Women’s Super League

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Half time: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd A low-key first half at Villa Park. United were the better team, with Geyse impressive, but struggled to create clear chances. Geyse forced one terrific save from Villa’s new goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar; that aside, both keepers had little to do.

GOAL! Everton 0-2 Brighton (Terland 14)

Brighton are running riot, or rather Elisabeth Terland is. She ran onto a neat through pass from Katie Robinson, timing her run perfectly, and poked the ball past Emily Ramsey.

43 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Toone is booked for dissent.

41 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Geyse’s excellent cross is only half cleared to Ladd, who slips as she tries to shoot. Geyse is having a fine debut, causing Villa real problems when she pulls out to the right.

11 min: Everton 0-1 Brighton Everton can’t deal with Elisabeth Terland at all. She’s scored one and had two other half chances already.

Elisabeth Terland of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates after scoring. Photograph: Jess Hornby/The FA/Getty Images

Updated at 09.13 EDT

38 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd A chance for Villa. Parker guides a nice pass through to Lehmann, who shoots over from the edge of the area. Blundell slid across as she took the shot but it was still a pretty good chance.

GOAL! Everton 0-1 Brighton (Terland 3)

The first goal of the new season has been scored by Brighton’s Elisabeth Terland! Katie Robinson’s cracking long-range shot pinged off the bar, and Terland reacted quickest to head the rebound into the net.

Updated at 08.25 EDT

32 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Geyse is booked, perhaps harshly, after a clash of heads with Dan Turner.

Arsenal v Liverpool team news

Alessia Russo and Cloe Lacasse makes their WSL debuts for Arsenal. Liverpool include summer signings Gemma Fisk, Jenna Clark and Marie Hobinger.

Arsenal (possible 4-3-3) Zinsberger, Catley, Beattie, Wubben-Moy, McCabe, Little, Maanum, Walti, Lacasse, Russo, Foord.Substitutes: D’Angelo, Maritz, Hurtig, Pelova, Kuhl, Blackstenius, Codina, Ilestedt, Cooney-Cross.

Liverpool (possible 3-4-1-2) Laws; Fisk, Bonner, Clark; Koivisto, Nagano, Kearns, Hinds; Holland; Taylor, Hobinger.Substitutes: Enderby, Lundgaard, Micah, Flint, Parry.

Updated at 08.17 EDT

29 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Another half-chance for United, with Galton curling high and wide with her right foot. It feels like a goal is coming.

28 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Turner heads straight at the keeper from Zelem’s free-kick. A quarter-chance.

27 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Now Hanson brings Geyse down, though the referee settles for a warning rather than a yellow card. It looked like a bookable offence.

26 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd The impressive Geyse bursts away from Rachel Corsie, who brings her down and is booked.

24 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd A decent effort from Leah Galton, who cuts inside from the left and curls over from 25 yards.

20 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd United are dominating without creating too many chances. Despite the loss of Alessia Russo, they have the same attacking and defensive midfielders as last season and their rhythm has been good. Geyse looks sharp too.

Updated at 07.53 EDT

14 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd A punt upfield is collected by Geyse, who moves into the area and clips a shot across goal that is superbly saved by the diving Van Domselaar. It was low to her right, from a tight angle, and she got down smartly to tip it round the post.

13 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Parker is booked for a really poor tackle on Zelem. Some referees would have sent her off for that.

11 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Toone almost puts Geyes through on goal with a very clever reverse pass. It’s slightly too heavy and van Domselaar comes out to claim.

8 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd United are starting to find their attacking rhythm. Toone breaks down the left and plays the ball back to Zelem, whose cross deflects behind for a corner.

3 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd A lively start from Villa. Daly’s deft touch releases Hanson, whose low cross is miskicked by Lehmann. Then Staniforth pings one from distance, and Earps plays safe by pushing the ball away rather than trying to catch.

1 min: Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd Peep peep! Hayley Ladd passes the ball to Katie Zelem, and the 2023-24 season is up and running.

Updated at 07.32 EDT

Aston Villa v Man Utd The players are on the field. Before the match they will be a minute’s silence in memory of Maddy Cusack, who died last week aged 27.

Aston Villa will be wearing their home kit today, despite concerns about how much sweat it retains.

Everton v Brighton team news

Everton (possible 3-4-1-2) Ramsey; Veje, Bjorn, Stenevik; Olesen, Finnigan, Galli, Hope; Bennison; Sorensen, Piemonte.Substitutes: Brosnan, Wheeler, Vanhaevermaet, Duggan, Bissell, Payne, Aherne, Wilding.

Brighton & Hove Albion (possible 3-4-3) Baggaley; Bergsvand, Thorisdottir, Kullberg; Pattinson, Losada, Robinson, Bremer; Lee, Terland, Zigiotti Olme.Substitutes: Evrard, Sarri, Carabali, Hawkesby, Pinto, Symonds, Rule, Startup.

Updated at 08.14 EDT

Who won the transfer window? Nobody, obviously, because it’s not a quantifiable competition. But some clubs had more joy than others.

We also have dedicated previews for each WSL team. Here they are, in order of the alphabet.

Emma Hayes’ Chelsea are aiming to win their fifth successive title. Sophie Downey looks at whether anyone can stop them.

Aston Villa v Man Utd team news

Four of Villa’s summer signings start: Daphne van Domselaar, Anna Patten, Lucy Parker – and Kirsty Hanson, who joined the club from Manchester United.

Marc Skinner includes two of United’s summer signings, Gabby George and Geyse. World Cup stars Irene Guerrero and Hinata Miyazawa are on the bench.

Aston Villa (possible 4-3-3) Van Domselaar; Mayling, Patten, Parker, Turner; Blindkilde, Corsie, Staniforth; Lehmann, Daly, Hanson.Substitutes: Leat, Nobbs, McLoughlin, Salmon, Mullett, Magill, Leon, Pacheco.

Man Utd (possible 4-2-3-1) Earps; Blundell, Le Tissier, Turner, George; Ladd, Zelem; L Garcia, Toone, Galton; Geyse.Substitutes: Tullis-Joyce, Evans, Rabjohn, Riviere, Miyazawa, Irene Guerrero, Naalsund, Parris, Williams.

Updated at 07.27 EDT

Preamble

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the opening day of the WSL season. England’s triumphant World Cup (in the Italia 90 sense) and the rapid growth of women’s football makes this the most keenly anticipated season of all.

We’ll be covering all six games in a special, marathon, pressure-sore-inducing opening-day clockwatch. The most intriguing is probably at Villa Park, where Aston Villa, easily the best of the rest last season, host title-chasing Manchester United.

The champions Chelsea host Spurs in the late game, Arsenal play Liverpool at the Emirates and Manchester City have a tricky trip to West Ham. Most excitingly of all, a host of star signings, from Alessia Russo to Hinata Miyazawa, should make WSL debuts for their new teams.

We shouldn’t pretend that everything is brilliant – equality remains a thing of the future, and the WSL is a 12-team league in name and a four-team league in nature – but it’s probably fair to say women’s football has never been in a better state.

These are today’s games.

Updated at 07.28 EDT