Women’s Super League Preview!

The FA Women’s Super League is set to return for the 2021/22 season and the fixture list has been released. The opening fixtures will be played from the 3-5 September with a standout matchup between Arsenal and Chelsea to get the season off to an exciting start.

All sides, especially the top teams, will have their pre-season somewhat disrupted by the absence of key players still competing in the Tokyo Olympics. Chelsea have 11 senior players including Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr competing, and Manchester City have 12 senior players in Japan, notably Lucy Bronze and Steph Houghton.

Chelsea goes into the season as defending Champions and at least this sportsbook has Arsenal and the two Manchester sides pushing them all the way. The club have brought Lauren James back to West London from Manchester United. The sister of Chelsea men’s right back Reece James made history at Manchester United as the 19-year-old became their first-ever goal scorer in the Women’s Super League and finished as their top goal scorer in the 2019/20 season with six goals. Emma Hayes has also strengthened her side in defence bringing Aniek Nouwen from PSV Eindhoven. The Netherlands international made her debut in 2019 and Hayes said about the 22-year-old “I have no doubt Aniek is one of the best young defenders in the world and has a very bright future ahead of her with us. We cannot wait to welcome her to Cobham this summer.”

Chelsea already have one of the most exciting attacks in the game with England Internation Fran Kirby, Australian forward Sam Kerr who was last season’s top scorer with 21 goals, and the European Player of the Year Pernille Harder. Under the guidance of Emma Hayes, this side will be looking to extend their dominance in the WSL having won the last two titles and have been champions in four of the last six seasons.

Manchester City, winners back in 2016, have finished as runners-up in the last four seasons. They have made big acquisitions from abroad with Barcelona’s winning captain Vicky Losada and Khadija Shaw from Bordeaux. Losada is no stranger to the WSL having won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2016 and the 30-year-old brings quality and experience to the Manchester City side who lost Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle at the end of last season. Head coach Gareth Taylor has also signed Ruby Mace from Arsenal. The 17-year-old already has made 16 appearances in the WSL and is seen as one of the brightest defensive prospects in the league.

Arsenal have also looked to strengthen with experience this summer and have added England International Nikita Parris from Lyon as well as Japanese forward Mana Iwabuchi from Aston Villa. The north London side also have a new manager in charge; Jonas Eidevall starts his first season managing in the WSL after showing good work in Swedish side Rosengard who reached the quarter finals of the Champions League last year.

Much will depend on how the new manager fits into the club which has given him their full backing and vowed to increase the back-office staff to support the players as best as possible. With stars like Vivianne Medina, who has 60 goals in 67 games for the Gunners, and having added to their defensive ranks with Simone Boye from Bayern Munich, Arsenal will be hoping to close the gap between themselves and London rivals Chelsea this time out.

Manchester United are also under new management after Casey Stoney left for San Diego in the NWSL in the United States. Vilde Boe Risa was added early in the window, and the Norwegian international, who has 37 caps for her country, will be eager to help her new side continue to improve.

England International and former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid centre forward Toni Duggan has made an exciting return to the WSL. The 30-year-old is back at Everton, where she began her career, before three seasons at Manchester City, and returns to England after four years in Spain. Everton start their campaign against last season’s runners up Manchester City.

Leicester City were the champions of the FA Women’s Championship last season and won promotion to the WSL, taking the place of relegated side Bristol City. They will look to the goals of Natasha Flint who finished last season with an impressive 17 goals in 20 games to help her side to the title. The former Manchester City player, who was released by the club at 19, has found her form after a move to Blackburn in 2017 saw her score 70 goals in 66 games over three seasons, earning her move to Leicester last season.

It is likely the gap with still remain between the top four of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, but the chasing pack has once again looked to improve over the summer window. Everton especially will hope to be closer to the group than last year while the likes of Tottenham, Reading and Brighton will be aiming on a higher point haul than their previous outing.

Chelsea and Manchester City only lost one game each last season and the chasing clubs will know points need to start being taken from these two dominant forces if there is to be a new challenger. These two though have kept good consistency in their squad while adding extra talent to make sure they remain battling for the title between the two of them this time out again.