By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-10-02 19:08:07 | Updated at 2026-10-03 01:32:27
9 hours ago
With the 1,500th WSL game set to be played this weekend, we look back at some of the matches that hold statistical significance across the competition’s history.
This weekend will see the 1,500th game in English Women’s Super League history played when Manchester City host Arsenal in one of the most anticipated fixtures of the 2026-27 season.
Ahead of Matchday 5 of the campaign, there have been 1,493 matches played across 17 seasons of WSL action – including the 2017 Spring Series. With six games scheduled before Sunday’s showdown at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City and Arsenal will have the distinction of contesting the league’s landmark 1,500th fixture.
To mark the occasion, we look back at some of the most memorable matches in WSL history and the statistics that made them stand out.
First Match
Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal – 13 April 2011
The first ever WSL fixture took place on 13 April 2011 with Chelsea hosting Arsenal at Imperial Fields, Mitcham.
Arsenal edged a 1-0 victory thanks to Gilly Flaherty’s 35th-minute strike, though chances were at a premium throughout. The two sides combined for just 13 shots and five efforts on target, making it one of the least open contests of the campaign.
The win was one of 10 Arsenal recorded during the inaugural 2011 WSL season, as they went on to finish three points clear of Birmingham City and win the league’s first title.
Biggest Win
Arsenal 11-1 Bristol City – 1 December 2019
Arsenal are also the team to have secured the biggest margin of victory ever seen in WSL history (+10), as they thrashed Bristol City 11-1 at Meadow Park in December 2019 under Joe Montemurro.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is also the highest-scoring WSL fixture of all time (12).
The warning signs were there for Bristol City. Rooted to the foot of the table without a single win to their name, they travelled to face the reigning champions knowing they were up against one of the most dominant sides in the league.
What followed was a mismatch of historic proportions.
Ten of Arsenal’s goals were either scored (6) or assisted (4) by Vivianne Miedema, who set WSL records for the most goals, assists and goal involvements by a player in a single WSL match. Those records still stand, although Chelsea’s Guro Reiten equalled the Dutch forward’s single-game assist record with four against Leicester City on 3 December 2022.
Most Individual Goalscorers
Chelsea 9-0 Bristol City – 13 September 2020
Bristol City 3-7 Brighton – 3 March 2024
Two WSL matches have featured as many as nine different goalscorers, excluding own goals: Chelsea’s 9-0 victory over Bristol City in September 2020 and Brighton & Hove Albion’s thrilling 7-3 win against the Robins in March 2024.
Chelsea’s first home game of 2020-21 was a treat for their fans at Kingsmeadow. The Blues ran riot, scoring nine times from as many different players. Millie Bright, Sam Kerr, Niamh Charles, Maren Mjelde, Fran Kirby, Melanie Leupolz, Erin Cuthbert, Pernille Harder and Bethany England all found the net in a historic display.
Three and a half years later, Brighton’s 7-3 victory at Ashton Gate produced another game with nine different goalscorers. Of the 10 goals scored, only Elisabeth Terland (two) found the net more than once.
Katie Robinson, Madison Haley, Pauline Bremer, Tatiana Pinto and Vicky Losada were Brighton’s other scorers, while Amalie Thestrup, Brooke Aspin and Megan Connolly found the net for Bristol City in defeat, making it one of the most entertaining and free-scoring matches in WSL history.
Only Game with Two Hat-Trick Scorers
Chelsea 6-0 Bristol City – 20 February 2019
One other WSL record was set in a match between Chelsea and Bristol City, too.
Chelsea’s 6-0 win over Manchester City in February 2019 remains the only WSL match to feature two hat-trick scorers. Bethany England and Fran Kirby shared the six goals between them, taking turns to find the net throughout the contest. Kirby scored Chelsea’s first, third and fifth goals, while England struck the others.
Kirby scored another hat-trick in their next game, a 4-0 win over Liverpool, meaning two of her three hat-tricks in the competition came in back-to-back appearances.
Only Vivianne Miedema (five) and Khadija Shaw (eight) have recorded more WSL hat-tricks than Kirby and England, who remain tied on three apiece.
Youngest Team
Bristol City 0-5 Arsenal – 3 June 2017
Bristol City set a new WSL record in June 2017 when they named the youngest starting XI ever seen in the competition. Their lineup in the 2017 Spring Series match against Arsenal had an average age of just 20 years and 326 days old.
Jasmine Matthews was remarkably the oldest player in Bristol City’s starting XI that day at 24 years and 71 days old. Three of their starters were teenagers: Florence Allen (17y 294d), Aimee Palmer (16y 313d) and a young Lauren Hemp (16y 300d), who was making only her fourth WSL appearance.
The youthful lineup ultimately struggled against Arsenal’s experience and quality, suffering a 5-0 defeat.
Biggest Comeback
Doncaster Rovers 3-4 Bristol City – 15 September 2013
It was looking bleak for Bristol City, then known as Bristol Academy, at half-time of their September 2013 clash with Doncaster Rovers Belles. Trailing 3-0 away from home, City appeared destined for defeat, with Doncaster on course for just their second win of the season on the penultimate matchday.
Millie Bright scored the Belles’ second goal, but the hosts’ defence unravelled after the break. Natalia Pablos sparked a stunning comeback by scoring the only hat-trick of her WSL career, while Ann-Marie Heatherson also found the net as Bristol fought their way back into the contest.
Pablos completed her treble with an 89th-minute winner to seal an extraordinary 4-3 victory. Bristol City are still the only team in WSL history to come from three goals down and win a match.
Most Penalties Taken
Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea – 18 September 2022
Liverpool and Chelsea opened their 2022-23 league campaigns with a strange game at Prenton Park on 19 September 2022.
Reigning champions Chelsea got off to a brilliant start when Fran Kirby opened the scoring from the penalty spot three minutes in after Guro Reiten was fouled. But promoted Liverpool turned the game around in the final 23 minutes with two spot-kicks of their own, both converted by Katie Stengel.
This is the only match in WSL history to see three penalties scored.
This defeat might have seen Chelsea start the season badly, but they recovered to win 19 of their remaining 21 matches and secure yet another WSL title.
Most Substitute Goals
Yeovil 0-5 Reading – 17 April 2019
Yeovil Town’s relegation from the WSL was confirmed following a 5-0 home defeat to Reading on 17 April 2019, but the match is remembered for another remarkable statistical feat.
All four second-half goals were scored by players coming off the bench. It remains the only match in WSL history to feature four substitute goals, with those strikes coming from just two players on the same team.
After Fara Williams gave Reading a half-time lead, subs Lauren Bruton and Millie Farrow took over following half-time, scoring two each as the visitors ran away with the contest. Farrow’s first strike arrived just one minute and 33 seconds after entering the pitch, the fastest goal scored by a substitute in the WSL during the 2018-19 season.
Most Successful Passes
Arsenal 5-0 Bristol City – 14 April 2024
Only one match in WSL history has seen over 1,000 completed passes: Arsenal 5-0 Bristol City in April 2024.
There were 1,030 completed overall, with Arsenal completing 808 of them. Only one team (Man City vs Brighton on 24 January 2021 – 810) have completed more in a WSL game than Arsenal that day. This match also holds the record for the most successful passes in the opposition’s half of the pitch (572).
With Arsenal having so much of the ball that day, it came as little surprise that they won the match 5-0 thanks to goals from Beth Mead (2), Alessia Russo (2) and an Ella Powell own goal.
Most Headed Goals
Manchester City 5-0 Bristol City – 15 October 2023
Manchester City’s 5-0 win over Bristol City in October 2023 might not raise too many eyebrows at first glance, but the game broke another of the WSL’s quirkier records.
City secured victory thanks to goals from Khadija Shaw (2), Jill Roord (2) and Laia Aleixandri. It’s the only match in WSL history to see as many as five headed goals.
Shaw’s contributed to the nine headed goals she scored during the 2023-24 WSL campaign, a competition record for a single season. In doing so, she surpassed her own previous best of eight from 2022-23, a mark only previously reached by Chelsea’s Sam Kerr (8) in 2020-21.
The Jamaica international also holds the record for the most headed goals in WSL history, having found the net 33 times in the competition with her head.
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