She Kicks

Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League is down to five points after they were held 2-2 at Brighton and Manchester United beat Leicester City.

Manchester United 2-0 Leicester City

Aston Villa 0-2 Everton

Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool

Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Manchester City

Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea

Arsenal v West Ham United (5.30pm – live on Sky Sports incl. Showcase)

Chelsea had to come from behind at the break to take a point away to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Sandy Baltimore hit the roof of the net with a great strike for Chelsea but Brighton were back on level terms midway through the first half, Marisa Olislagers finding the back of the net fro a tight angle.

Three minutes from the break Brighton took the lead, Vicky Losada netting when directing a Rachel McLauchlan cross into the goal.

Mayra Ramirez forced a save from Melina Loeck moments after coming off the bench and Lauren James tucked away the rebound to make it 2-2.

Manchester City came away 2-1 winners against Tottenham Hotspur in a hard-fought fixture.

Eleven minutes in and City led, Vivianne Miedema heading home an Aoba Fujino cross but Spurs equalised after Olivia Holdt teed up Beth England in the box.

England had a header blocked and put her follow-up shot over the bar, Mathilda Vinberg missing an even clearer opportunity for Tottenham in the second half.

Ashleigh Neville’s acrobatic goal-line clearance from Miedema hit the crossbar and stayed out but the lead was restored a dozen minutes from time, Yui Hasegawa picking out Fujino who rifled the ball high into the net.

With the last kick of the match, England played a close-range effort straight into the hands of goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita.

Manchester United stayed in second place with a 2-0 victory over tenth in the table Leicester City.

Melvine Malard got ahead of Julie Thibaud to run onto Ella Toone’s ball and fire United in front. Malard turned provider for Leah Galton to net in stoppage-time at the end of the first half.

Leicester rallied after making some second-half changes and missed a couple of chances to get back into the game.

Everton won 2-0 away to Aston Villa to go further clear of any danger, leaving the hosts four points off the foot.

Maren Mjelde gave Everton a first-half lead, volleying in following a corner which Villa did not clear.

Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo went off injured and Katelin Talbert took over between the sticks but spilled the ball for Honoka Hayashi to make it 2-0.

Liverpool moved into the top half of the table with the only goal of the game at Crystal Palace, who remain bottom by four points.

Jaz Matthews fired home from a Gemma Bonner corner, the Reds’ tenth-minute opener proving decisive.

Chelsea have signed Jamaican international goalkeeper Becky Spencer on loan from Tottenham Hotspur until the end of the season.

The move comes with the Blues now having two keepers out of action, with Femke Liefting suffering a long-term injury and Zecira Musovic pregnant.

It is a return to Chelsea for Spencer, who played for the Blues between 2016 and 2018, winning the WSL and FA Cup during that time.

She was earlier part of the Arsenal squad that were champions of Europe and played for Jamaica at the 2023 World Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur have signed goalkeeper Lize Kop from Leicester City on a contract through to June 2028.

Kop has 13 senior caps for her country, after appearing for all the Netherlands’ national development sides.

She made over 100 appearances for Ajax before her move into the WSL with Leicester City, winning the Eredivisie title twice and playing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League

Joining the Foxes ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, she played in 8 league games to help them stay up.

Bri Campos has been appointed Tottenham Hotspur first team coach, having previously been a part of boss Robert’s Villahamn backroom staff at BK Hacken.

The former Mexican international who played for the likes of Umea and Vittsjo, will join Vicky Jepson (Senior Assistant Coach) and Chris Williams (Goalkeeping Coach) on the club’s coaching staff.

Anton Blackwood has left his role as First Team Transitional Coach to pursue a new challenge.

Campos told tottenhamhotspur.com: “I’m really excited to be here and be part of this project, there’s a lot of long-term goals which makes it exciting to be a part of.

“The team is coming from a very good campaign last term and I want to help as much as possible to build from that, it’s a good project to help develop players and help continue the progress of the club.”

Tottenham Hotspur have signed Denmark international midfielder Olivia Holdt from Rosengard on a contract through to June 2027.

She spent three seasons with Rosengard in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, scoring 25 goals in 47 appearances, with 13 of those coming in their most recent campaign to help them secure the league title.

Holdt has played seven times for Denmark and also has UEFA Women’s Champions League experience with both Fortuna Hjorring and FC Rosengard.

Tottenham Hotspur made it back-to-back wins in FA Women’s League Cup Group E with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.

Eveliina Summanen dramatically struck on the hour, beating goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo via the crossbar from 35 yards out.

D’Angelo had earlier made a smart stop to deny Beth England finishing from a Hayley Raso cross.

Early in the second half, Adriana Leon had the ball in the back of the net for the visitors but the flag was raised for offside.

Eleanor Heeps kept a clean sheet for the debut between the sticks for Tottenham.

Spurs have now won both their matches to date in the section and lead the table by three points from Villa.

Tottenham Hotspur Women intend to learn from the release clause that recently allowed Celin Bizet to leave for Manchester United, says head coach Robert Vilahamn.

A popular player with supporters, Norway attacker Bizet had become increasingly key for Spurs last season, but with one year remaining on the three-year contract she signed when joining from Paris Saint-Germain in 2022, United signed the 22-year-old this month after meeting a release fee reported at around £60,000.

Spurs brought in Australia’s Hayley Raso at the start of September, following the ex-Manchester City and Everton wide player’s exit from Real Madrid.

In his press conference ahead of the Barclays WSL opener with Crystal Palace this Sunday, Spurs boss Vilahamn was asked by She Kicks whether they had been planning to begin this season without Bizet.

“When I came here and we knew about the contracts that the players had, when we realised that Celin had a breakout clause in her contract, that’s not what we want to do in the future,” he explained. “We will never sign that kind of contract any more, but when you knew that and you push really hard to renew that contract and she kind of doesn’t want to do that, then you realise you need to have a back-up plan.”

“So, no matter if Man United was in or not, we knew that it was a risk that we lose her, so we started to prepare for who we want in, and then Hayley came up. We had a plan in the beginning, and we actually get a player who wants to be here.

“We should never try to convince players to be here. If they don’t want to be, okay, leave then, it’s fine; there’s so many new players we can bring in.

“We had a plan and I think we actually look really good in those wide areas now.”

A deal similar to the one that saw Aston Villa lose midfielder Laura Blindkilde Brown to Manchester City at the end of January’s transfer window, such a release clause naturally gives the selling club no chance to negotiate with the interested club if the fee is met.

Vilahamn recalled a situation with a present-day Arsenal forward when asked if Spurs need to avoid agreeing to those clauses in future if they are to succeed in their plan to become one of the WSL’s leading teams over the coming seasons.

“Yeah, this is quite similar to what I had in Häcken. When I took over Häcken, I had Champions League group stage and I had Stina Blackstenius playing Benfica away, and then her contract was actually running out in the middle of November, so I couldn’t use her in the game afterwards.

“So, we had tough work the first two years to make sure the players had not only one-year contracts but two, three, four-year contracts, so when you develop a player, and if they want to leave, you get a benefit of money as well. Hopefully, you don’t want players to leave, but if they want to leave, you’re going to get money back from it.

“So, one thing is that, and the other thing is to actually get longer contracts for the players we think are going to be here for a while, because we want to work with them, but we also have an insurance if we want to sell them or if they want to leave; we actually get money for them. That’s obviously something we’re doing all the time and that’s something we’re fixing right now, but it’s an old-structure problem that we try to fix.”

Last season’s FA Cup runners-up begin the new campaign with increased optimism, off the back of a 6th-place finish in Swedish coach Vilahamn’s first year at the club.

As well as aforementioned Matildas star Raso, incomings this summer have included defenders Clare Hunt (Paris Saint-Germain) and Ella Morris (Southampton), with a long-term deal completed for left-back Amanda Nildén after the Sweden international’s half-season loan from Juventus.

With midfielder Kit Graham now expected to miss the season with an ACL injury, strengthening has arrived this month via Hungary’s Anna Csiki (BK Häcken) and Spain’s Maite Oroz (Real Madrid).

Among the attacking options at the club are exciting prospects Lenna Gunning-Williams and Araya Dennis, with the teenage duo making a strong impression during pre-season.

Both spent time away on loan in 2023/24, with Gunning-Williams at Ipswich Town, and Dennis, who joined Spurs in February, helping upcoming opponents Crystal Palace to promotion from the Championship.

“We see those two with really high potential, and during pre-season, both of them have been really good,” said Vilahamn when asked of the part they may be ready to play. “Especially Lenna has scored I think three or four goals in pre-season and actually showed that she can compete.”

“The plan is for them to stay and be part of the squad and compete for minutes, and when we end up at Christmas, if they don’t get the minutes they need, of course young players need to play. We will reconsider if we need to send one of them on loan, but right now, they are here to compete, and they’re actually competing very well.

“To see the development of Lenna, for example, is massive; she’s strong, she’s quick, she’s scoring goals, she’s taking in everything. She’s not a young player any more – she’s a senior player in my eyes.”

Tottenham Hotspur have signed goalkeeper Katelin Talbert on loan from West Ham United until the end of the year.

The 25-year-old joined the Hammers from Benfica last summer, going on loan to Swedish Damallsvenskan side Djurgardens and making 14 appearances in all competitions.

The American keeper signed for Benfica in January 2022, helping them win back-to-back titles, League Cup and Super Cup, as well as featuring in their UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign.

Tottenham Hotspur sign 21-year-old defender Ella Morris on a three-year deal following her departure from Southampton.

Morris helped Southampton win promotion to the Championship and played well over 100 times for the Saints, scoring 14 goals.

Internationally, she debuted for England at U-17 level and now has nine caps for the U-23s.

She had been with the Saints since the age of 14, progressing to the first team during the 2018/19 campaign.

Making her mark, she was named the Saints’ Player of the Season, followed by the Players’ Player of the Season the next season.

Tottenham Hotspur have signed Sweden international defender Amanda Nildén on a permanent deal following her loan spell from Juventus.

The attack-minded full-back, who joined Spurs in January and started in ten consecutive games, signs on a deal through to 2027.

The 25-year-old also made four starts in the Women’s FA Cup, as Tottenham made it all the way to the final.

Source – tottenhamhotspur.com