Across the league this weekend, all the players from both sides came together in the centre circle with arms around each other to stand up to racism, a change from taking the knee.
Spurs women made a statement ahead of their game against Brighton. In recent weeks, Jess Naz was racially abused by people on social media.
After much consultation with the squad, Bethany England, the captain, agreed that taking the “knee no longer feels meaningful. We are still seeing prejudice and racism, and there is so much more that everyone should be doing. This is not a tick box - this is people's lives, people's feelings. It needs to change. We will wear T-shirts during the warm-up to carry our message. This is our way of making a stand that this isn't acceptable; we stand with those who are still being subjected to such horrific abuse. We stand together against racism."
This comes after England at the women’s Euros decided to no longer take the knee after the racial abuse towards Jess Carter, but instead stand together as one against it.
Most of the action happened in Manchester in the title race as the big four faced each other in incredibly tight games. Manchester v London, and it looks like Manchester came up on top. City won 3-2 against Arsenal, and United drew with Chelsea, the champions.
Manchester United v Chelsea 1-1
Manchester United ended Chelsea's 100% winning start in the WSL season by holding them to a draw.
It is the first time Chelsea have not won since May 2025. It's been more than 500 days since Chelsea last lost a league game, a 4-3 defeat at Liverpool on 1 May 2024.
United has taken just a single point from their 11 league encounters with Chelsea.
It was the first time the Blues had dropped points since March. In Sonia Bompastor's 27th league game, she rarely came closer to her first defeat in domestic competition.
Chelsea leads first in the 9th minute from an assist by Catarina Macario to Wieke Kaptein, who has not lost in the league at Chelsea; she has scored in back-to-back games. Macario produced a on-the-training-pitch assist with a back heel with Kaptein running in to collect the ball and put it into the far corner.
Ten minutes later, youngster Anna Sandberg, who had a fantastic performance against Arsenal, scored from distance after Keira Walsh gave the ball away to the reds in the penalty box. The ball threaded through all the defenders; there was no way Hannah Hampton could get anything on that.
Both sides had their chances. Sam Kerr spent the last few minutes in the United penalty area.
Ella Toone, Jess Park, and Fridolina Rolfo, all of whom had efforts on target, could have clinched a victory for the home side.
Ella Toone wasted chances on either side of the interval, while Jess Park should have done better with a chipped effort before coming close with a dipping volley.
The result meant both sides remain unbeaten before their first Champions League games in midweek, with second-placed United two points behind Chelsea.
Maya Le Tissier has officially passed Aileen Whelan’s record of the most consecutive WSL starts, making 71 consecutive starts.
The statistics may show Chelsea had more shots (19-15) and was on target (6-3), but United had the greater purpose when they attacked.
It meant a point for Bompastor on a landmark 100th league game, where she has won 90 and only lost twice with Lyon and Chelsea.
It was a significant result for the Red Devils, who had lost 10 and drawn one of their 11 previous league encounters with the Blues.
Skinner was proud of "the bravest performance" from his players.
"We're building. You can see it, you can sense it," he said.
"We are disappointed not to win the game. The chances we created, not many teams could create that against Chelsea. So for us to do that and how we did it was a credit to them [the players]."
Blues boss Bompastor was "not happy" with Chelsea's performance, but said a draw was "not a bad result at Manchester United".
When asked if United were title challengers, she added, "I see many teams competing for us. Every game brings a different challenge. You have to be ready for every game."
Can anyone beat Chelsea in the WSL and end their dominance?
Manchester City v Arsenal 3-2
In Lotte Wubben-Moy’s 150 WSL appearance, she was chosen in this prominent fixture ahead Katie Reid, who has been playing in place of Leah Williamson, who is out with a knee injury.
Arsenal had better chances in the first half but could not capitalise on them.
Renee Slegers’ side came from behind twice but could not find the win.
The first goal came from Bunny Shaw with an early header. This goal came out of nowhere, as Arsenal, up until that point, had the joy of the ball. Kristin Casparij crossed the ball over the box for Shaw to put it in on the far side of the goal.
There was an opportunity for City, but it was ruled offside, which showed weakness in Arsenal's defence. Shaw faked a move left but went right, which got Lotte Wubben-Moy to dive down and the keeper to go past them. The ball did not have enough speed to run directly into the back of the net, and Steph Catley was the closest Arsenal player, but was in front of the ball. Casparij finished the job with a tap-in but ruled out.
Arsenal got the equaliser within a second into the second half through Mariona’s Caldentey. Assisted by Emily Fox, who crossed it back into the box for Caldentey to put it in.
It wasn’t long after that City went up again from a set piece, and it was a scrappy one with Casparij finally getting her goal. The original shot by Shaw was pushed back into the box by the Arsenal keeper with Alessia Russo attempting to get it out of danger. Both Dutch internationals were on it for the rebound.
A ripple of sarcastic cheers and boos could be heard in the City supporters' section when Kelly made her introduction of the bench.
Chloe Kelly scored the equaliser and celebrated hard, against her former club, with whom she joined Arsenal on loan, as she smashed her chest on the badge and pointed to it. She shot from outside the box, into the far back corner with no chance for the keeper.
Some could say it was overboard for an equaliser. She fouled a player and touched the badge as well. Also, on social media, a city fan page asked her what the score was, and she responded with a photo of her and the Champions League trophy.
When it looked like it would end 2-2 in the 88th minute, Shaw was alone in the box with three defenders. Iman Beney came into the box to pick up the ball. She took the moment and struck the ball. She scored it the game end 3-2 to the home side.
City are now one point behind Chelsea, and Arsenal sit in fifth.
The Blues looked in control for extended periods and created more dangerous opportunities, often pushing Arsenal's backline into mistakes.
Instead, Kelly and her Arsenal team-mates left the pitch to chants of "Chloe, what's the score?".
Spurs v Brighton 1-0
The Spurs have won all three points and now sit third in the league. While still not strong in front of the goal, they find their way against clubs of a similar level. They have started well in the season, only losing 5-1 to Manchester City. However, they have yet to face Chelsea, Manchester United, and their north London rival Arsenal. They are now third in the league above Arsenal and Manchester United.
The only goal in this game was for Cathinka Tandberg, who scored her third WSL goal of the season.
Within the first five minutes, there was a call for a handball after Japan defender Toko Koga took a poor touch in her box and slipped. Brighton was closing in on the goal and fell onto the ball.
She touched the ball with her arm. Brighton players appealed, and the referee waved away.
Beighton clearly missed Fran Kirby, WSL legend, Chelsea's all-time goal scorer.
The goal came from a low cross from the left by Jess Naz, with Tandberg lurking at the back post to tap it into the net.
It took 43 minutes for the visitors to register their first shot on target. Rachel McLauchlan hooked an overhead kick towards the goal from close range, but Lize Kop easily saved it.
It was one of two penalties which Brighton manager Dario Vidosic felt his side should have been awarded, with the Australian calling for an improvement in the standard of officiating.
"I don't want to get in trouble, but I think there are two clear penalties. The first half and 100% one in the second half with Kiko [Seike] - [she] gets cleanly removed from my view. Contact is there, clear contact," he said.
"Two points where we potentially go 2-0 up with a potential penalty is quite frustrating.
"I want to get an explanation of some of the other calls as well. Felt it was quite inconsistent [and] even Tottenham can feel a little bit hard done by in some challenges. It just needs to improve."
Eveliina Summanen struck a fierce free-kick through the Brighton wall, but Chiamaka Nnadozie palmed it away as the home side could not increase their lead.
Tottenham are level on points with second-placed Manchester City, while Brighton remains sixth in the table.
Tottenham only won four of their opening five WSL games once before, in the 2021-22 season. They also won just five league games last season, highlighting their marked improvements this term.
West Ham v Aston Villa 2-0 (to the visitors)
West Ham can't find the final touch in the box and is now on a seven-game losing streak.
Villa was stunned with two goals, which gave Villa their first victory in the WSL.
The visitors finally got the ball in the back of the net at the hour mark when Kirsty Hanson arrowed a shot into the top corner.
Dutch defender Wilms doubled Villa's lead seven minutes later with her first WSL goal. A free-kick from the edge of the penalty area found the same corner of Kinga Szemik's goal.
Villa moved to eighth with five points from four outings and a game in hand against Liverpool.
Martinez's glaring miss sums up the Hammers' season—last term, she scored 10 goals in 12 WSL appearances but has yet to find the net this season.
Their issues in front of the goal were compounded when Viviane Asseyi's diving header at the far post went wide.
Leicester City v Everton 1-1
The hosts were on the brighter side during a goalless opening 45 minutes, with Hannah Cain and Emily van Egmond linking up smartly in attack. Still, Everton came closest to taking the lead, Katie Robinson bringing a sharp save out of Janina Leitzig on the stroke of half-time after finding space on the right wing.
Ornella Vignola of Everton scored her fourth goal of the season in hopes of securing three points for Everton for the first time since their opener against Liverpool. They hoped to end a four-match winless streak in all competitions.
This goal was Everton’s second in their past four league matches, with her first shot on target coming after the 43rd minute.
However, substitute Noemie Mouchon had other ideas and fired home in the 81st minute, her first goal since suffering a season-ending ACL injury in October 2024.
This was Leicester's first shot on target in the game.
It was the 18th time the Foxes had gone 1-0 down in a WSL match since the start of last season, with Rick Passmoor's side going on to lose on 15 occasions.
Both sides ended their losing streaks; the home side had just suffered back-to-back league defeats.
London City Lionesses v Liverpool 1-0
Liverpool remain pointless in the WSL as the pressure mounts on Gareth Taylor to change his possession style, as he does not have the squad he had at City.
Liverpool sits deep after the manager acknowledges their attacking limitations.
They keep playing out from the back, which is another style the manager used at City, but mistakes from the keeper allow the opposition to take chances to score.
The win for the newly promoted side at home in front of their owner came in the 89th minute.
A penalty was given after Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggrafe fouled Nikita Parris.
While replays indicated Parris may have caught Borggrafe for the penalty rather than the other way around, they could have no complaints about losing the game.
Defender Elena Linari smashed it off the crossbar.
Their most significant chances in the game came from Parris in the first half when she headed it over from a good position.
In the second half, Borggrafe was twice caught playing out from the back—Izzy Goodwin hit the post, and the German keeper made a double save from Grace Geyoro.
London City, which kept its first WSL clean sheet, is up to seventh on the table, while Liverpool stays second at the bottom.
For the first time since 2012, the Reds have suffered six successive WSL defeats, including the previous campaign.
This week, Taylor, who has lost four straight league matches for the first time in his managerial career, claimed he "never felt, even in pre-season, that it would be a quick fix" to revive their fortunes.
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