Women’s Super League

MANCHESTER CITY’S Conti Cup clash with Leicester has been shelved due to fresh cases of coronavirus in their squad.A number of new positive Covid-19 test results have emerged following two previously confirmed last week, according to a statement on the Citizens’ website.
Manchester City’s league cup match against Leicester has been postponed due to positive Covid-19 cases in City’s squadCredit: Zuma Press
The news comes a day after Brentford’s Tuesday night Prem clash with Manchester United was cancelled due to four Red Devils players testing positive for the virus.
A new date for the duel between the women’s top-flight rivals, which was due to kick-off at 7:00 pm this evening, is yet to be announced.
And the club are yet to confirm if their top-flight home clash with Reading, scheduled for this Sunday will go ahead.
A statement on the Academy Stadium giants’ web page said: “Manchester City can confirm that tonight’s Continental Tyres Cup tie away at Leicester City has been postponed.
“The decision has been taken by the Football Association following a number of further positive COVID-19 cases in the women’s squad in addition to the two previously confirmed.
“A new date for the game will be announced in due course, with all tickets remaining valid for the rescheduled fixture.”
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Janine Beckie and Keira Walsh both missed City’s 3-2 away defeat of Birmingham with both international aces testing positive for Covid-19 over the weekend.
And Lucy Bronze was also unavailable for the club’s trip to St Andrew’s with the England ace currently isolating as part of Covid test and trace guidelines.
Gareth Taylor says Man City staff will be keeping in contact with Beckie and Walsh to check on their wellbeing.
Gareth Taylor says Man City will be monitoring the progress of Janine Beckie and Keira Walsh after both tested positive for CovidCredit: Getty
On Tuesday the Man City boss said: “In regard to the girls who tested positive over the weekend (Walsh and Beckie), we’re keeping in touch with them on a regular basis to make sure they’re okay and wish them both a speedy recovery.
“As a team, especially following our positive cases, we’re following all the relevant league COVID-19 protocols to keep us all as safe as possible.
“We’re testing daily to ensure we’re as protected as possible heading into the end of the calendar year.”
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SEVERAL politicians from the country’s major parties are pushing for a law change on pitch invaders in the women’s game.MPs from the Women’s Football All-Party Group have written to sports minister Nigel Huddleston calling for all professional fixtures to be listed as ‘designated matches’.
MPs are calling for a law change to give police powers to arrest pitch invaders at women’s professional football gamesCredit: Getty
The letter, signed and shared on Twitter by ex-sports minister Tracey Crouch, has been backed eight MPs including Labour’s shadow cultural industries minister Alison McGovern
Their demands were prompted by The Athletic’s report which revealed that the Football Offences Order, which gives the police authority to make arrests for pitch invasions, does not apply to Women’s Super League matches.
Their letter was sent following Chelsea’s Champion’s League duel with Juventus was disrupted by a man running onto the turf at Kingsmeadow and attempting to take selfies with Blues players.
Chelsea forward Sam Kerr received a yellow card for shoulder barging the spectator, who was later revealed to have been not been arrested.
Reports claim the Metropolitan Police did not arrest the pitch invader due to women’s games not being defined as designated matches in legislation.
And the MPs from the All-Party Football Group believed this to be the case with women’s Champions League duels.
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But on Monday the Home Office informed Telegraph Sport that the Blues’ encounter with their Italian opponents should have been listed as a designated match due to the fixture involving opponents whose home ground “is situated outside England and Wales.”
And due to a legislative amendment in 2011, Women’s Champions League and international clashes fall in the designated group.
However, women’s domestic duels in the WSL and lower tiers are currently not included in these criteria.
And MPs are demanding professional female players receive the same level as protection as footballers in the men’s game.
Tracey Crouch wants to see professional female footballers given the same level of protection as pros in the men’s gameCredit: Getty
In the letter, Women’s Football Parliamentary Group members said: “We were shocked to learn that women’s football is not included within the definition of the Football (Offences) (Designation of Football Matches) Order 2004.
“Given the growth of the professional women’s game, this is enormously worrying.
“We strongly urge you to consider an immediate change to the legislation to ensure that professional women’s football is listed as a designated match thus bringing parity of protection to female footballers afforded to their male counterparts.”
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JONAS EIDEVALL ‘could not care less’ about Chelsea’s shock loss to Reading as Arsenal extended their lead at the top. The Gunners turned up the heat on their title rivals moving four points clear at the WSL’s summit after a 4-0 home thrashing of Leicester.
Arsenal have opened up a four-point gap at the top of the WSL following Chelsea’s loss to ReadingCredit: Zuma Press
A Frida Maanum brace was among the efforts that saw the league leaders blitz the 10-player Foxes with Jemma Purfield seeing red for a first-half trip on Nikita Parris.
Eidevall, whose side will play Hoffenheim in the Champions League, said: “I simply could not care about the result of other teams in the league.
“I can’t do anything about them. We just focus on ourselves.”
On Maanum’s performance, Eidevall added: “Frida has been a very strong addition to the team. She is exactly the type of player that we have needed.”
The result saw the visitors’ losing run in the top tier extend to nine games with new gaffer Lydia enduring a defeat on her debut in Leicester’s dugout.
Darren Carter fired a warning to Birmingham’s WSL rivals insisting his Brum aces will not be bullied by their opponents
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The club took the lead twice against Manchester City at St Andrew’s before slipping to a 3-2 loss with Ellen White netting a late winner for the Citizens.
Carter told reporters: “The perception of Birmingham at the moment is we’re a soft touch and it’s easy to get points against us. That’s a narrative we want to change.
“Hopefully they (the players) sent a message that we’re no longer going to roll over in games. We’re going to fight to the end.”
Elsewhere Tottenham leapt into the top three after consigning Aston Villa to defeat.
Kyah Simon’s penalty strike cancelled out Remi Allen’s nineteenth-minute opener with Rachel Williams on target with the winner for the visitors in the second half.
And the result saw the Villans drop to tenth before their trip to Manchester United with a Conti Cup clash with Blackburn up next.
Rachel Williams helped Tottenham go third with her winning away at Aston VillaCredit: Rex
And Everton and West Ham shared the spoils with a 1-1 draw at Walton Hall.
Zaneta Wyne put the Irons ahead close to halftime before Toni Duggan levelled in the second period.
The result saw Everton move two points behind Reading who dropped to eighth after wins for Man City and Spurs and a draw for seventh-placed West Ham.
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LUCY BRONZE has given Gareth Taylor a massive fitness boost with her return to action for Manchester City away against Birmingham.The England full-back is expected to make her first appearance this term after recovering from a knee op following Team GB’s involvement in the Tokyo Olympics.
Lucy Bronze is in line to make her first WSL appearance this seasonCredit: Getty
Taylor said: “Lucy is available for a period of the game. Having her back is a great option for the team. We’ve missed her.
“She has proven year in, year out what a good player she is and what she brings to a team.
“To not have had her and many of the others already this season has been really tough on the squad.
“I don’t think any of us anticipated how bad the injury crisis was and we were the ones living it. It was tough.”
Bronze’s expected appearance comes with the Citizens likely to be without the defensive services with of Jill Scott and Demi Stokes
But Taylor revealed influential skipper Steph Houghton could return to training after the festive period.
The Academy Stadium chief added: “Demi’s struggling with an illness – just a normal illness; not COVID-19 – and seems to be struggling, she is a doubt and Jill had an ankle injury when she returned from England.
“Steph we’re anticipating will be back out on the pitch training with the group after the (Christmas) break.”
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City’s trip to St Andrew’s will see Birmingham play their first league game under new boss Darren Carter following the club’s sacking of Scott Booth.
The former West Bromwich Women’s coach, 37, enjoyed a 20-year playing career playing for nine clubs from 2001 to this year including Blues, West Brom, Northampton and Forest Green Rovers.
Carter’s first game in the Brum dugout comes with the team currently second from bottom in the table and yet to pick up a win this term.
The St Andrew’s outfit have lost six times to City in the WSL which is their worst ever run against a rival side in the division.  
However, Carter believes the team, who have picked up just a point from eight games, has enough quality to avoid relegation.
Ex-Brum ace Darren Carter will be in the St Andrews dugout for his first game in charge of Birmingham City WomenCredit: Magi Haroun
The Birmingham boss said: “We’re not naive enough to think that we’re going to go shooting up the division.
“The aim is to stay up, that’s the remit. If we can finish second from bottom, then we’ve achieved what was set out when I came in.
“I want us to get some momentum and get some confidence.
“We’ve got a talented group so where’s the ceiling? I think it can be quite high.”
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KELLY CHAMBERS is backing Natasha Dowie to hit top form after the striker came close to bagging a WSL Player of the Month prize.And the Reading boss, 35, reckons Chelsea are a ‘frightening’ prospect with her side due to face the Blues at home later.
Kelly Chambers reckons Natasha Dowie’s best form for Reading is yet to comeCredit: Getty
The Royals, who are eighth, have won three of their last four games in the league after a poor run of five losses on the bounce at the start of the season.
Chambers, who won November’s WSL Manager of the Month award said: “We highlighted last month as being a big window for us to pick up points and we put pressure on ourselves to do that.
“When you look at the table and the fact the league is so wide open – apart from Arsenal and Chelsea at the top – that’s what makes it one of the best leagues in the world.     
“And If we can get points now going into Christmas then it only does good going up into the table.”
Last month Dowie found the net twice in three Royals games
The former Watford, Fulham, Charlton, Everton and Liverpool striker has made six league appearances so far this term.
And Chambers wants the forward, who sealed a move to England from AC Milan in the summer to ramp things up in attack.
The Royals chief added: “I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Tash Dowie right now, but I think we’re starting to see little bits and glimpses.
“She had a great November. It’s just a case of her building up confidence back in this league and I think there is more to come from her.”
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Reading’s recent run of five wins from six across all competitions is a far cry from disappointing results in September that left them languishing near the drop zone.
But Chambers revealed she had no fear of facing the chop during a season in which Everton, Birmingham and Leicester sacked their managers.
The Select Car Leasing Stadium gaffer said: “I’ve got great support from the club.
“There wasn’t ever a time I was looking over my shoulder thinking, ‘what’s going to happen to me?’
“When we got to November, we felt this is our time now and it has to be our time.
“If it was not going to be then we’re going to be fighting at the wrong end of the table.
“And none of us in here wanted that, not players, staff, nobody, so for us to change that around and pick up points, we saw November being a period that we could do that.”
A surprise win for Reading against Emma Hayes’s side could see them leap up to fifth in the table
And it would put them just two points behind Brighton, who are third and occupying a Champions League qualifying spot.
Reading are yet to beat Chelsea in the Women’s Super LeagueCredit: Getty
But the Royals are yet to beat Chelsea in the league having lost eight of their previous 10 games against the FA Cup winners.
Chambers added: “With the squad quality they’ve got they could rotate in a second 11 on the pitch and they’d all be internationals.
“They’ve got some big games next week to go to, so I know there’ll be conscious of that and we’ve got to play our best at the moment.
“I feel we’ve done really well in training this week, but we’ve got to put in a top performance to try and get anything out of the game.”
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