After another amazing summer of success for England’s Lionesses, domestic football returns this weekend!
The curtain raiser for the top flight of women’s football couldn’t be better – last season’s Champions Chelsea hosting challengers Manchester City on Friday at 19:30pm.
Get excited for the new season with our full and comprehensive Women’s Super League (WSL) preview for 2025/26.
Inspiring you to get on pitch? Check out our find your session map to find the best training session for you!
Arsenal
Holders of the Champions League. Home to some of the league’s biggest stars. Perennial title contenders.
Arsenal fans will be hoping to shatter Chelsea’s years of WSL supremacy this time around, building on their historic win over Barcelona in Lisbon. Their attacking talent will have defences worried – Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead, Mariona Caldentey all now joined by world record signing Olivia Smith from Liverpool.
They’ve finished in the top three for five seasons running – is this the time everything falls into place?
Star Player: Leah Williamson, Defender (England)
One to watch: Kate Cooney-Cross, Midfielder (Australia)
Bloomsbury predicts: 2nd – full of quality, but will fall agonisingly short again.
Aston Villa
Villa have been slowly building their status in the WSL, progressing from relegation scrappers to established league members. That’s in no small part due to manager Natalia Arroyo who steadied the ship after a tricky start last year, and will look to build with her direct style and high intensity press.
England’s Ellie Roebuck has bolstered Villa’s squad, also helped by Rachel Daly’s recent contract extension. It’ll be a season of settling down for the Birmingham-based club.
Star Player: Rachel Daly, Forward (England)
One to watch: Missy Bo Kearns, Midfielder (England)
Bloomsbury predicts: 7th – another year of solid performances await.
Brighton and Hove Albion
Remember Michelle Agyemang? Well, she’s down on England’s South Coast on loan from Arsenal after a remarkable debut international tournament. She joins a squad full of talent – Brighton are both good in possession and strong finishers up front.
Lots of transfer activity might result in an unsettled squad, but Dario Vidosic will be confident he has the players at his disposal to go well again this season.
Star Player: Michelle Agyemang, Forward (England)
One to watch: Carla Camacho, Forward (Spain)
Bloomsbury predicts: 5th – the definition of an established Premier League team.
Chelsea
The reigning Champions will have only one goal – win again. Sonia Bompastor’s team are a well oiled machine, winners of six consecutive league titles.
The number of star names in Chelsea’s squad is frightening: Lauren James, Mayra Ramirez, Lucy Bronze and Naomi Girma to name a few. The real test will be whether any other teams in the league can come close to stopping them.
Star Player: Sam Kerr, Forward (Australia)
One to Watch: Hannah Hampton, Goalkeeper (England)
Bloomsbury predicts: 1st – why doubt the favourites that have done it before?
Everton
A new stadium awaits Everton, as they take over the newly vacated Goodison Park. It’s a statement for the team, who previously had the WSL’s smallest capacity ground.
Their manager Brian Sorensen is the second-longest serving manager in the league, and Everton will look to draw on all his squad and tactical knowledge to keep them competitive for another year.
Star Player: Courtney Brosnan, Goalkeeper (Ireland)
One to Watch: Ornella Vignola, Forward (Spain)
Bloomsbury predicts: 10th – lower in the table but not in danger territory.
Leicester City
It’s never a good sign when, just 11 days before the season starts, your manager is sacked. Leicester face that exact problem now that Amandine Miquel has departed.
It’s made worse by the fact that the many outgoings have not been adequately replaced. A disastrous year could be on the horizon for the Midlands club.
Star Player: Hannah Cain, Forward (Wales)
One to Watch: Nelly Las, Defender (England)
Bloomsbury predicts: 12th – a relegation playoff seems sadly inevitable.
Liverpool
Another team with a new coach, Gareth Taylor will seek to develop a trophy-challenging squad for 25/26. Two seasons ago, they finished 4th but struggled to maintain that momentum last time around.
Having sold their star to Arsenal for a record fee of £1m, they’ll look to reinvest the funds wisely to help them improve their standing.
Star Player: Marie Hobinger, Midfielder (Austria)
One to Watch: Sam Kerr (a different one!), Midfielder (Scotland)
Bloomsbury predicts: 9th – not one to remember for the red half of Merseyside.
London City Lionesses
Where to start. The newly promoted Lionesses are blessed with an ambitious owner, Michele Kang, who is not afraid to throw money at her squad to help them compete.
A brand new training facility, lots of new faces and a fighting spirit mean that manager Jocelyn Precheur could exceed reasonable expectations this year. Don’t be surprised if they’re competing with the big teams from day one.
Star Player: Danielle van de Donk, Midfielder (Netherlands)
One to Watch: Jana Fernandez, Defender (Spain)
Bloomsbury predicts: 6th – impressive, bold and redefining what modern women’s football is.
Manchester City
Three seasons without a trophy for one of the league’s top teams is a tough reality to swallow. New head coach Andree Jeglertz will have a mission to motivate the players to regroup and try again.
Luckily, there’s plenty for fans to be excited about. Between superstars Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Vivianne Miedema and Yui Hasegawa, they’ll still be confident of being in the title conversation for the majority of the season.
Star Player: Khadija Shaw, Forward (Jamaica)
One to Watch: Khiara Keating, Goalkeeper (England)
Bloomsbury predicts: 3nd – Close, again, but no cigar for Manchester City.
Manchester United
United’s squad on their day are capable of great things. But, hitting that level consistently is one of the biggest challenges and will be forefront of mind for manager Marc Skinner.
A stacked midfield, consisting of Lionesses Ella Toone and Grace Clinton, Lisa Naalsund, Hinata Miyazawa and Julia Olme, will be essential if they want to compete at the very top of the table.
Star Player: Fridolina Rolfo, Defender (Sweden)
One to Watch: Grace Clinton, Midfielder (England)
Bloomsbury predicts: 4th – not enough to challenge for the title, but the best of the rest.
Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs faced adversity last time out, with their lowest finish since gaining promotion to the WSL in 2019. New management and the addition of Toko Koga in defence will give fans hope of a more successful 2025/26.
Going forward, reliance will be placed on Jess Naz and Beth England to do what they do best – put the ball in the net.
Star Player: Molly Bartrip, Defender (England)
One to Watch: Drew Spence, Forward (Ghana)
Bloomsbury predicts: 8th – an improvement on last year’s battles.
West Ham United
Staying in the division will certainly be West Ham’s priority for this season. Not blessed with enormous investment, they’ll hope to emulate the ninth placed finish that kept them up last time.
Manager Rehanne Skinner will want her players to block out the noise around the club’s potential sale to US investors, and focus instead on their opening weekend fixtures – which include a possibly season defining match up with Spurs in Gameweek 2.
Star Player: Katrina Gorry, Midfielder (Australia)
One to Watch: Ffion Morgan, Forward (Wales)
Bloomsbury predicts: 11th – clinging on, but only just.
What do you make of our predictions? Agree or disagree? Either way, we hope that you feel more prepared for the new Premier League Season. We can’t wait to see you again on the pitch! 💥