Brighton v Arsenal: Women’s Super League – live

It’s been an interesting star to the WSL season already, with London City Lionesses beating Manchester United on Friday and Chelsea dropping points yesterday. Catch up right here …

The WSL is back, with 14 teams this time around as women’s football goes from strength to strength. Those pesky upstarts London City Lionesses have been making waves on and off the pitch but it is the old guard who promise another enthralling title race. Champions Manchester City look the team to beat again, although Chelsea have spent heavily in a bid to reclaim their throne. Manchester United could be contenders too, but Arsenal will fancy ther chances of winning the Women’s Super League for the first time since 2019.

Renée Slegers’ squad has been boosted by the signings of Georgia Stanway, Ona Batlle, Selina Cerci, Géraldine Reuteler, Lisa Baum, Misa Rodríguez, Isabella Damm and Élisa De Almeida. Stanway stands out as in the heart of midfield but could this be the season Olivia Smith really takes off? The Canadian forward joined Arsenal for a then world-record fee of £1m last summer and showed flashes of her potential last season. Her skill and incisive running should give Arsenal’s attack an extra dimension during this campaign.

Brighton, under new head coach Arturo Ruiz, offer awkward opponents for the Gunners first up and have designs on a breakthrough season themselves. Dario Vidosic’s exit just a week before the start of the season was quite a shock on the south coast but his replacement will be looking to calm the waters and show that Brighton are much more than mid-table also-rans who can be dangerous in the cups.