Women's Super League season preview: best bets for the new campaign

Free football tips, best outright bets and analysis for the Women's Super League, which starts on Friday, September 16

Best bet

Arsenal to win the Women's Super League
2pts 2-1 Hills

Season preview

Six weeks after England's triumph at Euro 2022, the Women's Super League season starts under a brighter spotlight than ever before, and it promises to be a battle between the usual faces.

The opening round of matches had been due to take place over the weekend but were postponed due to the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

The second round of matches are still scheduled to take place starting with Arsenal v Brighton on Friday and continuing over the weekend but it is highly unlikely the six fixtures will go ahead with the late monarch's funeral taking place on Monday 19.

When the action does finally get the go-ahead, it promises to be another exciting campaign, and after winning four of the last five titles, Chelsea are again the team to beat, but Emma Hayes's side have seen Arsenal grab on to their coat-tails and this season it could be the Gunners who are celebrating.

It would be unfair to say that the Champions League will be the priority for Chelsea, but they are sure to invest a lot in a push for European glory following the disappointment of last season's group-stage elimination.

In the previous season they had reached the final only to be brushed aside by Barcelona and Hayes has moved swiftly to add defensive reinforcements to her team, who are famed for the quality of their attacking play.

Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan could be a key addition from Lyon and they will also benefit from a fully fit Fran Kirby, who had a frustrating, stop-start campaign last season.

The Lioness has formed a great partnership with Sam Kerr, who led last season's scoring charts with 20 goals, and the Aussie could score even more this time.

But the value may be in supporting Arsenal to get the better of their London rivals. They finished a point behind the Blues last term and paid the price for a 2-0 defeat to Birmingham, a team who were relegated, which was their only loss of the campaign.

The Gunners beat Chelsea 3-2 in an entertaining opener at the Emirates Stadium and dropped only two points at home all season so it would not take a huge improvement to take the race to the wire.

Manager Jonas Eidevall received a boost this summer as forward Vivianne Miedema is staying at the club despite rumours of a potential move to Barcelona or Paris St-Germain.

No player has scored more goals in the Women's Super League than the Dutch striker and she should be well assisted not only by Sweden's Lina Hurtig but also by Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner Beth Mead.

Arsenal took eight points off Chelsea and third-placed Manchester City last term and they have scope for further improvement.

The two Manchester clubs are the only other two sides shorter than 100-1 to win the league and it would not be a huge surprise if United were the more progressive outfit.

They have signed promising defender Maya Le Tissier from Brighton while England's Nikita Parris has joined from Arsenal and they have a great chance to establish a strong start as they don't face either of the top two in the betting until their seventh game of the season.

With three places in the Champions League up for grabs, they could prove the best of the rest with Alessia Russo and Ella Toone full of confidence after playing huge roles in the Lionesses' Euro success.

For Manchester City and their manager Gareth Taylor, it is a time of change, not least because midfielder Keira Walsh signed for Barcelona this week for a world-record fee.

City have snapped up Australia forward Mary Fowler from Montpellier and defender Laia Aleixandri from Atletico Madrid, and inspirational skipper Steph Houghton is back after missing most of last season with an Achilles injury.

However, England striker Ellen White has retired and they have already been knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid so their opening game against Arsenal will provide an indication of how things might go.

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