What the first five rounds of the WSL have shown us

Five rounds into the new Women's Super League season, there have already been plenty of surprises for fans and pundits alike. With players away on international duty, it's a good moment to look back at the stories shaping the early weeks of England's top flight.

Pelova on Fire!

Before the season began, most predictions for the WSL Golden Boot revolved around familiar names. Bunny Shaw, Alessia Russo, or perhaps even Alexia Putellas, now playing for London City Lionesses, were among the most obvious candidates. Victoria Pelova, who had spent much of her recent career away from the spotlight, was hardly at the top of anyone's list.

Pelova's career had been disrupted by a serious injury that kept her out for almost a year. Even after returning to fitness, opportunities at Arsenal remained limited, something the Dutch midfielder herself had expressed frustration about earlier this year. With her contract expiring at the end of the season, her decision to leave Arsenal and join Tottenham Hotspur hardly came as a surprise.

What has been surprising, however, is just how quickly she has found her feet at Spurs. Five games into the season, Pelova has already recorded five goals and one assist, surpassing her entire attacking output during her time at Arsenal. For a player who struggled to secure consistent minutes, the change of environment appears to have made all the difference.

And her form hasn't been limited to club football. Pelova carried that momentum into the international break, scoring her first hattrick for the Netherlands against Hungary.

It's still early in the season, but her performances are already raising an interesting question: how much of a player's potential can remain hidden simply because the circumstances around them aren't quite right?

Océane Hurtré's Breakthrough Earns Her a France Call-Up

Victoria Pelova isn't the only unexpected name sitting near the top of the WSL scoring charts. Alongside Bunny Shaw and Pelova, another player has emerged as one of the league's most productive forwards. And perhaps the most surprising part is the club she represents.

Birmingham City have only just returned to the WSL after almost five seasons in the second tier. Few expected the newly promoted side to make an immediate impact, and their early results have largely reflected the challenges of adapting to top-flight football.

The club currently sits 13th, a position that would leave them facing a relegation play-off. Yet amid Birmingham's difficult start, young French forward Océane Hurtré has been enjoying a remarkable individual campaign.

Hurtré arrived from Paris Saint-Germain last season, having struggled to establish herself in the French capital. She didn't score a league goal during her time at PSG, but her move to Birmingham offered an opportunity for a fresh start.

In WSL 2, she began finding the net and played a part in helping the club secure promotion. Now, she is carrying that goalscoring form into the top division. Her performances have not gone unnoticed beyond England, either. Hurtré's impressive start earned her a first call-up to the French national team, where she also managed to get on the scoresheet.

For Birmingham, her goals have become one of the few bright spots in an otherwise difficult opening to the season. For Hurtré herself, they represent a significant shift in a career that, not so long ago, appeared to have stalled.

Arsenal's Struggles Raise Questions About Slegers

While some players have exceeded expectations, Arsenal have found themselves in a very different position.

Despite a summer that brought several high-profile arrivals, including Georgia Stanway and Ona Batlle, the North London club have struggled to find consistency, particularly in front of goal. With just one league victory from their opening five matches, Arsenal currently sit tenth in the WSL table, a position few would have anticipated given the quality of their squad.

Their difficulties haven't been limited to domestic football.

In the Women's Champions League, Arsenal needed a late penalty to secure victory against semi-professional side HB Køge. Against Paris FC, they surrendered a two-goal lead and eventually had to settle for a draw.

Naturally, the disappointing results have led to growing scrutiny of head coach Renée Slegers. Among the concerns raised by supporters are her decisions to play certain players outside their natural positions, the timing and effectiveness of substitutions, and the limited opportunities given to Géraldine Reuteler and Selina Cerci.

Yet there is another side to Arsenal's difficult start.

During the international break, several of the club's players delivered impressive performances for their national teams, contributing goals and taking on important roles. Their individual quality clearly hasn't disappeared. One the other hand, one of the most important players, Mariona Caldentey, got injured in last league match against Manchester City, and remains sidelined until late November.

That contrast makes Arsenal's situation particularly interesting. If players can thrive internationally but struggle to reproduce those performances at club level, questions inevitably turn towards the system around them.

Of course, Arsenal also underwent significant changes over the summer, and building cohesion within a reshaped squad takes time. What currently looks like a worrying start could still prove to be a temporary period of adjustment.

For now, however, the pressure remains. One thing Arsenal can continue to rely on is their extraordinary fanbase. Even through disappointing performances and growing uncertainty, the connection between the club, its players and its supporters remains one of the strongest in the women's game. Whether that patience will be rewarded on the pitch is another question.

Manchester City Already Looking Like Title Favourites?

At the other end of the table, Manchester City have enjoyed an almost perfect start.

The defending WSL champions are the only side yet to drop a point, sitting two points clear of Chelsea after five rounds. That doesn't mean every victory has been entirely convincing.

Against Charlton, one of the league's struggling sides, City needed a direct free-kick from Alex Greenwood to secure the result. It was hardly the dominant performance many would have expected, but the three points mattered more than the manner in which they arrived.

Their meeting with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium offered a different kind of test.

Having fallen 1:2 behind, City responded with effective substitutions and eventually turned the game around to win 4:2. It was the kind of comeback that demonstrated not only the quality within the squad but also its ability to respond when a match begins slipping away.

Unsurprisingly, Bunny Shaw has once again been central to City's attacking success. The Jamaican striker remains one of the league's most reliable goalscorers, but she hasn't been carrying the responsibility alone. Lauren Hemp has also enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign, adding another dimension to City's attacking play.

Five games are far too few to draw definitive conclusions about a title race, particularly in a league where momentum can shift quickly. But City's ability to collect points even when performances fall short of expectations may prove just as important as their more convincing victories.

For now, they look well placed to defend their title. Still, if the opening five rounds have demonstrated anything, it's that preseason expectations rarely tell the whole story.