Welcome to The Counter Press, a new Sky Sports column in which Laura Hunter analyses the big talking points from the latest Women's Super League matches, bringing you closer to the key stories at the heart of the women's game. This week:
- Arsenal throw down early gauntlet🏆
- Sam Kerr brings up 100 for Chelsea💯
- London City Lionesses already out of depth🏊♀️
Arsenal's scary start
Arsenal are a frightening prospect in full flow. Nothing new or surprising there. But there is plenty different about Arsenal's aura this season, as they embark on a first full season under the tutelage of Renee Slegers.
The Dutchwoman has already built a profound legacy less than a year into the job. Her style, deliberately demure, is something Arsenal didn't even know they needed after a messy end to the Jonas Eidevall era. It just kind of happened.
And now the two-time European champions are once again becoming a proper force domestically - intentional, resolute and calculated in their approach. Slegers might be quiet, but she is a clever strategist. This is not a coach who needs to shout to be heard.
Eidevall's Arsenal were always combustible, able to contrive their own downfall in games of fine margins. That frailty has all but disappeared. The Gunners have fallen behind in both of their opening games this season and run out comfortable winners, scoring nine via seven different players.
Last week their 20 shots - 10 on target - and 66 touches in the opposition box were all league highs. This week the narrative was similar. Arsenal under Slegers hold an xG performance of +20.35 - almost double that of any other team in that period, including champions Chelsea.
To pick peak performers is tricky, such is the spread of quality, but to highlight the proliferation is to uncover Arsenal's newest and greatest weapon - the missing piece of the puzzle. Strength in depth.
A seamless blend of old and new relationships has seen Slegers reap the early benefits of having the courage to replace injured Leah Williamson with teenage Katie Reid in defence - the most progressive passer in the league so far - and the bravery to start £1m-rated Olivia Smith in front of an expectant Emirates crowd last week. We know what happened there.
Arsenal are stronger than ever across the board, most obviously highlighted by goal contributions from the bench: six already (3G, 3A). They have also scored four times in the last 10 minutes of games having only managed nine in total last season.
Speaking to Sky Sports last week, Slegers revealed Arsenal's desire to win things has been spoken about in camp, but it's a conversation that will only happen once. The assignment is clearly understood. And far from it be necessary to voice again. Less talk, Arsenal are all action.
- Got Sky? Watch the WSL on the Sky Sports app 📱
- Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW📺
Kerr's 20-month wait
637 days is a long time in football. It's a long time in life.
But there was something so familiar about the sight of Sam Kerr slamming into the back of the net 13 minutes into her reintroduction, you would be forgiven for thinking no time had passed at all.
Kerr, no less instinctive, pounced on a loose ball after a goalmouth scramble, tucking inside the post to round off a "perfect day" for Chelsea and Sonia Bompastor.
"You know what Sam represents," Bompastor beamed after beating Aston Villa. "For me, she's an idol. She doesn't like getting the limelight, but she really deserves it."
Kerr's place in the spotlight has been earned over many years. She did not feature at all during Bompastor's first season in charge as Chelsea roared to a domestic treble, sidelined with an ACL injury, but has already reached a special milestone this term, scoring her 100th Chelsea goal.
Her 59 league strikes in 76 games gives her the second-best goals-to-games ratio (0.78) of any to score five or more in that period - just behind Man City's Khadija Shaw.
"She's an absolute demon in the box," goalkeeper Hannah Hampton told Sky Sports. "It's about time she starts annoying opposition goalkeepers." But the real test is this: how will Kerr fare alongside those who were recruited to plug the gap during her prolonged absence?
Both Mayra Ramirez and most recently Alyssa Thompson were signed for respective club-record fees, totalling the best part of £2m. Bompastor must balance her attacking threats perfectly to keep all that wonderful talent on equal footing.
London City land in deep water
London City Lionesses have made a nightmare start to life in the WSL. It's tough at the top, especially for a side so newly assembled.
In order to compete with the elevated demands, Michele Kang, the club's billionaire owner, sanctioned 16 signings this summer, including a fee of over £1m for France forward Grace Geyoro from PSG.
But after two heavy defeats to open the campaign, shipping nine goals, Jocelyn Precheur - former head coach of PSG - might need a rethink.
Going forward the newcomers look ok, able to produce moments of quality via individuals with prior WSL and international experience. They generated four big chances at the weekend, sticking one away. But defensively it's been a shocker.
In fairness, and to add relevant context, London City could scarcely have been dealt a harsher start against two teams - Arsenal and Man Utd - tipped for a title challenge, but goals were still too easy to come by.
Gaps were everywhere on Sunday as United peppered the net with two goals engineered from the right, two from the left and one centrally, in perfect symmetry. The visitors converted five from seven efforts on target, which speaks as much to how open Precheur's side were as it does to United's impressive efficiency.
Let this be a steep learning curve, then. This is a team who most obviously are a work in progress, needing time to resemble something close to a coherent outfit, but who also need to understand their limitations in a league that will happily swallow them whole if offered the chance.
The first column of the new season analysed Chelsea's formation change, Man City's subtle style tweaks under new boss Andree Jeglertz and Ornella Vignola's stunning debut hat-trick for Everton.
Live WSL: What's on Sky this weekend?
Friday brings a double header as Everton host London City Lionesses and Man City travel to Spurs, both at 7.30pm, available on Sky Sports+ and Sky Sports Mix respectively.
And there's a triple helping on Sunday, as Aston Villa meet Liverpool, Brighton play West Ham, and Chelsea entertain Leicester - all available on Multiview with a brand new build-up show from 11am.
