Weekend Warm-Up: Barclays classics and playoff time
Flo Lloyd-Hughes looks ahead to the weekend's WSL and NWSL action
Welcome back to Weekend Warm-Up, the key to your women’s football weekend.
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There are two Friday night fixtures in the WSL this weekend which is a rare treat.
It all kicks off with Arsenal-Brighton at 7pm and Man City-Tottenham at 7.30pm (UK times). The City game will be on Sky Sports while you can catch Arsenal on YouTube.
Given Arsenal’s obvious flaws this season (well documented by our resident Gooner Max Radwan) I am intrigued to see how they manage the hipster’s choice in the WSL at the moment. Brighton have caused problems for every team they’ve faced and given the current fragility of Arsenal, I think they could need to dig deep in this one.
This isn’t my game of the weekend though, I’ll show you where the real fun could be.
Chelsea’s bogey team
Liverpool-Chelsea is a game that always dishes up drama. Last season, it was Liverpool’s dramatic 4-3 win at the start of May that led Emma Hayes to declare '“the title is done” with a crestfallen Aggie Beever-Jones next to her on on Sky Sports. It was one of the greatest Barclays WSL TV moments and made even more memorable as Chelsea still went on to win the title after Manchester City collapsed against Arsenal.
Chelsea do have a habit of struggling against Liverpool. In fact, only Nick Cushing (ex Man City) and David Parker (ex Birmingham City) have won more games against Chelsea than Matt Beard. He’s won four of his 10 meetings with Chelsea as Liverpool boss, drawing one and losing the other five.
Liverpool haven’t started the season as well as they’d hope and have dropped frustrating points against Everton, Leicester and West Ham. However, their record since the end of last season is still very impressive, having only lost of their last 16 WSL games since the start of February.
This should hopefully be a classic. It will be on YouTube at 12.30pm on Sunday.
Playoff football
The NWSL playoffs begin this weekend and there’s some decent kick off times for European fans.
Here’s the full schedule:
8 Nov. Friday: Orlando vs. Chicago | 1:00 a.m. GMT
9 Nov. Saturday: KC vs. NC | 5:00 p.m. GMT
10 Nov. Sunday: Wash. vs. Bay | 5:30 p.m. GMT
10 Nov. Sunday: Gotham vs. Portland | 8:00 p.m GMT
Theo Lloyd-Hughes has put together a detailed preview of the playoffs to get you up to speed with the players, storylines and favoured teams.
If you live in the UK, you can watch it all on NWSL+.
United need a reaction
Manchester United fans were left feeling a bit deflated after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Melvine Malard helped rescue a point for Marc Skinner but a very flat and uninspiring attack created more worries than anything. United sit fifth from bottom on total xG this season (6.4), albeit they have played one less game than their rivals. They rank sixth for xG per 90 (1.28) with Brighton and Tottenham ahead of them. When it comes to shot-creating actions per 90, United are also keeping company with struggling sides. Only West Ham, Everton, Leicester City and Crystal Palace have managed fewer.
United remain unbeaten and their defence is more robust than its ever been. However, going forward there seems to be a serious lack of goal-scoring threat outside of Grace Clinton, who has three goals this season.
Conner Roberts dug deeper into the Arsenal game and unpacked some of those issues.
This Sunday, United host Villa at home. Villa haven’t had the best start to the season when it comes to results but their performances have impressed. The key is to now turn that into points on the board. United will need create more than they did against Arsenal to ensure they don’t get caught out.
Enjoy whatever football you’re watching this weekend. I’ll see you on Monday!