Five talking points from the Barclays FA Women’s Super League weekend

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Tottenham Hotspur's Lucy Quinn celebrates scoring their second goal with team mates at the London Stadium Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
Tottenham Hotspur's Lucy Quinn celebrates scoring their second goal with team mates at the London Stadium Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

It was another momentous weekend in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League with West Ham stealing the headlines by pulling in the second-largest crowd of the league’s history.

But their London Stadium party was spoiled by Tottenham Hotspur as Rianna Dean and Lucy Quinn gave the visitors a victory to shout about in the capital.

Action was plentiful and down the country, goals aplenty being scored by familiar faces and new signings alike. We looked at the five biggest talking points of the weekend:

West Ham hit the attendance records

They may have drawn a crowd of 20,000 to the London Stadium but West Ham were upstaged on their big day by arch-rivals and WSL newcomers Spurs.

An historic occasion it may have been, but West Ham couldn't profit, with Spurs running out 2-0 winners courtesy of goals from Dean and Quinn.

Some may have questioned their ambition of bringing in a huge crowd but Jack Sullivan, Matt Beard and co. have proved the doubters wrong once again to make this an outing to remember, despite the result.

A crowd of 24,780 turned up in Stratford to watch the Hammers take on Tottenham on Sunday afternoon – the second highest attendance in FA Women’s Super League history.

Just two years ago, they were losing 3-0 to Basildon in the third-tier of women’s football, the prospect of playing in a top-flight derby at the London Stadium feeling like a mere fantasy. Now, it’s a reality.

Same old Arsenal, always scoring

Kim Little, Jordan Nobbs, Lisa Evans, Vivianne Miedema, Danielle van de Donk – when you see those names on Arsenal’s team sheet, you know there’s going to be goals aplenty.

It was the first time we’ve seen Miedema and Nobbs together in Arsenal’s starting eleven since last November and it will come as no surprise that we saw both their names on the scoresheet too.

It was reminiscent of the early stages of last season when Nobbs played in Miedema for the second goal of Arsenal’s 4-0 victory over Brighton, the Dutch striker also setting up Little and Van De Donk for the first and third of the game.

And it was only fitting that Nobbs, on her first league start since tearing her ACL last November, capped off a dominant Arsenal performance with a sweetly-struck volley to make it 4-0.

The four-goal victory was a repeat of Arsenal’s last win over Brighton back at the Amex in April and it was certainly a statement of intent for the Gunners, who still have the likes of Beth Mead, who hit the crossbar after coming on from the bench, to provide additional firepower throughout this year’s campaign.

Super Steph saves City

There was a hint of déjà vu about Steph Houghton’s winning strike in today’s 1-0 win over Everton, the Manchester City and England captain effortlessly rolling her free-kick from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

It was a trademark Houghton strike, almost identical to the one she scored to give England the lead against Cameroon at this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The conditions were tricky at Everton’s Haig Avenue, preventing many clear-cut chances from either side, but Houghton’s sixth-minute strike ensured City maintained their 100 per cent start to the season.

Reiten makes her mark for Chelsea

It’s three goals in two games for Chelsea’s new signing Guro Reiten in the Barclays FA WSL – a statistic that is sure to put a smile on Emma Hayes’ face as the Blues mount the challenge to retain their league title.

Norway international Reiten struck twice early on in Chelsea’s 4-0 victory away at Bristol City on Sunday, Ji So-Yun adding a third in the second-half before Sophie Ingle capped off the win with her first-ever goal for the Blues.

With the likes of Bethany England and Fran Kirby at Hayes’ disposal, it never looked like Chelsea would be short of goals this season but add Reiten into the mix and their title hopes certainly appear to be getting brighter and brighter.

Durham tame the Lionesses

After coming so close to promotion last season, Durham certainly haven’t hesitated in making their statement of intent this season after storming to a 6-0 victory away at London City Lionesses.

The Wildcats were just 1-0 up at the break thanks to captain Beth Hepple’s first-half strike from the spot, but new signing Iris Achterhof struck twice early in the second-half to make it 3-0 by the hour mark with her first goals of the campaign.

Molly Sharpe added a fourth and Hepple then doubled her tally before Lisa Robertson put away a stunning free-kick into the top corner to secure a resounding win for the North-East side, sending them straight to the top of the FA Women’s Championship table.

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