Last season in the WSL, West Ham and Aston Villa were both embroiled in a relegation battle. Both survived, both have since lost a key player or two, and they go head-to-head this weekend! Will they be in and around the lower reaches of the WSL table once again?
Mana Iwabuchi joining Aston Villa seemed too good to be true last season and she proved just that. The World Cup winner was far and away the best player under Marcus Bignot, so her loss is huge. Talking of Bignot and he is no longer at the helm, the highly-rated Carla Ward taking his place following her departure from rivals Birmingham City. Villa’s lose is Arsenal’s gain in the WSL when it comes to Mana but have they managed to replace her?
Villa have made some good moves in the off-season, but it remains to be seen if they can atone for the loss of the Japanese superstar. Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton is on the fringes of the Lionesses squad and she follows Carla Ward over from Birmingham City. Alisha Lehmann is the other big-name arrival, joining from West Ham interestingly enough. She is still just twenty-two and after a decent stint with the Hammers, she seemingly fell out of favour. The Swiss international went on loan to Everton last season but was unable to make a mark and so this move to Villa could be huge for all parties involved.
Onto Lehmann’s former club then and West Ham themselves were dealt a few blows, the striker who they’ll line up against on Saturday in the WSL being one of them. Scottish striker Martha Thomas has joined Manchester United and despite being offered a new contract, Australian international Emily van Egmond has also moved on. Goals were hard to come by for the Londoners under Olli Harder but the aforementioned duo both did enough going forward to retain the club’s top-flight status.
Like Villa, West Ham have made some savvy signings ahead of the new WSL season. Lisa Evans has played at the highest level for Bayern Munich and Arsenal primarily so for her to join from the latter on loan is a real coup. Along with Evans, Tameka Yallop and Yui Hasegawa have come through the door this summer. The pair both really impressed me for Australia and Japan respectively in the Olympics and I can’t wait to see what they bring to the table in the WSL.
West Ham and Aston Villa experienced contrasting emotions in their WSL openers. Villa came from behind against Leicester in Carla Ward’s first game in charge, Sarah Mayling and Remi Allen scoring in quick succession to overcome Natasha Flint’s goal in the first half. West Ham travelled to the Amex to play Brighton on Sunday and they left the South coast empty-handed. Hawa Cissoko saw red and Inessa Kaagman converted the subsequent penalty, Lee Geum-Min then making it two before the break. This proved to be the point of no return as the game finished 2-0.
Both Aston Villa and West Ham will be hoping to build on an underwhelming 2020/21 season but there remains to be a lot of fierce competition in the WSL. Carla Ward got off to a winning start as Villa boss and when you account for Cissoko’s impending suspension for the Hammers, a win on the road could be instore. It is certainly a tough one to call- it promises to be a great game in front of the Sky cameras on Saturday at 11:30.
Click here to read my round-up of the big games from the opening weekend in this enticing WSL season.
