What Happened: Arsenal rally to see off West Ham, Chelsea drop points, and more WSL goodbyes
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at some of the big stories in women's football and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback
Welcome to the latest edition of What Happened, The Cutback’s weekly newsletter that sums up some of the big stories from the weekend of women’s football.
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It was a suitably chaotic weekend of Barclays as the return from the international break caused all sorts of mischief.
We were very close to seeing Chelsea lose their first game of the season on Sunday. Brighton put them to the sword but in the end Sonia Bompastor’s side managed to recover and secure a 2-2 draw, thanks to a Lauren James equaliser that was offside.
Arsenal looked like they were going to suffer yet another shock defeat to West Ham, but they came back from 3-1 down and won 4-3, with an incredible six-minute spell completely flipping the game on its head.
More on those games below and more to come this week from our Arsenal writer Max Radwan, Chelsea specialist Jessy Parker Humphreys and United writer Conner Roberts. It’s a busy week.
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In today’s issue: Brighton join the Chelsea draw club, Arsenal overcome the chaos and more managerial departures
Brighton make Chelsea sweat on the seaside
Brighton continued their legacy of being one of Chelsea’s most cursed opponents in the WSL. Hope Powell was a constant thorn in Chelsea’s side during the Emma Hayes years and Dario Vidošić has continued that legacy.
Brighton looked the better team for large parts of this clash as they consistently managed to break up play and attack with purpose. It only took a few passes for Vidošić’s side to cause Chelsea problems. Millie Bright was regularly getting caught out on the halfway line and forcing a desperate chase from her teammates.
Brighton will be frustrated they didn’t make more of their attacking work count, especially Fran Kirby who had a couple of opportunities to score against her old club.
Star signing Naomi Girma had a tough Chelsea debut as she learns the ropes in a new centre-back pairing. The American was slow to get out to Kirby for Brighton’s second - a well worked throw-in that was eventually finished off by Vicky Losada. Girma’s first game sadly ended in an injury-forced substitution. It wasn’t a horror debut by any means, but the sort of performance you expect from a player who hasn’t played in many months and is coming back from injury.
This game was full of incidents. There were physical battles happening all over the pitch and a couple of decent penalty shouts as Brighton and Chelsea players tussled with each other at every corner.
Mayra Ramirez’s late cameo provided the right impetus for Chelsea to force an equaliser, albeit an offside one. A lucky moment for a team that has become very used to making its own luck.
A second draw of the season for Chelsea gives some faint hope to Manchester United and Arsenal that a title race is still on. In the grand scheme of things, it feels like a nice way to keep the final months of the season interesting, without really creating enough jeopardy. Chelsea are still five points clear at the top the WSL and their closest chasers United have got to play three of the top four in the final three weeks of the season. Hell of a fixture list.
Arsenal save face in mad West Ham game
Arsenal were very close to causing a mini crisis after it took a Chloe Kelly comeback mission to stop West Ham claiming wins against the Gunners in back to back seasons.
Two early Amber Tysiak goals put West Ham into a shock 2-0 lead. Kelly grabbed one back before half time before West Ham made it 3-1 through Shekiera Martinez.
Even with 40 minutes to go, a win looked too much for Arsenal to muster and a draw was the only respectable outcome. West Ham’s third goal forced a serious switch from Renee Slegers as Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross were brought on for Kim Little and Lia Walti. The extra attacking presence out wide allowed Arsenal to overload West Ham’s right side and the goals came quickly.
First, Katie McCabe pulled one back from a silly angle to make it 2-3 and then moments later Leah Williamson steered a Kelly corner into the back of the net. The comeback was sealed by a Mariona Caldentey penalty given for one of the strangest handballs you’ll ever see. Kirsty Smith seemed to briefly think she was on the netball court as she almost went to catch the ball in the box and thankfully the ref spotted it and gave the penalty.
It wasn’t the first time West Ham had blown a lead against Arsenal. In 2018, the Hammers were 2-1 up but also ended up losing 4-3 as a Danielle van de Donk hat-trick inspired Arsenal that day.
Both teams were defensively all over the place on Sunday night but Kelly’s staring role saved the blushes of her teammates. It was the first game this season that she’s looked close to her best.
A word on West Ham who have looked like a team reborn since the start of the year.
The club has brought in some exciting talent in Martinez, Seraina Piubel and Oana Siren. What has struck me the most in this second half of the season is their aggressive approach to games. West Ham had become a fairly passive defensive team over the last few seasons, over reliant on poorly-executed counter-attacking opportunities.
Rehanne Skinner’s side are now taking on games, pressing aggressively and creating more with the ball. It’s a breath of fresh air to see this from a team that hasn’t been great to watch in the past.
Sacking season
International breaks always bring managerial departures, but for some reason clubs left it very late in the window to dismiss their managers.
Last Thursday, Matt Beard was sacked as Liverpool boss after four years and a Championship title. It was Beard’s second stint at the club having previously won the WSL with Liverpool in 2013 and 2014.
Beard took Liverpool to a fourth-placed finished in the WSL last season and as a result the expectations understandably rose, but things hadn’t being go well so far this campaign. He had also been vocal about the lack of financial muscle at his disposal compared to the rest of the top four.
Perhaps a victim of his own success, Liverpool are now searching for something more than what they currently are - solidly the best of the rest in the WSL.
Beard wasn’t the only managerial departure of the past week. Laura Kaminski was dismissed at Crystal Palace and replaced with Norwegian coach Leif Smerud. He lost 1-0 to Liverpool, led by interim Amber Whiteley, in his first game in charge.
There was also a managerial departure in the Championship. WSL legend Remi Allen was dismissed from Southampton having taken over at the start of the season. Allen is an exciting young coach and it’s definitely sad to her see her go. The ultra-competitive Championship is open and challenging this season as London City Lionesses and Birmingham City push for promotion. Southampton are well off the pace in eighth but haven’t got the squad of some of the league’s big hitters. We seem to have reached peak silly sacking season, who’s next?
That’s it from me today. See you same time next week.