Episode 1 The Women's Football Show

Good evening. The FA women's's Super League is back and bigger than --

and better than ever. Nine teams are in the top flight.

Nine. I am delighted to be joined by my guess too will cast a neutral and

analytical eye over the proceedings tonight. We will bring you

information about all the fixtures but we begin with Chelsea who faced

a club reborn in recent years, Don Caster Rovers Belles. After their

blueprint for the future failed to meet the criteria for the future,

their application was denied by the FA and they were subsequently

relegated after a 22 year stay in the top flight -- Doncaster. One of

the game's most famous names is back and they have signalled their

intent. The first dedicated women's training facility at an elite level

in the UK will hopefully lead to ambitious signings. Chelsea's

blueprint for success came to fruition last season but can the

newly promoted team keep it up? This is the moment that Doncaster fought

so hard for last season. To bring top-flight women's football back to

the stadium. No need for motivation for Doncaster tonight, they have

been busy recruiting. Another title winner at midfield. 17-year-old

Samantha Tierney is in there is well and Chelsea has much depth and

quality to their squad. Claire Rafferty is back in the top four.

They include two former Doncaster players. Bath England makes her full

Chelsea debut having just left. -- Beth.

The England international summits that. Very difficult to catch up. --

thumped. England are bright on the run. That is a penalty. Milly Bright

fouled and the challenge was not timed well. Chelsea penalty. The new

girl will take the free kick. Can she replicate her late success? And

she can. It has taken them over 12 minutes but Chelsea are now in

front. It is really important for Karen Carney to make a good start,

for her confidence levels. And she has. That caused confusion and

ultimately an own goal. Doncaster Belles our level. Rafferty was well

aware of that and she knew that if she missed it, it would be an easy

one. Doncaster Belles have got themselves back in the game. A

lovely ball from Chapman. Well watched by Robert. Beth England with

the header, would you believe that? Her debut for Chelsea against the

club she has only just left and she scores against them to restore

Chelsea's lead. Chelsea corner and it was a bit deeper this time. Katie

Chapman has added Chelsea's third, just before halftime. The captain

has made it 3-1. Chapman seems to be getting beyond centre-forward.

Deflected along the way. Beautifully done. Virtually cleared off the line

by Barker. She almost passed out into the net. A good safe in the end

from Hobbes. A lovely goal and the goal to seal it once and for all for

Chelsea and to make sure the champions are beginning their

defence of the title with three points. That was Aluko. Format goals

in the opening game and you have seen how difficult it is for teams

to get many goals in the opener. I thought it was a good effort from

us. The timing of Katie's goal was crucial. Absolutely. I thought we

played really well and moved the ball well and created opportunities.

We have world-class headers, so I am not surprised. World-class headers

and players in that side. Did that play out in the end? I think Chelsea

had the majority of the possession. It really meant the difference

between the two sides. We are now going to look at the goals. The

delivery is fantastic but the movement from Chelsea... First of

all, Doncaster Belles are outnumbered. Four Chelsea players

branched out and scattered and lost their markers. They should have been

looking at that. Beth England made a wonderful header and put it in the

back of the net. The second goal, second set piece, again Chelsea

players with great movement, peeling off and causing havoc in the area.

Doncaster Belles just can't pick it up. For goodness sake, Chelsea

already had top-quality players last year. They won everything and then

they go and throw another world-class player in Karen Carney

into the mix. Their frontline is very scary. Karen Carney was at the

World Cup in the summer and she was phenomenal. She was the heartbeat

tonight right from the very start. Not only is she really agile with

very quick feet, she lays the ball with such quality. Sometimes she

plays it first and sometimes she moves it out into space. She really

makes everything kick for Chelsea. It looks like she has been there for

the whole season. She was absolutely phenomenal and if you look across,

when Karen Carney is coming up, Gemma Davidson -- Davison has

excellent pace. This goal epitomizes the quality that Chelsea have got. A

phenomenal finish from Aluko into the bottom corner. They will be fun

to watch again this season but what about Doncaster Belles? Lovers of

the women's game are glad to see them in the top-flight. We know why

they were relegated but they are back now. What they are in

administration, run by people who have to know how to make the club

work now. A very exciting prospect for the future with eight full-time

players now. Everything about them now and epitomizes the professional

outlook that they have and it is apt that they have named their new

facility the Phoenix. Now they don't have a game for a month and not

another home game for two months with Chelsea having six and a half

weeks without a game between fixtures. What do you make of that?

It is difficult for any team to generate momentum. They may be

looking at expanding the league. Who knows. Many restraints. Next to the

other newly promoted side, Reading who began life in the top-flight

with a daunting trip to Arsenal. Who would emerge with the winning hand?

For over a decade, Arsenal Ladies were the queens of English football.

Crowned champions on an incredible 11 occasions. It has been three

years since her last coronation but with a host of new signings, they

were hoping to lay down an early marker against Reading. But they

still managed to achieve promotion last season. Casting his eye over

this one is our commentator. Reading's introduction promises to

be challenging. Arsenal have been busy in the winter. Many of the

Redding team are experiencing top-flight football for the first

time. Many former Arsenal players make up their squad. Just too high

this time. But Redding will need to defend better than that -- Reading.

Arsenal have their first goal of the season! A fine individual effort by

Dominic Janssen. That is a good ball, terrific -- Dominique. So

unlucky! What a debut that would have been for Oshoala, inches away.

Arsenal dominated the opening 45 minutes but they do need the second

goal. Williamson has been a fabulous defender this evening. Oshoala again

be on the goalkeeper, and she has her debut goal this time! Denied by

the woodwork in the first half. Once again, Oshoala with a wonderful

first touch to go beyond Grace Maloney and give the Arsenal fans a

glimpse of what she could be capable of. -- Moloney. And they are back in

the game again, that was a real gift. Williamson was caught out

there. A brave finish. From a position of relative comfort,

Arsenal are in a contest once again. A brilliant save from

Moloney. Two of Arsenal's new signings combining superbly but the

save was even better. Scott has done well. We know Williams can hit

them. And this time it was deflected wide from the corner. And that

should be enough to seal Arsenal's opening-day win with that goal from

Carter. Relief finally from the coach. Danielle Carter rising

highest. Reading have been brave but Arsenal are just too good. A word on

the new players. How much did your new signings impress you? The main

point is to bring good characters who can represent the values of the

club. New layers who can learn from those values. We have a fantastic

group with the fantastic vibe. They have worked hard from the first

day, on and off the pitch. Sometimes when you come to a new team, you

have to learn how to play with your teammates and couple of times I was

still learning. I think we gave them a good game. There are things we

need to tighten up and conceding 25-30 seconds in the second half

didn't help. The newly promoted side did well for long periods in that

game. How do you assess them? Reading certainly frustrated Arsenal

and that was a good tactic. I think what they did very well was they got

bodies behind the ball, they made sure that Arsenal couldn't have any

time on the ball. Any time they were in possession, they got bodies

around and hustled them. But in the end they started to fade a little

bit. But I think the game that Kelly Chambers employed was a good

tactic. They had possession with purpose. But the quality showed. For

me, Dominique Janssen with fantastic. The goalkeeper should

have done better. It was a good quality header from Danielle

Carter. The young Nigerian striker is a big signing from Liverpool.

They had a difficult time last season. They had finished as

back-to-back champions before. What did you make of her? She didn't gel

particularly well in Liverpool. She started out this game a little bit

erratic. You could tell she hadn't quite found her teammates yet. She

wasn't necessarily gelling. But she grew into this game and we saw at 30

-40 minutes that she was in the thick of things. She was the target

player and this touch with fantastic. It was unlucky to hit the

post. A great save, she is a good target layer to have and she is most

effective as a central player. A good little touch around the

goalkeeper who committed early from me. A great finish and a good solid

acquisition for Arsenal, no doubt. You talked about your team to watch

this season, how did you rate the performance of Leo Williamson? --

Leah. She put in excellent block tackles. This is how the coach wants

Arsenal to play, he wants them to be composed from the back and forth

attacks to start right from the goalkeeper and the sender has. She

has really good quality, but that is what happened, sometimes when they

play in the centre-halves. Let me highlight Janssen, she dropped in to

protect Williamson on that lead to Reading getting a consolation goal.

You can see that she was very frustrated and it remains to be seen

whether she will retain that position. We talked about Jodie

Taylor. A top England striker. Phenomenal. This shot here

definitely takes it. It is beyond my reach. Jodie Taylor can score from

anywhere outside the box. Her coach knows her very well from the time

she spent in the USA. Fantastic signing for Arsenal and for the

league. Two more games to catch up on starting with last season's

runners-up, Manchester City who added significant firepower to their

squad and aim to go one better this time around. It was the night of few

clear-cut chances. A slow start hampered Manchester City last season

and it looked like the same thing this time around. Despite 12 goals

last season, they couldn't get into account here. Well wide. Manchester

City began to grow into the game after that and were given the

perfect chance to go in front with this one. Referee Johnson once again

pointed to the spot to even up the penalty count. The England

international couldn't find a way around the goalkeeper. But she had

no answer to this one in injury time. 1-0 was the final score. I

think the most important thing is that we got the three points and now

we will build on this and recover and focus on Arsenal. Having been

knocked out of the FA Cup this weekend, Liverpool kicked off their

new campaign against Birmingham. The referee had no hesitation in

awarding this penalty. But Siobhan Chamberlain came to the rescue. The

2013 - 2014 champions punished the Blues. This one was bungled home

despite a desperate lunge. The Blues weren't going to give up though. The

Dutch defender was deemed to have missed the ball by the referee and a

second penalty of the night was awarded with a straight red card.

Incredibly the free kick was wide of the target. Not a single one was

scored. Birmingham closed the game strongly. But Chamberlain was in no

mood to be charitable as Liverpool claimed all three points. There were

some decisions where... The politest way of putting it is that they were

controversial. I think we were under a lot of pressure because of that.

The girls were superb. Can't fault them. A winning start for Liverpool.

Extremely early days, of course, but you know you like to see a table

even at this stage. Chelsea are sitting at the top after all of one

game but because of the odd numbers in the league this season, due to

the expansion, one team will always have to sit out of certain fixtures.

This time it was Sunderland, they won't play until Saturday when they

are at home to Reading. Birmingham's last season was a

struggle to score goals. You get to penalties and don't score either

them, starting in a similar fashion. Same old problem. We were hoping for

goals from players brought in from Arsenal but it didn't happen. Is it

potentially a recipe for relegation? I am not sure but they need to start

putting the ball in the back of the net if they want to give themselves

a chance. They lost key players. Karen Carney has gone to Chelsea.

Becky Spencer has also. And Weston has also gone. They're talking about

having to bring players through. Can you do that and survive? That is on

the back of also losing key players last season. They have hemorrhaged

layers and are now relying on the use players coming through -- young

players. Manchester City also added to their squad, they have already

got talent in the front with the likes of Paris. They are relying on

the sender have to score a goal at the last minute. They will always

love to have the glory. Manchester City, I don't think I got the depth

at the moment. They have only got 13 seeded players who are fully fit.

That will be a worry for their title contentions but it is early days

yet. Some injuries they could probably have done without at this

stage. Two of last season's strugglers produced some of the most

entertaining games of the week. Watford trailed London with just two

minutes remaining. Goals from Charlotte Kerr and Molly Burgess,

securing the equaliser. That came in the 93rd minute. So the WSL 2 table

looks like this. Millwall makes a winning start. What do you reckon?

Who is likely to be going up? One team will be relegated, but my two

teens who I think we'll be going up this season are Bristol city, who

were relegated last season and perhaps Watford -- City. Why?

Actually Everton. They have managed to hold onto some key players with

really bright futures. I think they have got goals in them as well. They

have added to their squad and brought in the goalkeeper from

Manchester City and I think that is a good move for her and for ever ten

as well. -- Everton. That is pretty much all we have time for tonight

that we will be back on Tuesday with more highlights, including an

early-season battle between two title contenders as Manchester City

host Arsenal. Thank you, it has been an absolute pleasure is always. The

champions Chelsea flew out of the stall to claim an opening win at

Doncaster. Goodbye.