London City Lionesses defender Poppy Pattinson says the club wants to make history in their first season in the Women’s Super League.
Pattinson signed for the newly promoted Lionesses on a free transfer from Brighton earlier this summer.
The 25-year-old is one of 14 signings that the ambitious club have made ahead of their debut season in the top flight of women’s football.
That list includes former Brighton teammate Nikita Parris, midfielder Danielle van de Donk and defender Jana Fernandez from Barcelona.
The Lionesses will be hoping to start off their campaign with a massive upset, when they face European champions Arsenal on Saturday.
What Poppy Pattinson said ahead of London City Lionesses’ first WSL match
Poppy Pattinson said the London City Lionesses want to make history by being the first women’s only football club to be successful in the Women’s Super League.
The London City Lionesses are the only side in the top flight that don’t also have a men’s team.
“We want to make history in terms of being the first women’s only club to be successful in the WSL, that’s the main headline in this,” Pattinson told WSL Full Time.
NEWS: 'We want to make history' – Pattinson discusses London City Lionesses' historic WSL campaign: https://t.co/Di09qZtMEp #LCL
— WSL Full-Time (@WSLFullTime) September 3, 2025
“We’ve worked hard in pre-season and new signings have been coming in, so it’s difficult to talk about points in particular. We just want to all come together on our game plan and once that is strong and set, we can start talking about targets. I think game-by-game will work best for us.”
The London City Lionesses are hoping to avoid the same struggles that promoted sides have encountered in the WSL over recent seasons.
She added: “It’s well-known that teams that come up are prime candidates to go back down. We definitely don’t want to be that and we accept that we will be the underdog in most games this year but we want to change that quickly. We start with a big game [against Arsenal] and we want to do our best.”
When does the new Women’s Super League season start?
The London City Lionesses kick off their first season back in the Women’s Super League against Arsenal on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium.
Chelsea officially open the season on Friday night in a stern test against Manchester City.
The Lionesses face a tricky first month to the season, which also includes fixtures against Manchester United, Everton and Manchester City.
Pattinson’s side have until 11pm on Thursday if they want to make any more signings.
The club admitted their interest in Beth Mead, but the England international looks likely to remain at Arsenal.
