Column: Barclays WSL gets under way in style

Arsenal were the opening day scalp as Liverpool won at the Emirates, Man United sealed a dramatic late win while Leicester City, Man City, Brighton and Chelsea all got three points on the board...

USA’s Mia Fishel marked her Chelsea debut with a goal. Image: David Klein / Sportimage

It all started in true Barclays WSL fashion, albeit with a little bit too much Déjà vu for Aston Villa, as they fell to a stoppage time winner at home to Manchester United for a second time this year.

Carla Ward's ever-improving side against Marc Skinner's Champions League hopefuls was on paper the most exciting of the opening day games, and while it took a little bit of time to get going, it didn't disappoint in the end - unless you were Ward.

Neither team really hit top gear, but for understandable reasons. Ward had to shuffle her pack with Jordan Nobbs on limited minutes, Kenza Dali out and Maz Pacheco ill, meaning the midfield was nothing like the one we've become used to, with Lucy Staniforth pushed higher and defender Lucy Parker sitting in the defensive midfield role, while Danielle Turner found herself out at left-back, a role she can play and has played, rather than at centre-back where she excelled last season.

United too were working out how to play around new forward Geyse, a completely different skilset to Alessia Russo, and while Geyse was a bright spark, too often her success came down the right, leaving little outlet for United in the middle as both teams cancelled each other out.

Ward changed things at half-time and brought on Ebony Salmon to push her up alongside Rachel Daly, while soon after Skinner turned to Rachel Williams in place of Geyse to get some presence inside the box, with Nikita Parris soon following to get crosses in for the striker.

Then, all hell broke loose. I don't really buy Maya Le Tissier's bodycheck on Salmon was worthy of a red card, but it was certainly a free-kick and certain caution missed by Rebecca Welch. As for Kirsty Hanson's red card, it had to be so given where she caught Hayley Ladd, even if there was certainly no intent.

After taking the lead, Ward will be disappointed her side couldn't see it out longer until Lucía García's almost instant equaliser, before Williams did what she has so often done in a United shirt and popped up with a dramatic late winner.

It wasn't peak United, but with a massive turnover of players in the summer and more still to intergrate, this was a banana skin avoided ahead of Arsenal on Friday night.

Speaking of Arsenal, the one game which went very much against the playbook was at the Emirates, though given Liverpool's opening day form perhaps we shouldn't be overly surprised?

Arsenal had the chance to lay down a marker in front of 54,000 of their own fans, to push aside their Champions League heartache and take advantage of a Liverpool side riddled by both injury and illness.

10 years on from leading his side to an opening day win at the Emirates, Matt Beard did it again with an accomplished tactical performance. Arsenal dominated the ball, the possession and most of the chances, but they couldn't break down a really solid Liverpool outfit.

Jonas Eidevall admitted post-match his decision to go with a back three was part down to Liverpool and part down to the players available, but it never really clicked.

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There's no doubt Arsenal will find themselves in time, but time is at a premium in this league, especially with a trip to Manchester United now to come on Friday night. Russo endured a quiet debut as the Gunners struggled to provide their new striker with opportunities, and Eidevall will be yearning for the day both Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema are available again.

They had plenty of depth even without the duo though as Victoria Pelova, Lina Hurtig, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Stina Blackstenius and Amanda Ilestedt all came off the bench, but still to no avail. While Liverpool goalkeeper Rachael Laws was sublime in the first half, in truth she wasn't anywhere near as troubled after the break, but also had her back three to thank for that.

Gemma Bonner, along with new signings Grace Fisk and Jenna Clark, were all excellent, and a solid base in front of them really contributed to Liverpool doing something they failed to do in the whole of last season - win away from home.

When the goal came, it was a neat move as Ceri Holland got in down the right and her low pull back was well converted by former Arsenal youth team player Miri Taylor, though Eidevall will wonder if both his defence and goalkeeper could have done better to prevent it happening.

In between all the drama at Villa Park and the Emirates, all three of Brighton, Leicester City and Manchester City got their seasons off to good starts with three wins on the road. Everton, newly-promoted Bristol City and West Ham United were the victims, but each result in hand wasn't a huge shock looking at the relative summers of all three sides.

Everton in the end gave it a good go against a rejuvenated Brighton who went on a big summer spree of signings as Melissa Phillips looks to build on a good end to last season, while Everton had no time to replace the outgoing Gabby George on deadline day, and are lacking up front too with Netherlands striker Katja Snoeijs ruled out of the opening day.

The Toffees and Brian Sørensen will rue a slow start which saw Elisabeth Terland strike twice inside the opening 15 minutes. Brighton went for it, with Terland, Lee Geum-Min, Katie Robinson, Julia Zigiotti and new signing Pauline Bremer all in the team, while Sørensen stuck with his favoured back three system, and at times the attack of Hanna Bennison, Nicoline Sorensen and new striker Martina Piemonte showed signs of life, but this was also a game which showed the frailties to make enough people believe this could be a tough season for the Toffees, but unlikely one which will end in a realistic relegation scrap.

Bristol City meanwhile had a tough introduction to life back in the top division, and four goals shedded at home to potentially one of their closest rivals is not a good sign to start with. My opinion is the gap between the top two tiers is getting bigger and bigger with one up, one down allowing teams to become more and more established with less relegation threat, and the Vixens found this out at Ashton Gate.

Leicester City only came up two years ago but now have established internationals such as Lena Petermann, Jutta Rantala and Janice Cayman signed, while Villa who came up a year before have gone even further. Both were helped by teams below them having a tough season, but for Bristol City there appears to be no obvious candidate to get them out of trouble this time.

They showed good signs and Carrie Jones was promising up front, though former captain Aimee Palmer swinging the game back in the Foxes favour would have been a bitter pill to swallow. Bristol City particularly struggled out wide, with Palmer's goal coming from a cross, Shannon O'Brien cutting in from the left for the second, and further crosses allowing Petermann and fellow new signing Rantala to add a third and fourth.

After last season's debacle, Manchester City needed to just get three points on the board, especially with Khadija Shaw unavilable up top with a knock. Gareth Taylor's set up was interesting given minimal changes over the summer, but sole signing Jill Roord did start in the midfield.

Khiara Keating was preferred to Ellie Roebuck in goal, Laia Aleixandri, often seen on the left last season, started on the right, while it was an attacking looking midfield of Yui Hasegawa, Deyna Castellanos and Roord, one which may not be highly recommended from a defensive point of view against Chelsea next weekend.

Taylor chose Lauren Hemp to lead the line with Mary Fowler out wide, but the two freely interchanged when necessary. Against a pourous West Ham side who couldn't utilise the quality of Viviane Asseyi and new signing Riko Ueki up front, City dominated without doing much with the final ball.

Taylor tweaked things at the break, moving Roord into the #10 position, but it was Hemp who curled home a brilliant opener before Roord did what she often does, popped up inside the box at the right time to score a second on her return to the league.

The Hammers have been tipped by many to struggle, but they at least showed a solid foundation, but can't rely so much on solidity that they don't create enough either, because there's more than enough quality in Asseyi and Ueki at least to see of some of their rivals down the bottom end of the table.

In the final game of the day, it looked like champions Chelsea were in for a comfortable evening when new signing Mia Fishel headed home her first WSL goal on her debut, and more so when Lauren James doubled the lead in the second half, but it was anything but comfortable in the end for Emma Hayes' side.

The strength in depth they hold though gets better and better. No Sam Kerr or Erin Cuthbert at all, nor new signing Catarina Macario, while the likes of Ashley Lawrence, Kadeisha Buchanan, Fran Kirby and Jessie Fleming were on the bench, yet the starting line-up was as ever star-studded.

One thing Chelsea perhaps lacked last season was a Plan B for Kerr, and Fishel has instantly offered it. Sjoeke Nüsken slotted into the midfield as Hayes went with a back three, but they were also far too open for their head coach's liking, and Hayes admitted post-match there was plenty she wasn't happy with.

Tottenham themselves, impressive under new head coach Robert Vilahamn even without striker Bethany England, almost looked surprised at the time and space they had on the ball in gaps between Chelsea's midfield and defence in the first half, with Drew Spence intelligently constantly picking up good spots and the pace of Celin Bizet and Martha Thomas in front causing problems, Thomas in particular.

But Tottenham lacked the clinical edge where Chelsea didn't, but it would have been interesting to see how this one panned out if England had been fit, especially when Thomas pounced late on to half the deficit.

Given Chelsea's midfield looked as susceptible to transitions as City's, next week's match-up promises to be an open one depending on who finds the quickest fix over the next seven days. Chelsea though got points on the board, unlike a similarly disjointed opening day performance 12 months ago, and when everyone is back and available they still look like the toughest proposition for anyone when it comes to both qualitya and quantity.

Tottenham though showed plenty of good signs, more so than last season, but may rue not signing another full-back given midfielder Angharad James appears to be the one being utilised as a makeshift right-back for the time being, and it was the side of the pitch they struggled with most when it came to Chelsea's attacks.