch there, but I just, I don't know, like just whenever I see her in the sky, I'm like delighted for her. And then whenever she's ruled out or like something happens, I'm just like, come on man, like the world is an unkind place. But yeah, there we go. Oh, poor Lottor. Yeah, well, I mean, look, there's time, there's time, isn't there? It's, it's incredibly frustrating for her. It's the start of an important period for Wales

Marver, they're starting to get ready for their first major tournament having qualified for the European Championship so they face Italy and Sweden in this camp in the Nations League which actually two pretty tough games, perfect prep for the summer. Yeah and I think that is what the Nations League brings, even for England as well, it's prep rather than kind of random friendly. So I think for Wales that is really, really helpful to get a glimpse into what they're going to be experiencing. I hope it doesn't demotivate them too much. I hope the results give them some hope and a kind, but even so, even if it doesn't go their way, it's really, really important prep and they should just, yeah, experience

it. Yeah, okay. Well, we'll see where they're at, that's for sure. Of course, they're in England's group in the Euros in Switzerland in the summer. Elsewhere, Scotland face Austria and the Netherlands. Tanya Oxtoby's Northern Ireland travel to Poland before then hosting Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also in the Nations League, Carla Ward's going to start life as manager of the Republic of Ireland at home to Turkey before then traveling to Slovenia and Gibraltar will make history on Wednesday when they

play their first ever competitive fixture away in Moldova. We also have the She Believes Cup, Jamie. The USA, Japan, Colombia and Australia as our resident Aussie. What are you expecting from this one? Yeah, I think it'll be a little exciting mini tournament. The She Believes Cup always brings some excitement for neutral fans, so I'm excited to actually be watching my team play in it. But yeah, it'll be it'll be fun. I think this is a it's always high, highly competitive, the She Believes Cup, obviously, it's invitational. So it's always, you know, the best of the best. But Colombia, Japan, Australia, USA, those are four very exceptional teams. I think maybe there is an outlier there,

but I'll have faith. But no, it'll be it'll be a display of the highest, highest honor. I think Colombia and Japan are very, very exciting countries, and the USA obviously have their mojo back and their confidence back and back on home soil, you know how they are when they're playing at home in America. So yeah, it'll be a nice little tournament to watch, and I think neutrals will really enjoy it because it's some talent, back-to-back games of high quality football. Yeah, looking forward to it, and we'll see how everyone gets on. We'll obviously

bring you all the updates and news from all of the tournaments taking place in next week's pod. I want to finish though with an email from Mammoarji Kungwone. I think that they've emailed before actually but this is what they say. Thank you for the incredible platform you've created here at The Guardian. Discussing player acquisitions like Chelsea's approach being more specific with player IDs such as Kiera Walsh, central defensive midfield, and Naomi Germer, central defender, challenges the idea of relying on a utility player to fill in like Baltimore had to do when Charles was injured. Don't you think some of these purchases or additions are also designed to provide a buffer against teams succumbing to

unnecessary losses in a game because of injuries? It helps prevent clubs from scrambling to find players when they're short, especially in the context of the ACL crisis that we're seeing, particularly in the women's game. I hope this came across well. It absolutely did, Mamawaji. Thank you very much. What do you think, Susie? Yeah, I mean, I think there's a point there, right? Like there are a lot of injuries, ACLs are obviously particularly noticeable. I can't remember if it was FIFA or FIFA Pro or UEFA or someone, it might be UEFA actually, who came out and said that there isn't like a

ACL epidemic in women's football and I think that is true, I don't think there is, I think it's just it's more noticeable, more reported on than it ever has been, I think it's always existed, you know, Mega Rapinoe did her ACL three times like way before anyone was talking about it, so like something that's always been known but the squad sizes in women's football are particularly small and that also amplifies the impact of injuries as well. These injuries happen in the men's game, not to the same extent, but they've got the squad sizes to be able to cope with that. I think that is something that needs to be looked at significantly. So, yeah, I think Walsh and Germer coming in provides that depth, but I think more significantly is they provide quality, right? Like it is top,

top, top, top quality players coming in to positions that, you know, Sophie Ingall did her ACL and, you know, you upgrade it with Kiera Walsh, right? Like there's just, you know, Kadeesh Aboukhanan does her ACL and you upgrade it with Naomi Germer. I mean, you're not, that's not just like a stop gap until they come back back from injury. That is a like, how do we strengthen this squad for the long term in the best possible way? And we bring in players who are even better and are going to be around for quite some time still. So, like, yes, you know, obviously, it is a direct response to injury in some respects. But at the same time, like, I think Chelsea are at a stage of their development where they are really looking to elevate every single area of

the pitch. And so like when that opportunity presents itself, they are going to do that. And when you've got such small squad sizes, the second some of those players get injured, it creates space in a squad that you're able to then fill and really take advantage of that. I do love though that with all of that investment and then Lucy Brown still has play centre back against Everton for the last 10 minutes and you're going, what's going on? Very good point. Brilliant, thank you so much for that Mamuaji. Women's Football Weekly at theguardian.com is the email if you want to get yourself involved as well. It's been a pleasure. Jamie, lovely to see you. Lovely. Thank you guys for having me. Always love chatting. Good luck to Australia. Thank you. I'll be supporting

you I think. That's what I've decided. That's what I like to hear. Excellent. Marva, so lovely to see you. We'll catch up soon. Thank you. No more 7-0s from now on, hopefully. No, no. We were kind this week. It was a brilliant performance. Susie Rack, I shall see you no doubt over the course of the week. Fingers crossed. See you later. Keep having your say by sending in your questions via social media or to us, his Women's Football Weekly at theguardian.com. And as ever, a reminder to sign up for our weekly Women's Football Weekly at theguardian.com and as ever a reminder

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