Manchester United Struggles as Chelsea Dominates and Stanway Shines for Arsenal

Manchester United were supposed to be climbing.

A first major trophy in 2024. A Champions League quarter-final at the first attempt. Under Marc Skinner, the trajectory looked clear: upward, steady, ambitious. United had finally taken their place among the serious operators of the women’s game.

That feels like a different era already.

Skinner has gone. Eva Olid has walked into the job and straight into a storm. Two games into the new Women’s Super League season, United sit bottom of the table, with an uglier goal difference than newly promoted Charlton. After years of careful building, the structure is starting to look like a façade.

This is their longest winless league run since the club reformed in 2018 – six matches without victory. The sample size this season is small, but the warning signs are not. Two chastening performances, two heavy blows to a new manager’s authority.

Chelsea 5-0 United was more than a defeat. It was an exposure.

Olid did not sugar-coat the mood. She spoke about “heads down” after the hammering, and the need to lift them. She has no choice but to stand firm now, yet the questions she might be asking behind closed doors are legitimate.

Because the problems did not start with her.

United’s lack of conviction on the pitch mirrors a broader unease around the club’s commitment to their women’s programme. Investment has stalled. Ambition feels diluted. The summer pivot towards youth development – cheaper, more patient, less proven – was framed as a strategic shift. It also helped nudge Skinner towards the exit, even if it was labelled a mutual separation.

He had been clear enough: he wanted more tools, more backing, more ready-made quality. Those calls met resistance. The squad Olid has inherited is the product of that stand-off.

The numbers are damning. United have equalled the record for the fewest shots taken by a non-newly promoted side across the first two games of a WSL season, matching Leicester’s tally last term. Leicester went down.

There is always turbulence under a new manager. Shapes change, roles shift, automatisms disappear. Yet some patterns are depressingly familiar. United have now tried 14 times to beat Chelsea in the WSL. They have failed 14 times.

They do not beat Chelsea.

They also do not usually lose by five. That is what makes this feel so stark. The base Skinner laid, the defensive solidity, the sense of a team that knew itself – all of it looks fragile now. Next up? Arsenal, live on Sky Sports next Saturday. United need improvements everywhere. Picking a starting point is almost impossible.

Olid cannot allow this to slide any further. Because if this is not a spiral yet, it is beginning to look very much like one.

Is James really Chelsea’s No 9 answer?

Chelsea, by contrast, responded like champions who have had their pride bruised.

After a flat 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on the opening weekend, questions circled around Sonia Bompastor’s new-look side. Had the edge dulled? Was the press as sharp, the attack as ruthless? United walked into the response.

This was Chelsea at their most unforgiving. The gulf in class was obvious, but the attitude made it brutal. Bompastor talked about respecting opponents by scoring as many as possible when the opportunity arises. Her players listened.

They did not just beat United. They dismantled them.

Lauren James sat at the heart of it all again. She remains Chelsea’s cheat code, the player who bends games to her will. Yet this time she had company in that bracket. Keira Walsh dictated the rhythm, taking charge of the game’s tempo. Sjoeke Nusken and Wieke Kaptein imposed themselves physically and technically, topping the duel count and setting a platform that United simply could not disrupt.

Out wide, the full-backs turned the screw. Katie McCabe and Ellie Carpenter ran relentlessly beyond, stretching the pitch and ripping open the spaces James craves in central areas. From deeper, Lucy Bronze stepped out from centre-back to slide passes into the final third, turning defence into attack with a single swing of her right foot.

And when the ball arrived in those advanced pockets, James made it stick.

She has fired off 19 shots across Chelsea’s first two league games – more than anyone else in the division. It is the output of a forward who feels the game belongs to her, whether she starts wide or, as now, in that false 9 role.

Bompastor has found a powerful contingency plan. When injuries or form strip Chelsea of orthodox strikers, James can carry the load through the middle. But it is a card the head coach will need to play carefully. Lean on it too often and the unpredictability that makes James so dangerous risks becoming a pattern opponents can prepare for.

Arsenal await. Then Lyon in the Champions League. Neither will be as obliging as United. Chelsea have sent a message, but the real examination of this shape, and James’ credentials as a long-term central spearhead, is only just beginning.

Stanway’s new dimension

Amid the noise at the top, another story is quietly taking shape in north London.

Georgia Stanway has come back to the WSL a different midfielder to the one who left for Bayern Munich in 2022. Her aggression, her engine, her leadership – those were already well known. What stands out now is the range and precision of her passing.

It has been on display for England in recent years. Now Arsenal are the beneficiaries.

On her league debut for the Gunners, Stanway completed 98 passes. Across the opening two matchweeks, only Liverpool centre-back Grace Fisk has made more than her 194. The detail matters: 91 of those balls have gone into the final third, the highest figure in the league by a distance.

That changes the geometry of Arsenal’s attack.

Previously, too much of the creative burden in central areas fell on Mariona Caldentey. If she was crowded out, Arsenal’s play could slow, become predictable. Stanway’s distribution offers an escape route. She can break lines from deeper, feed between the lines, or switch play early, forcing defences to constantly adjust.

Against Crystal Palace, she carved out four chances – more than enough for Arsenal to have found a breakthrough. Alessia Russo, usually so clinical, was wasteful by her standards. The finishing touch deserted them, but the supply line looked strong, repeatable, sustainable.

That is the significance here.

Stanway is not just adding neat passes; she is giving Arsenal a new axis. With her on the ball, they should rarely be far from goal or short of ideas. In a title race that already feels like it will punish any hesitation, that kind of control from midfield might prove the difference between another near-miss and something more substantial.