Women's Super League

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Hill Dickinson Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Everton's first Women's Super League match at Hill Dickinson Stadium brought a sense of "pride" for Brian Sorensen despite the scoreline.

The Toffees lost 4-1 to Manchester United but welcomed 18,154 fans to the ground and midfielder Honoka Hayashi became the first female to score there in the WSL.

"I thought it was a great experience and those are the opportunities the new ownership are giving us. We're really grateful for it," said Sorensen.

"It's a day we'll think back to with a lot of pride. Of course we're gutted that we couldn't keep the performance [going] over the 90 minutes."

United boss Marc Skinner experienced the stadium for the first time and described it as "daunting" given its size and stature.

"It's massive. I've never been to Goodison Park either but it's a lovely stadium and the facilities are well-thought out," added Skinner.

"Playing at Wembley and Old Trafford and all of those places has helped us. That probably gave us an advantage."

The women's team made Goodison Park their home this season but opted to take advantage of the men's international break to host a game at Hill Dickinson.

It has also been a request from the league for clubs to attempt to host at least one game a season at their designated 'bigger' ground, to attract more fans.

Everton season ticket holder Marc Roche has been to the stadium to watch the men's team but brought his younger siblings Christine and Alfie Edwards for the first time on Sunday to support the women.

"I really enjoyed the game despite the scoreline and it was good to support the women's team and experience something different," Roche told BBC Sport.

"I've managed to catch a few of the women's games on TV this season and been impressed with the style of football, especially the derby [win against Liverpool].

Christine and Alfie added: "We wanted to see the new ground, support the women and start a new tradition. We're hoping we can make a lot of the Goodison Park games this year."

Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal manager Renee Slegers has shown her players videos of Roger Federer as part of her attempts to halt their poor form.

The Gunners are winless in four games across all competitions, and are five points behind Women's Super League leaders Chelsea.

Slegers told media on Friday that she has used tennis legend Federer to try and inspire the Arsenal players to bounce back from disappointment.

"We watched Roger Federer to see how you go from point to point," she said. "Everyone wants the same thing, for Arsenal to succeed.

"He talks about percentages of games and points won in his career, and how the point at that moment is the most important, then he moves onto next one.

"He only won 54% of points in his career but is the best of all time - it is how he comes back after losing points, and is good at the most important moments."

Arsenal face Brighton in the WSL at Emirates Stadium on Sunday having taken two points from their last three league games.

They have lost their previous two matches, at Manchester City in the league last Saturday before a midweek home defeat to Lyon in the Champions League.

Sally Freedman
BBC Sport Senior Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Marc Skinner detailed his thoughts ahead of the first Women's Super League fixture between Everton and Manchester United at the brand-new Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The game will be played on Sunday 12 October (KO: 12:00) at the impressive 53,000-seater stadium located on the banks of the River Mersey.

Everton women have moved into Goodison Park, the previous men's stadium, but this weekend, they will play at Hill Dickinson while the Premier League breaks for international fixtures.

"If I rewind to three or four years ago when we started to play those kinds of games, it felt a little bit too big," Skinner said. "The experience of that and playing at Wembley has settled us into understanding it is just a pitch in a nice stadium."

"Hopefully it will have a galvanising effect on us. I am sure it will for Everton because it looks like an incredible stadium."

"We are looking forward to it and gracing it with the quality it deserves."

Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

It could take £1m London City Lionesses signing Grace Geyoro until December before she is up to speed in the Women's Super League, says manager Jocelyn Precheur.

France midfielder Geyoro joined the newly promoted Lionesses on transfer deadline day on 4 September.

Geyoro has yet to register a goal or assist in four games for the Lionesses, who have six points from five league matches.

"We knew it would need two or three months for her to be totally ready in a new league," Precheur told BBC Sport.

"She had a long break from the end of Euro 2025 to joining us. We knew when she arrived she needed to start conditioning from scratch.

"She wants to adapt as soon as possible to bring to the team everything she can."

Geyoro, 28, had spent her career at Paris St-Germain before joining the Lionesses, winning the league title and twice reaching the Champions League final.

Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, WSL

Women's Super League leaders Chelsea have won both the player and manager of the month awards for September.

Chelsea's Aggie Beever-Jones is the WSL player of the month after scoring in all four of their games.

The England forward opened the scoring in wins against Manchester City, Aston Villa, Leicester City and West Ham United.

The 22-year-old topped a shortlist which also featured Aoba Fujino, Alessia Russo, Anna Sandberg, Maisie Symonds and Cathinka Tandberg.

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor, who led them to the 2025-25 title, is the WSL manager of the month.

Chelsea became the first WSL side to finish a 22-game campaign unbeaten last season.

Tottenham Hotspur's Martin Ho, Manchester City's Andree Jeglertz and Manchester United's Marc Skinner were also shortlisted for the manager's prize.

Arsenal's Olivia Smith's strike in the 4-1 win against London City Lionesses in the opening fixture of the 2025-26 WSL season was voted goal of the month for September.

Image source, WSL

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea midfielder Sjoeke Nusken has signed a new contract which will keep her at the club until 2027.

The 24-year-old German international joined from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2023.

She made 36 appearances and scored five goals in all competitions for the Blues last season, as well as scoring twice in four appearances as Germany reached the semi-finals at Euro 2025.

"I'm very happy to have another year at Chelsea, to stay another year with my team," said Nusken.

"We have a big year coming up, and hopefully, we can achieve the Champions League title. We want to achieve a lot of things together."