Another gameweek is here already, and with the WSL kicking off on Friday night it’s an early blog for us this week! The Northern and Southern Premier Divisions take a break this weekend for the next round of FA WNL Group Stage games, but we take a look back at last week’s Tier 3 games before previewing the return of WSL and WSL2.
Big numbers in Tier 3
It was another weekend of huge results in Tier 3, but none were perhaps more significant than Fulham’s 5-0 win at home to Plymouth Argyle, showing the contrasting fortunes of the 2 teams. Fulham’s win secured their 50th consecutive game unbeaten in the league, whilst Plymouth, who find themselves rock bottom of the Southern Premier Division have now conceded 15 this season in 3 games – more than they did in the whole of the 25/26 season.
Elsewhere Cheltenham lost by the same 5-0 margin at Oxford United, joining Plymouth as the only 2 teams in Tier 3 not to have registered a point yet this season. This game also saw Holly Manders cement herself at the top of the Tier 3 goalscorers chart, having scored a brace in all 3 league games so far this season.
Exeter City secured their first win of the season, against Lewes, in a game which saw another first, with Ellie Sara getting the first hat-trick in Tier 3 this season in their 3-1 win.
The goalscoring numbers could not have been more different in the Northern Premier Division – 18 goals were scored across the 6 fixtures, with 18 different scorers getting their name on the scoresheet – quite some feat when both Liverpool Feds and Huddersfield Town scored 4 away from home, against Hull City and Boldmere St Michaels respectively. The latter result saw Huddersfield join Fulham in establishing themselves as 2nd in their respective leagues despite both being newly promoted sides.
Amongst the other results Derby County and Loughborough Lightning both secured their first wins of the season, to ensure all 12 teams in the Northern Premier Division have a win and at least 3 points on the board after 3 games, whilst only Rugby Borough and Huddersfield Town have avoided defeat, suggesting the league could be particularly competitive this season. Contrast this with the Southern Premier Division where 3 teams have secured the maximum 9 points from their opening 3 fixtures (Oxford United, Fulham and AFC Bournemouth), whilst 2 teams have failed to pick up a point – although it should be noted that Cheltenham have played 3 of the current top 4 in their opening fixtures.
WSL is back!
As mentioned already, this weekend sees the return of Tiers 1 and 2, with the WSL returning on Friday night as London City Lionesses play host to Manchester United Women, with former United shot-stopper Mary Earps being just one of the Lionesses big summer signings, alongside 2 times Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas. Meanwhile United’s biggest investment of the summer has arguably been off the pitch, securing Eva Olid as their new manager. Last season 13 points separated the 2 teams, with United picking up 6 of their 11 wins away from home, including in this fixture, so the result could be an interesting marker of both teams summer investment.
Another key fixture this weekend comes from the blue side of Manchester as last seasons champions play host to the WSL2 Champions Birmingham City. Manchester City had a 100% win record at home last season, scoring an average of 3.45 goals per game at home whilst only conceding 8 all season at home, so Birmingham could have a tough welcome to WSL life.
Elsewhere fellow promoted side Charlton Athletic host Liverpool at The Valley. With Liverpool having only secured one win away from home in the league last season (to rivals Everton at Goodison Park) Charlton will be hoping they can avenge last seasons 0-1 loss in the Women’s FA Cup and secure their first league win since 15th March.
The final promoted side, Crystal Palace, start the season on a run of 4 consecutive league wins and host Everton on the opening weekend, a team who have not picked up a point away from home since March. With Palace having only secured 2 wins in their last season in WSL in 2024/2025 they will be hoping they can carry on their run of form and establish themselves as a more competitive side this time around.
WSL2 – 4 new teams!
The various changes as a result of the WSL expansion means that one third of the teams that will kick off in WSL2 this weekend are new to the league, with 2 of those playing in Friday night’s opening fixture as last seasons Northern and Sothern Premier Division Champions meet, with Watford hosting Burnley at Vicarage Road. Both teams will see this as an opportunity to pick up some early points. Burnley head into the game on a run of 24 league games undefeated, stretching back to April 2025, whereas Watford lost in their final fixture of last season, a home tie to AFC Bournemouth (although they had by that point secured the title whilst Burnley’s title race went to the final day).
Wolverhampton Wanderers start life in WSL2 with a visit to Gateshead to play Newcastle United. Whilst Newcastle secured a midtable finish last season in sixth, they had the tightest home defence in the league, conceding only one goal for each 123 minutes played at home. The defence will need to continue this form against a side who scored an average of 3.18 goals per game on their way to securing their place in the FAWNL playoffs last season.
Leicester are also new to WSL2 having lost on 17 out of 22 occasions last season, seeing themselves relegated from the top tier of women’s football after 5 seasons in the league. Their opening fixtures sees them visit Bramall Lane and a Sheffield United side who lost 54% of their fixtures last season, so both teams will be desperate to get an early result. With both teams scoring an average of less than 1 goal per game last season it may not be the best game for the neutral this weekend though.
Elsewhere, Southampton and Bristol City, the 2 teams with the highest number of goals scored away from home last season both start their season on the road, visiting Durham and Sunderland respectively.
Clearly it is a busy weekend, with all 26 teams across the expanded WSL and WSL2 in action. Whilst we think these are some of the big numbers and fixtures across the opening weekend we’d love to hear from you if you think we’ve missed something. Or perhaps you think there’s a number we need to be taking a look at next weekend, the first time this season when all of the top 3 tiers will have league fixtures. Get in touch by dropping us a mention via @WOSODataUK on X or Instagram!
One more number before you leave …
2 clicks is all it takes to give us a follow on X and Instagram. As a new project this season, WOSO Analysis UK is relying on word of mouth to spread, and so following us and sharing our posts helps keep the content coming! Please head to the links below to follow us!
X: @WOSODataUK
Instagram: @WOSODataUK
