Chelsea remain perfect after a surgical 4–0 at West Ham that was effectively settled inside 15 minutes. Manchester City beat London City Lionesses 4–1 with a Khadija Shaw brace, Arsenal were stung by a stoppage-time equaliser from Aston Villa, and Manchester United won convincingly at Liverpool.
Quick Results & Context
The weekend sorted the early tiers. Chelsea’s press set a ruthless tone in Dagenham, three goals arriving in a seven-minute burst before West Ham went down to ten for a hair-pull on Alyssa Thompson; from there the champions managed the game and closed it with Wieke Kaptein. Manchester City looked balanced and purposeful, stretching London City with width and control and leaning on Shaw’s certainty from the spot. Manchester United did the grown-up things at St Helens: an early punch, another before the break, and calm thereafter, while Arsenal dominated without finishing the job, punished by a late Villa leveller at the Emirates. Tottenham bounced straight back with a tidy away win at Leicester, and Brighton’s blend around Michelle Agyemang proved enough to edge Everton. The table reads familiar at the top: Chelsea alone on maximum points, while Spurs’ shape looks sustainable, City are trending upward, and both West Ham and Liverpool need a first foothold fast.
All results
- Arsenal 1–1 Aston Villa
- Liverpool 0–2 Manchester United
- Manchester City 4–1 London City Lionesses
- Leicester City 1–2 Tottenham Hotspur
- Brighton & Hove Albion 1–0 Everton
- West Ham United 0–4 Chelsea
Chelsea’s 15-minute checkmate
This was Chelsea at their most merciless: precise pressing, quick restarts, and a scoring sequence that turned a derby into a drill. Inside fifteen minutes the champions had cut through West Ham three times, and the game—if not the running clock—was essentially done.
Aggie Beever-Jones lit the fuse (see our POTW), drawing a foul on the edge and then curling in a fearless free-kick to put Chelsea up early. The moment mattered beyond the goal: it made West Ham’s back line hesitate on every subsequent contact, and hesitation is oxygen for this Chelsea side. Within minutes, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd arrived to tap in Wieke Kaptein’s flashed ball; shortly after, Erin Cuthbert stepped into space and arrowed a finish from range. Three different scorers, one message.
From there the structure did the talking. Chelsea’s first-quarter pressing puzzle—front two angling the centre-backs, a midfielder stepping onto the pivot, full-backs pinching to kill outlets—forced the Hammers into blind channels or traps. The match’s temperature spiked with a straight red card for Inès Belloumou for pulling Thompson’s hair; but Sonia Bompastor’s side didn’t chase spectacle, they managed it. The second half brought West Ham’s best passages and a couple of looks, yet the scoreboard didn’t budge until Chelsea chose the moment: Catarina Macario drifted left and drilled across the corridor; Kaptein slid in to finish for 4–0, a neat reward for an all-action night.
If the margin flatters anything, it’s Chelsea’s process. This wasn’t about one star running riot; it was repeatable actions—regains at the edge, second-line runs as the box softened, and an added set-piece threat with Beever-Jones now a taker, not a decoy. Depth remains the competitive edge — Macario (and, when fit, Sam Kerr) off the bench is absurd — and the triangles keep multiplying: Cuthbert–Kaptein–Walsh, JRK–Thompson–Buurman. For West Ham, there’s fight and some shot-stopping to bank, but discipline at this level is non-negotiable.
Player of the Week
Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea)
This award is about timing as much as talent, and Beever-Jones owned the rhythm of the derby. The free-kick—the clean shape, the conviction to take it—was the signature, but her broader imprint framed the blitz: popping between lines to knit the first pass after regains, attacking the gap outside the right centre-back to drag the block, and pressing with edge on the first triggers. In that seven-minute avalanche she was both knife and lure, forcing decisions that created the space JRK and Cuthbert punished. Add the confidence of a young forward playing like a senior pro, and you see why her ceiling is climbing under Bompastor. It wasn’t a day for volume; it was a day for moments—and Aggie supplied the one that changed game state from tense derby to procession.
Table Impact & What’s Next
Four games in, the shape at the top is already sharp. Chelsea sit alone on 12 from 12 with a healthy goal difference. Manchester United are closest, with Manchester City and Tottenham both in stride. Arsenal, now on eight after back-to-back draws, are creating plenty but letting small details leak points; Brighton’s seven feel earned. At the other end, Liverpool and West Ham need a foothold soon to avoid getting pinned beneath the mid-table churn.
Next weekend reads like a slate of barometers rather than blockbusters: can Spurs’ away efficiency travel again; do City keep converting control into goals without over-relying on penalties; and does Arsenal’s game-state management tighten before the hour? West Ham head to the Emirates needing control and discipline; United’s composure away from home will be stress-tested by emotion before tactics. Chelsea, as ever, carry the luxury problem—how to rotate minutes without losing that first-quarter sting.