The Women’s Super League enters its ninth round of fixtures with Chelsea and Manchester City level on points at the top, separated only by goal difference.
Chelsea host Everton at Stamford Bridge, while champions Manchester City begin the weekend against West Ham at the Joie Stadium. London City Lionesses and Tottenham are competing for third, against Birmingham City and Brighton respectively, while Manchester United visit Aston Villa and Arsenal travel to Anfield to face Liverpool.
At the other end of the table, Charlton Athletic remain the only side without a point and face Crystal Palace in a crucial meeting. Opta’s supercomputer has assessed the likely outcomes of all seven matches.
Manchester City v West Ham
Manchester City can keep the pressure on Chelsea after winning 2-1 at London City Lionesses last time out. Andree Jeglertz’s side are aiming to become only the third reigning champions to collect at least 25 points from their opening nine WSL matches, following Chelsea’s 27 points in 2024-25 and City’s 25 in 2017-18.
City have won their past 16 WSL home matches. They have conceded twice in each of their last three, but won all three games – a sequence no previous WSL side had achieved after conceding more than once in consecutive home victories.
The hosts win 81.3% of Opta’s simulations, with West Ham given a 7.1% chance of victory and a draw rated at 11.6%.
City have won 13 of their 15 WSL meetings with West Ham, drawing one and losing one. They have completed the league double over the Hammers in three of the past four seasons.
West Ham will also need to contain Khadija Shaw, who has scored in a career-best eight consecutive WSL starts and in 13 of her 19 appearances in the competition during 2026.
Chelsea v Everton
Chelsea’s seven-game winning run began after a draw with Aston Villa on MD1, and they will seek an eighth successive victory after beating Charlton Athletic 6-0 last time out. Their current streak is their best within a single top-flight season since Sonia Bompastor’s side won their first nine matches in 2024-25.
The Blues have scored 18 goals in their past four WSL games, recording two victories by three goals and two by six. They have previously scored more than twice in five consecutive competition matches on only two occasions, in runs ending in December 2022 and November 2023.
Everton have kept three clean sheets in eight games this season, one fewer than across the whole of 2025-26, when they recorded four in 22 matches.
Chelsea are given the highest win probability of any team on MD9, at 83.7%. Everton’s chances of winning are 6.1%, with a draw rated at 10.2%.
The Toffees drew 1-1 with Manchester United on MD8, ending a run of 22 WSL matches without a draw. They last drew successive league games in October 2024.
Aston Villa v Manchester United
Manchester United have recovered from losing their opening two matches and are unbeaten in their past six WSL games, winning three and drawing three. However, successive draws mean they could record three consecutive top-flight stalemates for the first time since November 2024.
United have scored only nine goals in their first eight league matches, their lowest total at this stage of a season. Their 12 points are also their joint-fewest after eight games, matching their totals in 2019-20 and 2021-22.
Their points tally is four higher than their Expected Points total of eight. Only Manchester City, with 22 points compared with 16 xP, and Aston Villa, with 10 compared with five xP, have exceeded their expected totals by more than United.
The supercomputer gives United a 51.8% chance of winning at Villa Park, with a draw rated at 23.1%. Villa’s win probability is 25.1%.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in four WSL games, winning two and drawing two, their longest such run since a five-match sequence between September and November 2025. They have won only one of their 12 league meetings with Manchester United, drawing two and losing nine.
Liverpool v Arsenal
Arsenal return to Anfield a week after beating Liverpool 1-0 on Merseyside, and Opta again favours Mikel Arteta’s side.
The Gunners have beaten Liverpool 21 times in the WSL, a joint competition record for victories against one opponent. Their 21 wins over Everton form the other half of that record. Arsenal’s win probability is 64%, compared with Liverpool’s 16.8%, while a draw is rated at 19.2% across 10,000 simulations.
Arsenal have taken only 10 points from eight matches this season, with two wins, four draws and two defeats. They have never previously failed to collect more than 10 points from their opening nine WSL games.
The Gunners have won only one of their last seven matches, drawing four and losing two – their poorest seven-game sequence in the competition. Liverpool are winless in four WSL matches for the first time since a 15-game run between April 2025 and January 2026.
Liverpool have lost only two of their past 11 home league games, winning four and drawing five. They are also without a victory in five matches in all competitions, drawing one and losing four. Their last longer run as a top-flight side came under Victoria Jepson in January 2019, when they went nine games without winning. Gareth Taylor has never gone six matches without a victory in his managerial career.
Tottenham v Brighton
Tottenham have quietly moved into fourth place and have produced some of the division’s most high-scoring matches. They have won three league games by at least three goals and lost two by the same margin, while the average margin in their WSL matches in 2026-27 is 3.3 – the highest in a season excluding the Spring Series.
Spurs are averaging 21.5 shots per game, well above their previous best of 13.6 in 2023-24. Their 172 attempts from eight matches already equal 60% of last season’s 286 across 22 games. They have scored 23 goals from an xG of 18.1, giving them the division’s best positive difference at +4.9.
Brighton, who are sixth, have won consecutive WSL matches for the second time in 2026, having also done so between March and April. Their last three-match winning run in the top flight came under Hope Powell in November 2021.
The Seagulls have won only one of their seven WSL away games against Tottenham, drawing two and losing four. That victory came in March 2025, when Fran Kirby scored in a 1-0 win. Tottenham are seeking three successive league wins over Brighton for the first time since December 2020.
Spurs are given a 49.6% chance of winning, compared with Brighton’s 25%, while a draw is rated at 25.4%.
Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic
Charlton have lost all eight of their opening matches and are only the fifth team to begin a WSL campaign with eight defeats. They are the first since Leicester City in 2022-23. Three of the previous four teams to suffer that run finished in the bottom two, and all four ended the season in the bottom three.
Palace have won only 13% of their WSL home matches, a lower rate than every club to have played in more than one WSL season except Yeovil Town, on 4%, and Doncaster Rovers Belles, on 10%.
A victory would take the Eagles beyond the five home points they collected in their only previous WSL campaign, when they earned three so far in 2024-25.
Crystal Palace are rated at 53.9% to win, with Charlton’s chances put at 22.4% and a draw at 23.7%. Palace have won only one of their past six league meetings with Charlton, drawing one and losing four, although that victory was the most recent – a 3-2 win at Selhurst Park in last season’s WSL2.
London City Lionesses v Birmingham City
London City Lionesses close the weekend at the Copperjax Community Stadium after losing 2-1 to Manchester City last time out. They have nevertheless won five of their past six WSL home matches, losing one, after winning only three of their first nine in the competition, alongside one draw and five defeats.
A defeat would give them consecutive home league losses for the first time since four defeats between December 2025 and March 2026.
Birmingham have taken four points from their last three WSL games, winning one, drawing one and losing one. That is twice their total from their opening five matches, when they drew two and lost three.
The Blues could lose successive competition matches for the first time since May 2022, when they were beaten by Chelsea and Manchester City. They lost 4-1 to Tottenham last time out.
London City are unbeaten in their past four league meetings with Birmingham, drawing one and losing three, since a 1-0 away victory in February 2023. The supercomputer gives them a 66.4% chance of ending that run, with Birmingham on 15.3% and a draw on 18.3%.
Goals are also expected. London City have scored in 13 successive WSL matches since losing 2-0 to Arsenal in March, more than twice their previous best scoring run of six games. They have scored 30 times during the current sequence, compared with 18 in their first 17 WSL matches.
