by Andrew Crawshaw
As Arsenal didn’t have a match this weekend you may chose to stop reading now, but I hope not. Information about the men’s game is everywhere – searching for information about the women’s game can take a while.
The group phase of the competition has the 22 competing teams – 11 each from the top flight (WSL clubs) and the second tier (Championship clubs) – divided into 4 groups. There are two groups of 6 and two groups of 5 arranged more or less geographically. As each team plays each other in their group only once some teams will have 5 group games and others only 4. This last weekend was our turn not to have a match.
We are in Southern Group 2 which also has West Ham, Charlton, Lewes and Millwall.
Other groups are :-
Group 1 North (6 teams) – Aston Villa, Birmingham, Bristol City, Leicester, Manchester City and Sheffield United
Group 2 North (5 teams) – Durham, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Reading
Group 1 South (6 teams) – Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, London Bees, Tottenham and Yeovil
Draws are not permitted if teams are level after 90 minutes they go to penalties, the shootout winner being awarded an extra point. So a win in normal time = 3 points, a won on penalties = 2 points, a loss on penalties = 1 point and a loss in 90 minutes = 0 points. I didn’t make up the rules!
My predictions for this phase of the tournament were
- Group 1 North – Winner Man City – runner up no idea
- Group 2 North – Everton and Reading to progress
- Group 1 South – Chelsea and Yeovil (if they have someone to score goals)
- Group 2 South – Arsenal to win and West Ham to come second but Lewes as a wild card for second
So how have all the other teams done so far and do my predictions still look reasonable?
Group 1 North
Matchweek 1(18/19 August)
- Birmingham 0 – Man City 0 (City win on penalties 2 points, Birmingham 1 point)
- Aston Villa 1 – Sheffield United 2 (Sheffield 3 points, Villa 0)
- Leicester 2 – Bristol 2 (Leicester won on penalties)
Matchweek 2 (25/26 August)
- Birmingham 2 – Aston Villa 0
- Bristol City 3 – Sheffield 1
- Manchester City 4 – Leicester 0
Their table – (NB the WSL clubs are shown in bold in all four tables, the Championship clubs are in normal font)
| POS | TEAM | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Manchester City Women FC | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | Bristol City Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | Birmingham City Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | Sheffield United Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | Leicester City Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| 6 | Aston Villa Ladies FC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Read more at http://www.fawsl.com/matchesCup/680775766.html#sFJGpbS8BhH9ZwU5.99
The biggest surprise in this group was the failure of City to beat Birmingham within the 90 minutes, they completed the job on penalties but dropped a point. The two other WSL clubs are equal on all measures bar goals scored.
Group 2 North
Matchweek 1
- Reading 4 – Durham 1
- Liverpool 0 – Manchester United 1
Matchweek 2
- Manchester United 0 – Reading 2
- Durham 1 – Everton 0
Their Table
| POS | TEAM | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Reading FC Women | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Manchester United Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Durham Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Everton Ladies FC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Liverpool FC Women | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
WSL club Reading firmly in control of this group so far with two wins out of two. The two Championship clubs in second and third with one win each and the other two WSL clubs at the foot of the table with no wins between them
Group 1 South
Matchweek 1
- Chelsea 3 – Brighton 1
- London Bees 1 – Yeovil 1(Bees won on Penalties)
- Crystal Palace 1 – Spurs 1(Palace won on penalties)
Matchweek 2
- London Bees 1 – Chelsea 6
- Tottenham 2 – Brighton 2 (Tottenham won on penalties)
- Yeovil 0 – Crystal Palace 1
Their Table
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Chelsea FC Women | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | Crystal Palace Ladies FC | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur Ladies FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | London Bees FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 5 | Yeovil Town Ladies FC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women FC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
Chelsea, as expected top of the group with 6 points and a hatful of goals, Crystal Palace a surprise in second place and a bigger surprise with the other two Premier ship sides in the bottom two places behind three Championship clubs.
Group 2 South
Matchweek 1
- Arsenal 3 – West Ham 1
- Lewes 5 – Charlton 0
Matchweek 2
- Charlton 4 – Millwall 2
- West Ham 4 – Lewes 1
Table
The Table for our group
| POS | TEAM | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Lewes FC Women | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 2 | Arsenal Women | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | West Ham United Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Charlton Athletic Women FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| 5 | Millwall Lionesses FC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Millwall need a win from their next game to have any realistic chance of ending in the top two. The other four teams each with one win.
The next group games are on 16 September – Lewes v Arsenal (14:00) and West Ham v Millwall (15:00). I would expect wins for Arsenal and West Ham with the Arsenal game potentially being the more problematic although we should have too much quality to be presented with any serious problems.
That match is at the wonderfully named Dripping Pan Ground in Lewes, West Sussex, close to Brighton. Well worth a visit if you can manage it. There are no other Arsenal games that day so no excuses if you live near the South Coast.
The FA have just re-jigged their webpages covering Women’s football – If you are interested the new web page is womenscompetitions.thefa.com.
