It’s official … 104 days after the final whistle blew at the Pirelli Stadium to confirm Wolves promotion to WSL2 and signal the end of the 25/26 FAWNL Season, the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions will return this Sunday for a new season. Here, we take a look at all the big numbers ahead of Gameweek 1.
7 New Teams
The WSL expansion, and subsequent playoffs mean that 6 teams have been promoted from Tier 4 ahead of the new season, with Portsmouth being the sole team relegated from WSL2. Amongst the opening weekend fixtures one match in each of the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions see teams new to the league face off against each other, with Fulham against Portsmouth being one of the most fascinating clashes of the opening weekend.
Portsmouth have shown a refreshing commitment to their women’s team since relegation from WSL2, confirming they will retain their full time professional status for the coming season; alongside confirming they will play all their home league games at Fratton Park – a commitment that has seen many install them as favourites to secure promotion straight back to WSL2.
However, having had the leakiest defence in WSL2 last season, conceding an average of 2.4 goals per game, newly promoted Fulham will provide an early test – having cruised to the Division One South East title, scoring 73 goals along the way. With Fulham also currently on a 47 game unbeaten streak in league games, this match has the potential to give us an early insight into how competitive the league could be this season.
In the Northern Premier Division, playoff winners Norwich City will host Division One Northern Champions Huddersfield Town. Huddersfield’s title victory came with the lowest win percentage of any of the Tier 4 champions, taking the title with a 77.27% win percentage ratio. Having also scored the least goals amongst last seasons four Tier 4 champions they’ll need to find their scoring boots against Norwich, a team who who found the back of the net in every league game last season, putting at least 3 goals past the opposition keeper on no less than 13 of their 22 league outings.
Amongst the other newly promoted sides, Boldmere St Michaels host Middlesbrough, Peterborough United visit Rugby Borough, and Swindon Town will host playoff runner ups Plymouth Argyle who are looking to rebuild after just missing out on promotion to WSL2 last time around.
Goals on the move
Amongst the established Tier 3 teams, AFC Bournemouth and Plymouth Argyle, both in the Southern Premier Division, had the highest goal tally last season scoring 61 goals each – an average of 2.7 per game. However, ahead of gameweek 1 both teams have lost their top scorer from last season. Ellie Noble, who scored 10 of Argyle’s goals last season, has made the move to WSL2 football, having signed for Watford FC. Meanwhile, Sophie Quirk, who provided almost one third of AFC Bournemouth’s goals last season, netting 19 times in the league, has made the move to rivals Oxford United, where she has already got on the scoresheet in pre-season. With Oxford making the trip to Exeter City on the opening weekend it will be interesting to see if Quirk can get an early league goal for her new team.
Defences tested
AFC Bournemouth will have an early chance to show whether the firepower in attack has been adequately replaced as they make the trip to AFC Wimbledon on the opening day, a team who conceded an average of 2.2 goals per game last season, and avoided relegation based solely on their goals scored, having had identical points and goal difference to relegated Gwalia United.
In the Northern Premier Division Hull City conceded more goals than any other surviving Tier 3 team last season, conceding 54 times and keeping only 2 clean sheets all season. They visit Loughborough Lightning on the opening day – a team who finished one place below them last season, but with +9 superior goal difference.
Neither AFC Wimbledon or Hull City came close to having the leakiest defence in Tier 3 last season though, with the Southern Premier Division seeing Billericay Town concede 147 goals (an average of 6.68 goals per game) as they lost all 22 games on their way to relegation.
The in form teams
Finally, it is worth taking a look at the teams in form, and Plymouth Argyle finished the 25/26 season as the in form side in Tier 3, winning 7 straight games in their late surge to secure a playoff spot. However, having since lost the WSL2 Playoff, and having had a summer of disruption with the board taking drastic cost cutting measures that saw the release of most of their women’s team, newcomers Swindon Town will feel that the game is there for the taking.
In the Northern Premier Division both last season’s in form teams secured promotion to WSL2, but at the other end of the form ratings Stoke City will be hoping they can end their run of 4 straight league defeats as they host West Bromwich Albion on the opening day.
So there we have it – the big numbers ahead of the opening day of the 26/27 season. Whilst we think these numbers could provide the big talking points on the opening weekend, with 12 games to choose from there is bound to be some surprises. Think we’ve missed something, or got a talking point for next week? Drop us a mention via @WOSODataUK on X or Instagram!
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