Arsenal Women kicked off their 2023-24 WSL campaign by welcoming Matt Beard’s Liverpool Women to a packed Emirates Stadium, in October. The Reds shocked our Gunners, beating them 1-0 on their home-turf, in the WSL opening game.
Liverpool women were, in the early 2010s, one of the best women’s teams in England. The fact that they won back-to-back Women’s Super League titles in 2013 and 2014 sums up their superiority back then. Unfortunately for them, they lost their competitive edge over the last few years. But are they making a comeback as a dominant force in English football?
Perhaps they are. For a while, the idea was that there are the top four teams in the WSL: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, and more recently Manchester United, who are just in their own class, and then there are the other teams. Liverpool, who are fourth in the WSL table, are looking to dispel this notion as they look set to finish in the top 4 (ahead of Manchester United) if they beat Leicester in their final match day.
Last season, Liverpool manager Matt Beard hinted at this when he admitted, “We know there is a gap between the top four right now to the rest of the teams. From our perspective, we’ve said this all along: we want to be as competitive as we can in this division,” said Beard via Liverpoolfc.com.
That said, this season, the Reds have been attempting to match the WSL heavyweights stride for stride. Check out the results below; they’re not just a stroke of luck.
Arsenal 0:1 Liverpool
Manchester United 1:2 Liverpool
Liverpool 4:3 Chelsea
Liverpool 1:0 Manchester United
The Reds are really starting to make a name for themselves. I haven’t been actively keeping up with them, but they’ve definitely caught my attention. It’s pretty incredible how Matt Beard has managed to take them from the Women’s Championship to consistently performing well in the top half of the table over the past few years. If their resurgence continues next season, they could pose a threat for European places. All signs indicate that they will soon be playing in Europe. It’s pretty impressive that they managed to beat Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea. That’s definitely worth mentioning. Under Beard, the Reds are really making progress.
On balance though, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 in their return fixture, Chelsea beat The Reds 5-1 in their reverse fixture, and Liverpool were comprehensively whipped by Man City on both occasions, so perhaps still some way to go?
What are your thoughts Gooners?
Michelle Maxwell
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Let’s take a good midfielder from them to replace Walti.