Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the season, while Arsenal dropped points at home for the second successive match. We use Opta data to uncover the standout performances, emerging trends and biggest numbers from Matchday 3 of the 2026-27 WSL season.
There was no shortage of entertainment across the third matchday of the Women’s Super League, with goals flying in around the league, though Arsenal’s struggles continued in front of goal.
Manchester City maintained their perfect start in a six-goal thriller against Liverpool, Tottenham ran riot with seven against Crystal Palace, while London City Lionesses bounced back from defeat, firing in four goals at Charlton.
Elsewhere, Chelsea made it back-to-back wins, Everton edged past West Ham, and Brighton and Aston Villa shared the points. At the Emirates, Arsenal were frustrated at home once again as Manchester United responded from their difficult start to the season to earn a 1-1 draw.
But, as ever, the scorelines only tell part of the story.
We’ve dug into the Opta data to uncover the standout individual performances and numbers that defined Matchday 3.
Man City Keep Their Perfect Start Rolling
We’re three games into the new WSL season and Man City are the only side still with a perfect record. But Liverpool made them work for it.
City took the lead before falling 2-1 behind, only to turn the game around and eventually claim a 4-2 victory.
It was just the second time in their WSL history that City have scored first, subsequently trailed and still gone on to win, after their 3-2 victory over Reading in the 2017 Spring Series.
Olivia Holdt was at the heart of their biggest attacking display of the season. The Denmark international struck three times to join a very short list of Tottenham players to have taken home the match ball in the WSL.
3 – Olivia Holdt became just the second Tottenham player to score a WSL hat-trick, after Martha Thomas against Aston Villa in October 2023.
Though, this was about much more than one prolific afternoon.
Since the beginning of February, Holdt has scored eight WSL goals. Across the competition, only Manchester City’s Shaw (12) has scored more during that period.
It is also another sign of the attacking threat Martin Ho has at his disposal, with Spurs now having scored 11 goals across their opening three league matches. And once the floodgates opened against Palace, there was no stopping them.
The game also contributed to a remarkable late flurry of goals across the entire weekend.
8 – There were eight goals scored from the 75th minute onwards across MD3, the most on a single WSL matchday since the final round of the 2023-24 season (also eight).
For Spurs, though, the afternoon belonged to Holdt. The midfielder’s growing influence in the final third is becoming difficult to ignore, and her recent form is only strengthening her case for a regular starting spot.
Late Drama, Fast Starts and a Bompastor Milestone
And finally, away from the weekend’s headline stories, there were plenty more numbers worth picking out.
Brighton will still be wondering how they didn’t come away with all three points against Aston Villa.
25 – Brighton attempted 25 shots against Aston Villa, their most ever in a single WSL match.
But despite that attacking dominance, they were denied victory in the 89th minute when Lynn Wilms equalised with Aston Villa’s only shot on target of the game, directly from a corner.
West Ham will be frustrated not to have built on their victory against London City, with Everton securing victory late on in extraordinary circumstances.
93:50 – Laia Codina’s own goal was the latest own goal in WSL history to earn victory for the opposition, handing Everton a dramatic 1-0 win.
There was no waiting around for London City Lionesses, though.
Isobel Goodwin struck twice inside the opening 15 minutes of their 4-1 victory over Charlton, becoming just the seventh player to score a brace that early in a WSL away match.
She is only the second player to do so in a London derby, following Amber Tysiak for West Ham against Arsenal in March 2025.
There was also a landmark afternoon for Sonia Bompastor as Chelsea continued their winning start following their opening-weekend draw.
200 – Sonia Bompastor celebrated her 200th game as a manager with Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Birmingham. She’s won 164 of those matches, giving her an extraordinary 82% win rate.
Attention now turns to Matchday 4, and Charlton will hardly relish the prospect of facing a Manchester City attack that has already scored 12 goals this season and looks capable of causing significant damage.
For Arsenal, another crucial test awaits. After back-to-back home draws, they travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in a game that could provide an early indication of where both sides stand.
Alongside Liverpool and Everton meeting in the Merseyside derby, there should be no shortage of storylines next weekend either.
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