Best of Three: Are teams right to be sticking to their guns in the big games?

Plus Beth Mead being back in the goals and Chelsea's high-risk strategy

This season’s WSL feels like one of the most tactically diverse yet. It is noticeable that, unlike in past seasons, teams outside of the top four are continuing to implement their style of football even in matches against the very best teams. Tottenham suffered their heaviest ever WSL defeat at the hands of Manchester City this weekend, losing 7-0 as they stuck with their game plan despite being 3-0 down at half-time.

After the match, manager Robert Vilahamn said: "I’m taking the blame for the result. I’m never going to blame the players. They tried their best, according to my tactics. They are good people and good players. I need to be a good leader now”.

Spurs were limited by recent injuries to Olga Ahinten and Drew Spence but Vilahamn obviously wanted to continue the stylistic strides they have made this season. They are putting together more passes per sequence, and not playing the ball upfield as fast. That has moved them much closer to the playing styles of teams like Arsenal and Manchester United.

After seven games

Leicester have taken a similar approach this season. They collapsed to a 6-2 defeat against Arsenal as a result of their high line, and were 2-0 down to Chelsea after five minutes this weekend. But they kept up with their direct pressing style and it caused Chelsea issues. Despite the WSL Champions eventually winning 5-2, they conceded twice as a result of Leicester’s willingness to carry on following their game plan and attempt to get back into the game.

For Tottenham, heading into the international break after such a result is probably a blessing in disguise. On the face of it, they are being well-prepared for the matches against teams in and around them; the only two games they have lost in the WSL this season have been against City and Chelsea. The break will give them time to reflect on the result but they return to face Manchester United and Arsenal in back to back home games. It will be intriguing to see whether their commitment helps them get a result in either of those.

How does Beth Mead impact the way that Arsenal want to play?

Beth Mead’s initial return to the pitch for Arsenal was emphatic as she assisted their winner against Aston Villa at the Emirates back at the start of October. But over the past couple of weeks, she has returned to the starting line-up and we have begun to get a sense of how she is going to fit in this Arsenal side. Mead’s absence has coincided with a pretty large amount of upheaval around Arsenal’s starting line-up. None of Victoria Pelova, Kyra Cooney-Cross or Alessia Russo were even at the club when Mead did her ACL injury, all of whom she started alongside against West Ham on Sunday.

Mead’s two goals in that game felt like an important marker in her return to full fitness. The first in particular was a reminder of the quality as she cut in from the left and curled the ball into the top corner. It was her first goal in 428 days and with her second, she became the second player to reach 100 WSL goal contributions after Vivianne Miedema.

Mead plays with a directness that should dovetail well with Alessia Russo. Russo is a player who is great at vacating space, whether that is dropping deep or moving out wide, whilst Mead has the directness of a striker even as she comes off of the right wing. Mead’s second goal saw Russo latching onto a loose ball out wide with Mead ready and waiting on the penalty spot to finish off the cut back. She offers Arsenal far more variety in attack and the value Eidevall places on this kind of movement was clear with the way Cloe Lacasse was targeted in January before being recruited in the summer. 

Now with both those players available, Arsenal are finding themselves with a squad with a variety of attacking options. The visit of Chelsea after the international break will be their biggest test yet.

Will Chelsea’s high-risk high-reward tactics continue to pay off?

Chelsea’s 5-2 win over Leicester means that they continue to be the WSL’s only unbeaten side this season but there were certainly wobbles in that match. Despite some breathtaking displays against teams like Aston Villa and Liverpool, matches against Brighton and Leicester have shown that this team can be got at. Chelsea have the best expected goal difference per 90 in the league by some way, with 2.00. Arsenal are behind them with 1.6, and they have the slightly better defence with an expected goals against of 6.4 vs Chelsea’s 6.8. Where Chelsea are dominating right now is in attack. 

There is a sense that this Chelsea team are willing to sacrifice some openness at the back in favour of being able to create lots of opportunities going forward. That can be seen in the decision to use Johanna Ryting Kaneryd as a quasi-wing-back for large parts of the season, with Eve Perisset or Ashley Lawrence as a right-sided centre-back/right-back. It is an exciting system that has brought dividends for a team with a very diverse set of goal scorers so far this season.

Whether that openness will hold up against better teams remains to be seen however. Chelsea are yet to play Arsenal or Manchester United this season and despite their strong start, they have been without key players. Guro Reiten and Melanie Leupolz have been absent for a number of weeks whilst Millie Bright is now out for an indeterminate length of time with a recurrence of the knee problem that saw her miss the end of last season. Without Bright, Chelsea have played either Maren Mjelde or Kadeisha Buchanan in combination with Jess Carter. Carter herself has looked shaky without Bright alongside her and there is a feeling that neither Buchanan nor the lesser-spotted Aniek Nouwen is truly trusted. Regardless of how good Chelsea look going forward, there are still players who can be got at.