Weekend Warm-Up: Derby days and a WSL double-header

Flo Lloyd-Hughes previews the weekend's fixtures with some key stats and storylines

Chelsea’s Guro Reiten. Credit: Chelsea Women.

Welcome back to Weekend Warm-Up, the key to your women’s football weekend. Here are some of the big storylines and key stats from across the WSL.

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Saturday showdown

WSL fans are being spoilt on Saturday with back to back box office clashes.

It all kicks off with the North London derby as Tottenham host Arsenal at 1.45pm (BBC One), followed Chelsea taking on Manchester City at Stamford Bridge at 5.30pm (Sky Sports).

Some important headlines heading into this one….

Manchester City could be without Lauren Hemp on Saturday. She missed the Uefa Women’s Champions League game midweek against Hammarby. City’s manager Gareth Taylor has said “there's a chance" she could play Saturday but its going to be a late decision.

Hemp has been one of City’s standout players so far this season alongside Bunny Shaw. Hemp has two goals and five assists in the WSL.

This is the first time City will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and it will be interesting to see how a different environment could impact the champions.

City have an unbelievable home and away record in the WSL and historically Chelsea have hated going away to the CFA. City are unbeaten in their last 11 away games in the WSL (W10 D1), their second longest run in the competition. The last team to go at least 12 top-flight games without losing on the road were……Chelsea in May 2021. That was Emma Hayes insane run of 39 games unbeaten.

Chelsea have had unbelievable start to the season winning all of their games and this will definitely be their toughest test of the season to date.

Sonia Bompastor’s team are aiming to become just the third side in WSL history to win each of their opening seven games of a campaign after Manchester City in 2017-18 (finished 2nd) and Arsenal in 2018-19 (finished 1st).

Some other fun stats courtesy of the WSL and Opta:

• Manchester City have won 17 of their 19 WSL games in 2024 (D1 L1) and could win 18 top-flight games in a single calendar year for the very first time.

• Chelsea’s Mayra Ramírez has been directly involved in nine goals in her 12 WSL appearances (5 goals, 4 assists) with only Fran Kirby (12), Guro Reiten (11) and Karen Carney (10) involved in more across their first 12 outings for the Blues in the competition.

North London derby day

Let’s look at Saturday’s other big game on the other side of London. Tottenham host Arsenal in our first North London derby of the season.

Our Spurs writer Rachel Cohen has had a look at how important this game is for Tottenham. Last season we saw Spurs pull off a huge and shocking win 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It came out of nowhere after Spurs had been on a really poor run of results. They will need to channel the same again to get anything in this one.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are on a really positive run under interim manager Renée Slegers. She’s unbeaten since she took over the role on 15 October, overseeing five games in all competitions. In the last two games (UWCL and WSL), Arsenal have scored nine goals and conceded none. The feelings are that maybe, just maybe, that forward line is finally clicking.

Arsenal should really get the job done here but its Arsenal so you never know!

Some Opta stats to wet your appetite:

• Tottenham have won only one of their nine meetings with Arsenal in the WSL (D1 L7).

• Arsenal have won seven of their nine games against Tottenham in the WSL and have either kept a clean sheet (5) or conceded exactly once (4) in those meetings with Spurs.

• Arsenal are unbeaten in their last six WSL away games (W4 D2), their best run on the road without a league defeat since February 2023 (11 games).

• Tottenham have conceded more goals than any other side in the WSL so far this season (18) while only Crystal Palace (15.4) have faced a larger expected goals against figure than Spurs this term (11.7).

On Merseyside

The NLD isn’t the only derby happening this weekend. Everton host Liverpool at Goodison Park. This one is on Sky Sports on Sunday at 3pm.

Everton desperately need a win. They are one of only two sides in the WSL not to have won a game (Aston Villa being the other).

Times are tough for Everton boss Brian Sorensen and he has had to face some big injuries, losing two players to ACL injuries (Inma Gabarro and Aurora Galli). But the performances haven’t been great. Everton also don’t have a great record at Goodison Park, having not won any of the four WSL games they’ve played there. The last Merseyside derby at Goodison ended in a 0-0 draw.

Liverpool will be feeling confident they could get a result given how fragile Everton look at the moment, the only thing standing in their away….a patchy record in Merseyside derbies.

Here are some important stats from Opta:

• Everton have won four of their last seven meetings with Liverpool in the WSL (D2 L1), more than they managed in their first 10 Merseyside derbies in the competition (W3 D3 L4).

• Liverpool manager Matt Beard has failed to win any of his last seven meetings with Everton in the WSL since winning 2-1 away from home with West Ham in October 2018 (D2 L5).

• Liverpool are winless in their last three away games against Everton in the WSL (D2 L1), since winning 2-0 in September 2017 under Scott Rogers.

• Everton are the only team yet to lead for a single minute in a WSL game this season, the sixth team to fail to go ahead in any of their opening seven matches of a campaign and first since Birmingham City in 2021-22, who went

  on to be relegated.

All eyes on Skinner

The pressure is on Manchester United boss Marc Skinner after three successive draws in the WSL. The were boos at full time when United drew 0-0 with Aston Villa last Sunday.

Conner Roberts has written about the growing frustrations and feeling of disappointment amongst the United fanbase.

This weekend United face a Leicester City side that have only won one game under new manager Amandine Miquel and have also lost their new star signing Noemie Mouchon to an ACL injury.

The last few United performances have been categorised by a sluggish attack. A big, confidence-boosting win against Leicester City is definitely needed. Even then, I think United fans will still feel frustrated and concerned but some free-flowing attacking football might just secure a bit more time for the WSL’s latest under pressure manager.

We spoke about United’s issues on Monday’s Counter Pressed so also have a listen to that.

Some Manchester United stats from Opta:

• Though they are unbeaten in the WSL this season, United have drawn their last three league matches; the last team to draw four in a row in the competition were Aston Villa in May 2021 (5 in a row).

• Manchester United have conceded just twice in their opening six league games this season with only Manchester City in 2016 (0) and 2019-20 (1) and Arsenal in 2022-23 (1) ever leaking fewer goals at that stage of a campaign; the Red Devils’ opponents have by far the worst conversion rate in the competition this term however (2.9%).

• Since the beginning of last season, Leicester City have failed to score in more WSL games than any other side (13) – 12 of those blanks in front of goal have come in 2024 alone, with the last team to do so in more games in the same calendar year being the Foxes themselves in 2022 (14 times).

• Manchester United are averaging the most yellow cards per game in the WSL this season (2) while only West Ham have both conceded (79) and won (79) more fouls than Leicester City in the competition this term (77 and 77).

That’s it from me. Let me know when you’ll be watching from this weekend. See you on Monday!