After a terrible no good very bad autumn that saw Liverpool’s women’s team languishing in last place and consensus favourites to end up relegated from the Women’s Super League when everything was said and done with the 2025-26 season, their second half turnaround has been noteworthy.
Heading into the weekend, they knew a result against West Ham—who started the matchweek four points back of them in 11th while the Reds sat 10th—would guarantee their survival with two games left to play. They failed
to do that, losing 1-0 on Sunday. In the end, though, last place Leicester City’s loss on Wednesday means that it doesn’t matter.
Today, officially, Liverpool Women have survived the 2025-26 season after Arsenal hung seven on Leicester and kept the Foxes eight back of the Reds and with now just two games left to play. Despite the unfortunate stumble for Liverpool against West Ham, the Reds are safe, though that stumble is still somewhat disappointing.
“We weren’t as aggressive enough like we normally have been,” manager Gareth Taylor reflected on the weekend’s poor but ultimately inconsequential result. “We were second in the duels and just allowed West Ham to gain territory. We conceded a really poor goal as we didn’t attack the ball well enough from their corner and from then on we gave ourselves an uphill battle.
“I said to the players we had to be better in our duels, it’s a simple fact of football that you are not going to win any game if you are not able to compete, run, sprint, and win duels. I know it must have been very frustrating for our fans to watch.
“We have to put that right to give ourselves a chance to be successful. There is plenty to work on and it’s a little setback after the positive run that we have been on, but we are really honest in our appraisals and our reviews and we’ll be working hard this week to put things right.”
Putting things right on the results side of the ledger will perhaps be easier said than done, with league leaders Manchester City up next and then a final weekend date with perennial powerhouse Arsenal, which is what made the West Ham match seemingly so important—and the 1-0 defeat to them on the weekend so disappointing.
In the end, though, thanks to Arsenal beating Leicester 7-0, it doesn’t really matter, the pressure is now fully off, and all that’s left is to enjoy the final two games of the season knowing Liverpool Women have survived thanks to a second half of the season that suggests that just maybe they can be competitive next year.
