Two matchdays, no shots on target
Charlton Athletic waited a long time to reach the Women’s Super League. Their first two matchdays have produced a set of numbers no promoted side wants attached to its name.
The Addicks have attempted five shots across their opening two games, fewer than any team in WSL history at this stage of a season. None of those five have been on target, which makes Charlton the first side in the competition’s history to go through two matchdays without testing a goalkeeper.
Liverpool handed them a 4-0 defeat on their top-flight debut. Everton finished the job over the weekend, winning 1-0 through a 77th-minute own goal from Leighanne Robe.
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A match that made its own history
That afternoon at Everton was odd in its own right. Neither side managed a shot on target, only the second time a WSL fixture has ended that way.
Charlton also picked up two red cards in the same game, something only Manchester City against Chelsea in October 2023 and Bristol City against Liverpool in April 2012 had done before them. Two matchdays into their first season at this level, the newcomers have collected three separate pieces of WSL history, none of them the kind a club frames.
Matchday 3 brings London City Lionesses to south London. Charlton need a shot on target before they need a point.
City pull clear through the set piece
At the other end of the table, Manchester City are the only club in the division with a perfect record. They followed their opening win over Birmingham City by taking Villa Park apart 4-1, and the last time a single team stood alone on six points after two matchdays was 2015, when Chelsea managed it.
The mechanism behind the start is worth a look. City have scored three goals from corners already, one fewer than the other 13 clubs in the league have managed between them. Opponents who organise themselves around containing City in open play are being punished from a restart instead.
Lauren Hemp reached 100 WSL goal involvements at Villa Park, 52 goals and 48 assists, becoming the seventh player to get there. Vivianne Miedema leads that list on 138, ahead of Beth Mead, Bethany England, Fran Kirby, Nikita Parris and Khadija Shaw.
City travel to Liverpool next, where their former manager Gareth Taylor is now in charge.
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