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Liverpool v Arsenal, Chelsea v Manchester United, Manchester City celebrations: WSL final day – live | Women’s Super League
Key events
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GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Tottenham (Olivia Holdt, 81)
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GOAL! West Ham 1-3 Manchester City (Khadija Shaw, 72)
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 Arsenal (Zara Shaw, 74)
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GOAL! London City Lionesses 1-1 Aston Villa (Daniëlle van de Donk, 73)
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GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Manchester City (Seraina Piubel, 62)
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GOAL! West Ham 0-2 Manchester City (Khadija Shaw, 57)
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GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Tottenham (Madison Haley, 49)
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Half-time
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GOAL! London City Lionesses 0-1 Aston Villa (Lynn Wilms, 45+2)
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-3 Arsenal (Alessia Russo, 37)
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (Sam Kerr, 34)
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal (Mariona Caldentey, 32)
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal (Alessia Russo, 22)
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GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Manchester City (Jade Rose, 13)
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Kick-off
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Team news: Everton v Leicester City
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Team News: London City Lionesses v Aston Villa
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Team news: Brighton v Tottenham
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Team news: West Ham v Manchester City
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Team news: Liverpool v Arsenal
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Team news: Chelsea v Manchester United
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Preamble
GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Tottenham (Olivia Holdt, 81)
Spurs are level!
Gunning-Williams makes her way into the Brighton box and looks to pass towards the penalty spot. Symonds blocks it but makes a complete mess of the attempted clearance and gifts Tottenham the ball back. Holdt eventually wins possession and fires the ball home.
Everton 0-0 Leicester City: Elsewhere, it’s still goalless at Goodison Park. Apologies for the lack of updates from there, but I can’t say there has been too much to talk about.
GOAL! West Ham 1-3 Manchester City (Khadija Shaw, 72)
Shaw restores the two-goal advantage!
A long ball is sent through to the striker, who makes her way into the box before sliding her shot home.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 Arsenal (Zara Shaw, 74)
Liverpool get one back!
Holland sends a corner into the box and Arsenal fail to make the clearance, allowing Shaw to fire it home from close range.
GOAL! London City Lionesses 1-1 Aston Villa (Daniëlle van de Donk, 73)
Van de Donk levels things up at the CopperJax Community Stadium!
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: Hampton is down and both teams are taking a moment to have a breather.
GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Manchester City (Seraina Piubel, 62)
The Hammers get one back!
West Ham make the most of the high City line as the ball is switched over to Morgan on the right. She cuts inside before squaring a pass across goal and Piubel is there to tap it in.
GOAL! West Ham 0-2 Manchester City (Khadija Shaw, 57)
Shaw strikes for City!
The ball is sent through to Fujino on the right, who fires a low cross into Shaw in the box. The striker blasts her shot straight into net from close range.
That is her 20th league goal this season.
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: The visitors are gifted a chance – but they can’t make the most of it. Zigiotti snatches the ball from the high Chelsea backline before making a break forward. She can go one-on-one with Hampton but instead makes the pass and the move eventually breaks down.
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: Huge chance for United to level the score! Park, who was introduced at half-time, receives the ball on the left and crosses into Wangerheim, who goes for the header, but her attempt rattles the inside of the post!
GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Tottenham (Madison Haley, 49)
Brighton lead at the Amex Stadium!
Seike makes a run down the right and into the box before going for goal. Her effort slips through the arms of Kop and straight into the path of Haley, who is gifted a simple tap-in.
We’re back under way for the final 45 minutes of the season!
Leicester City will end the WSL campaign at the bottom of the table, but they will not be automatically relegated.
Because the league is expanding to 14 teams from next season, a play-off will take place between Leicester and Charlton – the third-placed WSL2 side – next weekend. Whoever wins that game will earn the final place in the league. Birmingham and Crystal Palace have already been promoted from the second division.
While we wait for the second half to start, be sure to sign up to receive our Moving the Goalposts newsletter for a weekly roundup of all the top news from across women’s football.
Half-time scores
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Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
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Liverpool 0-3 Arsenal
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West Ham 0-1 Manchester City
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Brighton 0-0 Tottenham
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London City Lionesses 0-1 Aston Villa
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Everton 0-0 Leicester City
Half-time
At the break, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Aston Villa lead.
GOAL! London City Lionesses 0-1 Aston Villa (Lynn Wilms, 45+2)
We have our first goal at the CopperJax Community Stadium as Wilms fires Aston Villa ahead in added time!
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: It’s been all Chelsea in the last 10 minutes. Kerr is on the hunt for that record-breaking strike.
Liverpool 0-3 Arsenal: The first goal of the game, initially given to Blackstenius, has now been credited to Russo.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-3 Arsenal (Alessia Russo, 37)
Russo makes it three for Arsenal!
The Gunners win the ball in midfield and break forward. A pass is played to Pelova on the right, who makes her way into the box before squaring the ball across goal. It finds Russo at the back post, who slots home her shot with ease.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (Sam Kerr, 34)
Sam Kerr fires Chelsea in front with an absolute beauty of a strike!
James sends a cross into the box and Kerr moves towards it before attempting a first-time volley on the half-turn and sending the ball straight into the net.
That goal sees her move level with Fran Kirby as Chelsea’s all-time top goalscorer. Can she get her 117th today to break that record?
GOAL! Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal (Mariona Caldentey, 32)
Caldentey makes it two with a thumping strike!
A corner is played short to McCabe, who passes it back to Caldentey in the box. The Spaniard goes by herself and drills home a powerful shot from a tight angle.
West Ham 0-1 Manchester City: Hemp has been forced off due to injury. It looks like it could possibly be an ankle issue. She is replaced by Kerolin.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United: Chelsea come within inches of scoring – and I don’t think it was even meant to be a shot!
Carpenter makes a run down the right before sending the ball into the box, but it flies over Tullis-Joyce and rattles the back post! A huge let-off for Manchester United.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal (Alessia Russo, 22)
The deadlock has been broken at Anfield! Russo receives a pass from Caldentey on the left and sends a cross in to Blackstenius, but it runs all the way past Falk and into the net.
As things stand, Arsenal will finish second in the table.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United: Tullis-Joyce makes a brilliant save to tip over a powerful strike from James.
The corner is taken, but nothing comes of it and United go on the counter attack. Malard eventually gets the ball back and fires her shot just over the crossbar.
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Manchester City (Jade Rose, 13)
We have a goal!
Greenwood sends a corner into the box and Rose is given enough time to bring the ball down before poking it into the net.
The WSL champions lead!
Brighton 0-0 Tottenham: Koga intercepts a poor clearance from Baggaley and sets the ball to Holdt, who goes for an audacious chip but fires her shot just over the bar.
We’re about 10 minutes into each game, but no goals just yet. I’m quite surprised – I thought we’d have at least one by now!
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United: The visitors are forced into an early change after just six minutes, with Lundkvist replacing Riviere.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United: Riviere is down after pulling up off the ball. It looks to be a lower leg or ankle injury.
Kick-off
Here we go!
The teams are out across the grounds. Millie Bright is visibly emotional as she leads the Chelsea squad out for the final time at Stamford Bridge.
As always, feel free to message in with any thoughts, feelings, predictions and observations today.
I’d also like to know your picks for player of the season, goal of the season and signing of the season…
With it looking very likely that Khadija Shaw will move on this summer, the question is, how do you replace her?
The striker is on track to win her third consecutive Golden Boot, having scored 19 goals in 21 appearances so far this season. In the event that she leaves, whoever is signed to replace her will have a huge task at hand to even try to replicate those numbers.
Some key players will bid farewell to their respective clubs today, marking the end of an era.
Club legends Beth Mead and Katie McCabe will play their final match in Arsenal red, alongside Victoria Pelova and Laia Codina. Naomi Williams and Manuela Zinsberger are also poised to leave north London this summer.
Sam Kerr will make her final appearance for Chelsea today, with Stamford Bridge also bidding farewell to Millie Bright following her retirement from professional football.
And a huge question mark still surrounds the future of Khadija Shaw, who is likely to leave Manchester City upon the end of her contract.
Team news: Everton v Leicester City
Everton starting line-up: Brosnan; Kitagawa, Fernández, Mace, Blundell; Vignola, Galli, Hayashi, Payne; Kramzar, Momiki.
Subs: Wheeler, Gago, Ramsey, Lawley, Harbert, Snoeijs, Stenevik, Pacheco, Jones.
Leicester starting line-up: Keane; Mayling, Tierney, Kees, Thibaud, Ale; van Egmond, McLoughlin, Jansson; Cain, O’Brien.
Subs: Baker, Swaby, Payne, Goodwin, Rantala, Ayane, Draper, Williams, Mouchon.
Team News: London City Lionesses v Aston Villa
London City Lionesses starting line-up: Lete, Pattinson, Kennedy, Kardinaal, Fernández; Kumagai, Geyoro, Pérez; Godfrey, Cascarino, Goodwin.
Subs: Orman, Goldie, Corrales, Van de Donk, Linari, Franssi, Roddar, Parris, Marcetto.
Aston Villa starting line-up: Roebuck; Wilms, Patten, Maritz, Deslandes, Nighswonger; Taylor, Kendall, Jean-Francois; Hijikata, Hanson.
Subs: D’Angelo, Maltby, Staniforth, Round, Salmon, Nunes, Mullett, Daly.
Team news: Brighton v Tottenham
Brighton starting line-up: Baggaley, Rule, Hayes, Minami, Vanegas; Symonds, Cankovic; Kirby, Olislagers, Seike; Haley.
Subs: Nnadozie, Mpome, Kafaji, Noordam, Rayner, Tvedten, Camacho, McLaughlan, Tsunoda.
Tottenham starting line-up: Kop; Morris, Koga, A Nilden, Blakstad; Gaupset, Spence; Hamano, Holdt, Vinberg; Tandberg.
Subs: Heeps, Rybrink, Bartrip, Ahtinen, Summanen, Dennis, M. Nilden, Gunning-Williams, England.
Team news: West Ham v Manchester City
West Ham starting line-up: Szemik; Endo, Nyström, Cascarino, Belloumou; Morgan, Zelem, Siren; Piubel, Asseyi, Ueki.
Subs: Walsh, Hansen, Bose, Zadorsky, Tennebø, Martinez, Wandeler, Hanshaw.
Manchester City starting line-up: Cumings, Rose, Greenwood, Ouahabi, Beney; Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa; Hemp, Fujino, Fowler; Shaw.
Subs: Keating, Clinton, Coombs, Wienroither, Kerolin, Casparij, Lohmann, Prior, Murphy.
Katie McCabe captains Arsenal in her final match for the club. Beth Mead, Laia Codina and Victoria Pelova, who are also leaving, also start.
Gemma Evans and Gemma Bonner, who will leave Liverpool this summer, have been named on the bench for the Reds.
Team news: Liverpool v Arsenal
Liverpool starting line-up: Falk; Bergström, Fisk, Clark, Bernabé; O’Sullivan, Nagano, Maclean; Enderby, Olsson, Jøsendal.
Subs: Kirby, Evans, Shimizu, Kapocs, Holland, Bonner, Csillag, Shaw, Trueman.
Arsenal starting line-up: Van Domselaar; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Codina, McCabe; Pelova, Caldentey; Mead, Russo, Foord; Blackstenius.
Subs: Borbe, Williamson, Catley, Hinds, Holmberg, Little, Maanum, Kelly, Smith.
Mayra Ramírez has been named in the Chelsea squad for the first time this season following a long injury absence. Meanwhile, Sam Kerr starts her final match for the club.
Team news: Chelsea v Manchester United
Chelsea starting line-up: Hampton; Carpenter, Buchanan, Buurman, Charles; Walsh, Cuthbert, Nüsken; Thompson, James, Kerr.
Subs: Peng, Spencer, Baltimore, Sarwie, Kaptein, Potter, Kaneryd, Ramírez, Beever-Jones.
Man Utd starting line-up: Tullus-Joyce; Sandberg, George, Le Tissier, Riviere; Zigiotti, Miyazawa, Toone; Rolfö, Wangerheim, Malard.
Subs: Rendell, Janssen, Lundkvist, Turner, Awujo, Park, Naalsund, Schüller, Terland.
Today’s fixtures:
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Chelsea v Manchester United
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Liverpool v Arsenal
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West Ham v Manchester City
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Brighton v Tottenham
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London City Lionesses v Aston Villa
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Everton v Leicester City
How things stand going into the final day…
Preamble
How are we here already? It only feels like a few weeks ago we were gearing up for the season to start, and now it’s the final day. Time flies!
On the opening day of the campaign, 253 days ago, Manchester City suffered a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. Fast-forward eight months and they will today be crowned WSL champions for the first time in a decade. It’s been an incredible season for Andrée Jeglertz and his players, who will finally get their hands on the trophy this afternoon following their match against West Ham at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
It’s quite rare that there is not much to play for on the final day of a WSL season – the biggest battle today will likely remain between Arsenal and Chelsea for second place, which means one less round of qualification for the Champions League. The Gunners travel to Anfield to face Liverpool, while Chelsea host Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Elsewhere, Brighton face Tottenham, London City Lionesses end their debut WSL season against Aston Villa, and Everton take on last-placed Leicester City.
I’ll be guiding you through all the action, with each game kicking off at 1pm BST – join me!
Key events
12 mins: The free-kick leads to a corner, which is sent curling into the gloves of Sinisalo.
10 mins: Another Milne long throw, which is headed away but then Nygren brings Milne down, and Hearts can put the ball in the box from a free-kick this time.
9 mins: Milne nutmegs Johnson (good) before clumsily overhitting a cross out of play (bad).
8 mins: A less good delivery from Engels this time, and it hoops over the area and back out of play.
7 mins: An excellent pass from Tierney finds Engels in the penalty area, but he can only convert it into a corner.
5 mins: Celtic send in a long throw, which is flicked on by Steinwender, but there’s nobody there to turn it in! Shankland thinks he was unfairly stopped from being there, but there’ll be no early penalty.
3 mins: And a chance from the corner! Excellent delivery, but Auston Trusty heads over!
2 mins: Celtic win a corner. Hearts were really poor in the first 10 minutes or so against Falkirk in midweek. Celtic are more likely to punish a repeat.
1 min: Celtic are straight on the front foot. Johnson is played down the right, and he plays an excellent low cross into the penalty area, but a defender slides to block it.
1 min: Peeeeeeeep! Don Robertson blows his whistle. The players are having to deal with a lot of pressure today, but think of the pressure on that man’s shoulders.
You’ll Never Walk Alone is sung. Celtic’s players huddle. It is almost time.
Out come the players! Amid jets of fire, scarves whirled overhead or held aloft, and a stupendous amount of noise.
And now Martin O’Neill is asked about his pre-match message to his side, after Celtic named an unchanged side for the first time since December:
It’s the same message as before, just try and win the game. It’s as simple as that. We’re in a position over the last number of weeks where we’ve got in here, now let’s make the most of us. We’ve kept the starting lineup from Motherwell and we’ll try to take it on from there.
We have to, at the end of 90-odd minutes, we have to try and find ourselves in front, but I don’t think there’s any point going gung-ho and find yourself behind because you’ve been hit on the break. Hopefully we can manage the situation.
I’ve got to say I’m really excited. We’ve strived hard to close the gap week after week and now we’ve got a chance on our home ground to try and do something with the crowd right behind us.
Derek McInnes has a chat with Sky:
Just to have the confidence and belief that we can get a result here. We’vce played Celtic three times this season and they’ve failed to beat us. We ain’t playing 60,000 we’re playing the same players that have tried to beat us all season. We look relaxed and hopefully we can bring another performance. The performances have been there this season, that’s why we’re in this position. Whoever comes out on top will deserve to win the league. It’s so difficult to set up a team to play for a draw. For me here, the intention always is to make sure we’re pretty secure, but then as the game goes we’ve got to make sure we’re attacking as well as trying to defend.
On Claudio Braga being on the bench:
He’s struggling a wee bit with a groin injury, we’ve been trying to manage it for a couple of weeks. It’s not ideal. We think he’ll be able to give us something. We don’t think he can give us 90 minutes. It’s not ideal Claudio not being fully fit, but I think he’s still going to have a big part to play.
Here’s Ewan Murray’s preview of this match, and its place in history:
This Hearts story did not begin with Stuart Findlay’s late winner at Tannadice in August, a stoppage-time intervention from Alexandros Kyziridis against Livingston later that month or the September victory at Ibrox that materially fuelled belief among Derek McInnes’s squad. Brian Cormack, Alex Mackie, Jamie Bryant, Donald Ford and Garry Halliday will not feature in the Hearts team seeking to create history at Celtic Park but that quintet set this club on a path that after 16 years has almost – though only almost – reached the ultimate glory point.
Cormack and Mackie joked back then, when among a group establishing the Foundation of Hearts, that one day they would watch the team they love compete in the Champions League from a new main stand at Tynecastle Park. With the stand complete, Hearts will enter the Champions League’s qualifying phase this summer. Humour proved prescient. In the west of Edinburgh, as Hearts pursue the point they need in Glasgow on Saturday to win the title for the first time since 1960, original FoH directors will gather to watch together. Their role in Hearts’ rise should never be forgotten.
Much more here:
Three changes for Hearts, who drop Frankie Kent, Claudio Braga and Blair Spittal to the bench and bring Stephen Kingsley, Pierre Landry Kabore and Jordi Altena. No changes for Celtic.
The teams!
Celtic: Sinisalo, Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Engels, Nygren, Yang, Tounekti, Maeda. Subs: Doohan, McCowan, Iheanacho, Osmand, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Saracchi, Murray, Forrest, Ralston.
Hearts: Schwolow, Steinwender, Findlay, Kingsley, Altena, Baningime, Devlin, Milne, Kyziridis, Kabore, Shankland. Subs: Fulton, Kent, McCart, Braga, Borchgrevink, Spittal, Forrest, Kerjota, Chesnokov.
Referee: Don Robertson.
Hello world!
And so the day has come, the day when decisions will be made and champions determined. Hearts play Celtic at Celtic Park needing to avoid defeat to seal the title. Celtic’s record against Hearts at home? Well there was a run of 23 wins in 24 games between 2009 and 2023 (and they drew the other one). but since then it’s three wins for Celtic and two for Hearts, including their previous meeting this season, back in December. Celtic’s form is remarkable, but then this week they were unconvincing and needed a horror penalty decision to beat Motherwell 3-2, while Hearts outplayed Falkirk and won 3-0. Ahead of this game Martin O’Neill was asked what he made of the furore surrounding that penalty:
Am I surprised? No, I’m not surprised because everybody wants Hearts to win. It’s really as simple as that. Everybody outside Celtic and the Celtic diaspora wants Hearts to win. And if it wasn’t Hearts, it would to be Rangers, it’d be somebody else, that’s the nature of it.
Spare me the Celtic-against-the-world schtick, please. But it is undeniable that the overwhelming majority of neutrals would like to see someone other than Celtic and Rangers win the Scottish title, and this Hearts side seems pretty likeable. Here’s Derek McInnes on today:
It’s a perfect ending to a season for the league, for Scottish football, for drama and excitement … It’s pure box office. It’ll be bedlam, it’ll be an unbelievable atmosphere. There might be people out there who think everything’s back on script, ‘Celtic win their home game, they win the league.’ But we’ve ripped the script up so often this season, and we’ve got one more in us I think, and it’s up to us to try and make that happen.
And here’s Ewan Murray on referee John Beaton and the Celtic penalty fallout:
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