Page 4 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.14 2022-23

Chelsea will top the WSL table at Christmas, with a lead of three points,
but were given an uncomfortable second half in their 3-2 victory over
Reading FC Women.
It looked to be business as usual for the Blues as they swept into a
three-goal lead in wintry conditions in the first half, Fran Kirby putting
them in front before Jelena Cankovic added a double either side of the half
hour. However, two goals in a minute from Sanne Troelsgaard Nielsen and
Amalie Eikeland brought Reading back into the game and Chelsea were
forced to hold on for three hard earned points.
Arsenal are back in second after recovering from an early scare to beat Aston Villa 4-1
at Villa Park. Kirsty Hanson gave Villa a sixth minute lead but the Gunners hit back to level
through a Rachel Corsie own goal and Vivianne Miedema then put them ahead for the first
time. Katie McCabe made it three on the hour and substitute Jordan Nobbs rounded off the
scoring late on.
The derby match at the Eithad Stadium ended with honours even as Manchester City
and Manchester Utd battled out a 1-1 draw. In front of more than 44,000, Leah Galton gave
United a first half lead but they were unable to register a first victory over their local rivals,
with Laura Coombs equalising for City on the hour.
West Ham Utd now occupy fifth position following their 2-0 victory away to
Tottenham Hotspur. The first half was goalless but Dagny Brynjarsdottir opened the
scoring four minutes after the restart and Hawa Cissoko sealed a fifth win of the season for
the Hammers when she scored the second goal late on.
The weather took its toll on the other two matches, forcing both to be postponed, but
there was more action in midweek as Tottenham Hotspur played host to Everton on
Wednesday night.
In the end, it turned out not to be the best of Manchester City 1 (Coombs 58)
weeks for Spurs but a very good one for the Manchester Utd 1 (Galton 27)
Toffees as they ran out 3-0 winners, a result -
which took them above their opponents and into Tottenham Hotspur 0
West Ham Utd 2 (Brynjarsdottir 49, Cissoko 83)
the top half of the table. Katja Snoeijs got Everton -
off to a great start by giving them an eighth Aston Villa 1 (Hanson 6)
minute lead and Jess Park made it two ahead of Arsenal 4 (Corsie og 26, Miedema 30, McCabe 62,
half time. Any hopes of a Spurs fightback were Nobbs 84)
-
ended when Giovana scored a third in injury time. Chelsea 3 (Kirby 16, Cankovic 29,33)
The Barclays WSL will now take a break Reading FC Women 2 (Nielsen 60, Eikeland 61)
until mid-January when it returns with a full -
round of matches, including a top of the table Tottenham Hotspur 0
Everton 3 (Snoeijs 8, Park 36, Giovana 90)
clash between Chelsea and Arsenal.
BARCLAYS WSL P W D L F A Pts GD
CHELSEA 10 9 0 1 31 8 27 23
ARSENAL 9 8 0 1 25 5 24 20 LEADING SCORERS
MANCHESTER UTD 9 7 1 1 24 6 22 Rachel DALY Aston Villa 8
18
MANCHESTER CITY 9 6 1 2 21 10 19 Khadija SHAW Manchester City 8
11
-3
WEST HAM UTD 10 5 0 5 15 18 15 Fran KIRBY Chelsea 6
EVERTON 9 4 0 5 10 10 12 Katie STENGEL Liverpool 6
0
ASTON VILLA 9 4 0 5 13 19 12 -6
Dagny BRYNJARSDOTTIR West Ham Utd 5
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 9 3 0 6 11 17 9 Sam KERR Chelsea 5
-6
LIVERPOOL 9 2 2 5 11 16 8 -5
READING FC WOMEN 10 2 1 7 12 23 7 -11
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 8 2 1 5 11 29 7 -18
LEICESTER CITY 9 0 0 9 2 25 0 -23
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