Women's Super League

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Crystal Palace are "more than ready to have a go" at Chelsea when the two face each other in the Women's Super League (WSL) on Wednesday, says boss Leif Smerud.

Palace are seven points from safety at the bottom of the WSL while leaders Chelsea are three points clear at the top.

However Chelsea only won 1-0 when the two sides met in the Women's FA Cup quarter-finals in March.

"We are more than ready to go and have a go at Chelsea, which is a massive challenge," said Smerud.

"We had a good experience there playing them the last time, so we are ready to go.

"We learned that if you play as a team and you play with your heart on your sleeve, you can challenge good players and good teams.

"It's football and we are a massive underdog in this game, of course we have a chance, but it requires a lot of hard work and we are ready and hoping to to do that again.

"We know we can make it a fight, and if you make it a fight, you might win. So we are optimistic on that."

The game is live on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer with kick-off at 19:15 BST.

Callum Matthews
BBC Sport senior journalist

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Defender Lotte Wubben-Moy says Arsenal are "the club I want to win with" after signing a new three-year contract with the north London side.

The 26-year-old came through the club's academy and made her senior debut aged 16.

She returned to the club in 2020 after three years with American college side North Carolina Tar Heels.

She has made 143 senior appearances for Arsenal, scoring 10 goals.

"I feel a huge amount of pride, excitement and optimism to once again put pen to paper at this special football club," said Wubben-Moy.

"Arsenal is the club I want to win with and I feel this new contract comes at a time in my career where my ambitions are matched by my abilities on the pitch.

"I'm determined to make this next chapter count."

Elizabeth Botcherby
BBC Sport journalist

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When Jess Naz and Ella Morris struck twice in the space of five minutes to level the game at 2-2, they looked to have rescued a point – or maybe more – for Tottenham.

The momentum had swung in their favour with 20 minutes to play and with top-scorer Bethany England returning from injury off the bench, the stage was set for a fairytale finish.

Instead, Robert Vilahamn's side were left to rue their wastefulness in front of goal, sloppiness in defence when playing out from the back, and vulnerability on the counter whenever their high press was breached, as Kirsty Hanson grabbed a 91st minute winner for the visitors.

Tottenham enjoyed plenty of the ball against Aston Villa and looked particularly threatening whenever Naz and Ashleigh Neville linked up on the left flank. But so often, the final ball let them down and they failed to register a shot on target until the 53rd minute.

This latest defeat means Tottenham have picked up just one point in their past seven matches, with their most recent league win coming against Crystal Palace on 26 January, and also extends their curious record of never winning a WSL match in April. In 11 attempts, they've draw four and lost seven.

At the beginning of the year, a second successive top-six finish was on the cards for Tottenham. Now, they're at risk of being overtaken by Leicester City and Villa, who sit just two points behind them. Their previous worst finish in the WSL is ninth.

Emily Salley
BBC Sport journalist

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The Joie Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for Everton.

In fact, the Toffees had lost their first 16 league meetings with Manchester City before claiming a 2-1 win at Walton Hall in December.

And without key forward Kelly Gago in their ranks on Sunday, it looked like Brian Sorensen's side faced an uphill task - even if it was against an injury-depleted City.

But all they needed was a moment of magic between identical twin sisters Sara and Karen Holmsgaard

It almost seemed like the ball was following the twins' telepathic connection, with the ball leaving Sara's left boot and fizzing through the air straight to Karen's head.

City could have done with the same kind of bond at the other end of the pitch.

Despite dominating possession and chances, the final ball into the attacking third was often sloppy and their play sometimes looked disjointed.

The goalscoring burden has been placed on Kerolin, who has been moved from her usual place on the wing to a more central position because of injuries to Mary Fowler, Vivianne Miedema, Lauren Hemp, Aoba Fujino and Khadija Shaw.

With only the faintest hope of getting Champions League football next term and nothing else to play for, City will be more than ready for the season to be over.

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Tottenham boss Robert Vilahamn says he is "extremely disappointed" at how his second season in charge has gone at the club.

After finishing sixth and reaching the FA Cup final in his maiden campaign, Spurs are currently ninth in the Women's Super League with just five wins from 18 games.

The club are on a seven-match winless run across all competitions, having not won since beating Crystal Palace on 26 January.

"I'm not going to lie. I'm extremely disappointed at this year and how we have not really taken the steps we were supposed to do," Vilahamn said

"The main thing is to not just be very sad about this season, but actually learning from this season. Perhaps we can take two steps forward next season by learning from the mistakes this season.

"I really want to make sure we end this season in a good way, so we can go into the second the third season to see how much we can compete. How much can we close the gap?

"It's been a struggle this year in many ways, but it's also sometimes you need those struggles to make sure you can take the next step forward."

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter

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West Ham are in a "great space" following impressive performances this season, says manager Rehanne Skinner.

They are unbeaten in their last three Women's Super League matches, which included draws with Chelsea and Manchester City.

The Hammers currently sit seventh in the table, two points off Liverpool, as they prepare to host FA Cup finalists Manchester United on Saturday.

"I've been really pleased with the players' attitudes and their approach. They have been excellent," said Skinner.

"We've added a few extra players which have given us an edge in different departments. We've been chipping away at the process.

"Now we've kind of got everybody functioning and we've filled some of the pieces of the jigsaw. We've got a lot of confidence and belief in what we're doing.

Skinner hopes improved squad depth and competition for places will lead to more consistency going forward.

Asked what the next step for the squad was, she said: "We want to finish the season strongly. We need to be consistent with this.

"It's taken us time, a growth and a process to get to. We need to be able to show we can be competitive consistently through to the end of the season.

"We need to take every single game seriously and get as many points on the board as we can. That will tell me even more about the players."

Emily Salley
BBC Sport journalist

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Brighton boss Dario Vidosic says Michelle Agyemang will be a "household name sooner rather than later" after her impressive England debut earlier this month.

The 19-year-old forward, who is on loan at Brighton from Arsenal, received a late call-up for England's game in Belgium and she scored a sensational volley just 41 seconds after coming off the bench.

Asked if he was surprised by the finish, Vidosic said: "No, not at all. It's something she does with regularity here as well.

"She's got a beautiful strike, she knows how to hit a ball, she's dangerous, she possesses a lot of weapons and she'll be, no doubt, a household name sooner rather than later.

"I'm sure there'll be a lot of kids wearing her jerseys in the not too distant future."

Despite her superb strike, Agyemang's goal could not save England and Sarina Wiegman's side were beaten 3-2 by Belgium.

"I think she has everything to be one of the best strikers in the country," Vidosic added.

"She got the call up late, she was prepared, and she grabbed her [opportunity] with both hands. So we're all really pleased.

"The message is 'you haven't made it now'. That's only day one. You've got the first cap but I think the goal is, 'I want to have 100 caps. I want to have 150 caps'."

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter

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Aston Villa have planned "for the two possibilities" with their safety in the Women's Super League still not mathematically secure, says manager Natalia Arroyo.

Victory over Liverpool in their last match gave Villa a boost and moved them four points clear of bottom side Crystal Palace.

As they prepare to travel to Tottenham on Sunday (14:00 BST), Arroyo says the last two weeks have given the club a chance to plan for the future a little.

"We have had to plan for the two possibilities – that we stay in the competition which we are fighting for until the end, or the maths that say we still have an option not to stay in this competition," she told BBC Sport.

"We are having these conversations to try to plan the two lines and think about the squad we want to have, the style we want to build and the different things we need as a club to be better, stronger and to keep building for the future."

But despite not securing safety just yet, Arroyo says there is "positive energy" in the squad following victory over Liverpool and with the return of captain Rachel Corsie, who has been back in training this week.

"She has been fighting over the last few months with injuries and trying her best. Now she is enjoying training," added Arroyo.

"She is our captain, one of our leaders and it is very good news. It is helping us to have very positive energy in the last few weeks."

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Chelsea have confirmed Lauren James "will be out for a period of time" with a hamstring injury.

The 23-year-old suffered the injury on international duty with England and was substituted at half-time during the 5-0 win over Belgium.

She has scored four goals in 17 appearances for Sonia Bompastor's side this season.

Chelsea said James "returned to the club to begin rehabilitation which she will continue with the support of our medical team".

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Liverpool interim boss Amber Whiteley said her side's performance in their FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea is "just the start for us".

The Reds' hopes of reaching a first FA Cup semi-final since 1996 were crushed when WSL leaders Chelsea scored a late winner in the fourth minute of injury time.

Despite the result, it was another positive performance under Whiteley, who has guided Liverpool to victories against Arsenal and Manchester United since taking interim charge in February.

"It's not the first time that we've shown against top opposition that we can perform, and that we can compete," Whiteley said.

"This is just a start for us. It's going to take a little bit of time to build our style of play, but I think we've made a really good start and you can see the direction that we're trying to go in.

"We were disappointed with the result of course, we were so close to progressing through to Wembley, but the mood overall has been really positive because the performance was so, so good."

Liverpool have the chance to leap-frog Brighton and move up to fifth in the WSL when they face the Seagulls at Amex Stadium on Saturday.

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Everton assistant manager Stephen Neligan says the club's recent history with injuries means they "sympathise" with Manchester City's current injury crisis.

Neligan took charge of Everton's pre-match media duties on Thursday as manager Brian Sorensen spent time with his family following the birth of his son.

Sorensen is expected to be on the sidelines for Sunday's WSL game at City, who have had extensive injury problems with key players such as Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood missing for large chunks of the season.

Their injury list became even longer this week after Mary Fowler ruptured her anterior cruciate knee ligament in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final defeat by Manchester United.

"Understanding the situation that they're in, it's never great to see any players injured anywhere," Neligan said.

"Then when it starts to accumulate across the board and it starts to to impact your ability to put squads out, then we definitely sympathise with that because it's a situation that we've found ourselves in for the last couple of seasons."

Everton, themselves, have lost three players to ACL injuries this season.

Inma Gabarro and Aurora Galli suffered ACL injuries during the first two games of the campaign, while captain Megan Finnigan has been out since the end of January.

"It's devastating when you see these injuries occur to anybody across the league. The players and us as a staff obviously have empathy to towards those kind of players," Neligan added.

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Manchester United boss Marc Skinner says Celin Bizet has the ability to be a "world class" player.

The Norway winger scored United's opener as they beat rivals Manchester City 2-0 on Sunday to reach their third consecutive FA Cup final.

"The goal was beautiful, right? But her first touch can be better," Skinner said in his news conference before Saturday's Women's Super League meeting with West Ham.

"The thing about Celin is she's surrounded by football people, so her dad used to play, obviously her fiance plays currently, and you can hit her with truth.

"So I said to her 'I think, right now, you're an international class player, but I think you can be a world class player'."

The 23-year-old - who has played in all 18 of United's WSL matches this season after joining the club from Tottenham last summer - is engaged to Toulouse's Norwegian midfielder Aron Donnun, while her father Kjell Gunnar Ildhusoy played football in Norway.

"I think off the ball, she's world class," Skinner added.

"There's often two or three players you might have to make a decision to press and she does it without question. She's proactive, she will recover if she gets beaten, and she'll do all the work behind the full-back as well.

"So she's a fantastic player, and I always saw that with her, I always saw that at Tottenham. I just knew that we could unlock a little bit of something different with the way that we play. So I'm going to challenge her."

Huzaifah Khan
BBC Sport journalist

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Arsenal forward Beth Mead believes her side can "put pressure on Chelsea" in the Women's Super League title race after her side's 5-1 thrashing of Leicester City cut the gap to the league leaders to three points.

Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea side, who have a game in hand on Arsenal in second place, had led the Gunners by 10 points in January.

Speaking after the victory at Emirates Stadium, Mead told BBC Sport: "We've been working a block at a time, game at a time, and we believe that if we control and win the games ahead of us, we can put pressure on Chelsea and you never know what happens in football.

"I think you're really seeing partnerships and relationships and rhythm as a team and really getting understanding from Renee's [Slegers] philosophy."

Arsenal's attention now turns to the weekend when they face Lyon in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

On the prospect of facing eight-time Women's Champions League winners Lyon, Mead said: "[We are going to] put in the work on the training pitch and hopefully put that on the pitch on Saturday.

"We're all looking forward to the semi-final of the Champions League against such a good team like Lyon."

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Arsenal forwards Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo are "looking really good" to return from injury for the Champions League semi-final first leg against Lyon on Saturday.

The duo picked up injuries while on international duty with England and were ruled out of Tuesday's 5-1 Women's Super League demolition of Leicester.

However after the game Gunners boss Renee Slegers was positive about their involvement this weekend, although she said goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar was more doubtful.

"It is looking really good for Chloe and Alessia," she told Sky Sports. "Daphne - we will have to see if she can get back as quick as them as well. We are doing everything."

Russo is Arsenal's top scorer in Europe this season, scoring six goals across eight appearances so far in this year's competition, including a double in the quarter-final second leg comeback against Real Madrid, with Kelly providing both assists.

The latest episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Women's Football Weekly is now available on BBC Sounds.

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines react to the FA Cup semi-finals where Chelsea and Manchester United booked their spots at Wembley, while the team look at what has gone wrong for Manchester City.

Plus, the Champions League has reached the semi-final stage and there is an all-English final on the cards. Two huge rivalries are renewed this weekend as Arsenal host Lyon and Chelsea visit Barcelona in the first legs.

Listen here.