West Ham and Liverpool remain pointless this season after seven games, but they can take solace from the fact that the four teams with the worst starts in Women’s Super League history all avoided relegation.
The Hammers suffered their seventh defeat of the season with a narrow 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Saturday.
Liverpool are without a point after six games following their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham. Gareth Taylor’s side have played one game fewer due to the postponement of their clash with Aston Villa.
Fans of West Ham and Liverpool will be fearing relegation after their poor starts to the campaign. However, in all four previous instances where a side had 0 points after seven games, they avoided relegation.
Two of those instances were from merit alone, while the other two were due to teams finishing above them getting relegated instead because of off-pitch issues.
Below, SheKicks looks at the 10 worst starts to a WSL season after seven games before this campaign, and whether they avoided relegation
The 10 worst starts to a season in Women’s Super League history
10. Everton – 2 points (2014) – relegated
Starting off the top 10 for the worst starts to a season in Women’s Super League history are Everton, who picked up just two points from their opening seven games in 2014.
The Toffees held Birmingham City and Bristol City to draws but suffered defeats to Notts County, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
On paper, it was a side that should not have been relegated as it featured the likes of Alex Greenwood, Nikita Parris and Millie Turner.
The Toffees even managed to reach the Women’s FA Cup final that year, where they lost 2-0 to Arsenal.
However, they failed to win a single game in the WSL and were relegated with four points.
9. Bristol Academy – 2 points (2015) – relegated
Bristol City (then known as Bristol Academy) also took just two points from their opening seven games in the 2015 season.
They earned their points in draws with Birmingham City and Arsenal but suffered five defeats, including heavy losses to Chelsea (4-0 and 4-1) and Notts County (5-2).
In the same year, Bristol made the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League, where they lost 12-0 on aggregate to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bristol had made the Champions League thanks to their second-place finish in 2013, but they declined over the following two years and were relegated in 2015 with eight points.
Again, Bristol had some notable players in their squad, including Mary Earps. The former England goalkeeper has faced media furore over comments about Hannah Hampton in her upcoming autobiography.
8. Doncaster Rovers Belles – 2 points (2013) – relegated
Doncaster Rovers Belles scored just three goals and conceded 20 during their horrible start to the 2013 WSL season.
They were thrashed 6-0 by Arsenal, lost 4-0 twice to Chelsea, and also suffered defeats to Bristol Academy and Birmingham City.
Doncaster did take a point away in draws against Notts County and Everton, and were relegated with six points in 14 games.
This is not the first time that they will be included in this list.
7. Bristol City Women – 2 points (2020-21) – relegated
The fourth team on this list is Bristol City Women, who lost 8-1 to Manchester City and 9-0 Chelsea in their opening nine games of the season.
Bristol conceded 28 goals in their opening five matches alone, which also included defeats to Everton (4-0), Arsenal (3-1) and Birmingham City (4-0).
They concluded their opening seven games with draws against Tottenham and Reading, but then lost their next four games.
Bristol head coach Tanya Oxtoby stepped down to take maternity leave in January 2021, and they did improve under maternity cover Matt Beard.
However, they were still relegated on 12 points, two fewer than Birmingham City, who are next on this list.
6. Birmingham City – 1 point (2021-22) – survived
After narrowly avoiding relegation the season prior, Birmingham City were relegated in 2021-22, largely due to a miserable start to the season.
The Blues took just one point from their first seven games in a 1-1 draw against West Ham.
In that time, they also suffered defeats to Tottenham, Brighton, Everton, Manchester United, Reading and Aston Villa.
Birmingham finished the season with seven points from their final five games. If they had discovered that form earlier, they might have finished ahead of Leicester, who took just one point from their final seven games.
This season, they currently sit second in the WSL2 standings, which could be enough to get promoted, due to the WSL’s expansion to 14 teams next season.
5. Liverpool – 1 point (2019-20) – relegated
Liverpool won two WSL titles in the 2010s under the guidance of Beard, who tragically passed away in September.
However, in 2019-20, they took just one point from their opening seven games and were relegated with just six points.
The Reds took a point against Bristol City, but failed to score a goal in six matches. Liverpool lost 1-0 to Reading, Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal, and 2-0 to Manchester United and Birmingham City.
It was a bizarre season which ended early due to the coronavirus pandemic. The FA decided to rank the final table on a points-per-game basis as the 12 teams played a different number of matches.
This led to Chelsea being crowned as champions despite having one point fewer than Manchester City, as they also played one game fewer.
4. Leicester City – o points (2022-23) – survived
The top four sides in this list all avoided relegation despite taking zero points from their opening seven games. Those four sides are ranked from fourth to first on goal difference.
In 2022-23, the Foxes conceded two goals and conceded 16 during their opening seven games. In that time, they lost to Tottenham, Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United, Reading and Arsenal.
Things got worse, as they then suffered a 1-0 loss to West Ham and an 8-0 thrashing by Chelsea.
However, the Foxes would go on to win five games and take one draw from their remaining games, finishing 10th on 16 points.
Reading, who beat Leicester during the opening stages of the season, were ultimately relegated with 11 points.
3. Leicester City – 0 points (2021-22) – survived
Their feat of 2022-23 was a miraculous repeat of what they had accomplished just one season prior.
In 2021-22, Leicester avoided relegation despite losing their opening seven games and taking just one point from their final seven.
The Foxes conceded 18 goals and scored just three, as they suffered defeats to Aston Villa, Manchester United, West Ham, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Brighton.
Their heaviest defeat in that time was a 4-0 loss to West Ham, while they agonisingly conceded a 93rd-minute goal in a 1-0 defeat to Brighton.
Despite starting and finishing the season poorly, Leicester survived thanks to a run of four wins in six games during the middle of the season.
2. Doncaster – 0 points (2016) – finished bottom but not relegated
Doncaster are the third team with zero points from their opening seven games. That list could jump to six if Liverpool fail to beat Brighton in their next game.
Liverpool have still only played six games after the postponement of their game with Aston Villa.
Doncaster scored three goals and conceded 23 during their opening seven games of the 2016 season. That run included a 6-0 defeat to Manchester City and 4-0 losses to Sunderland and Chelsea.
Like Leicester in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Doncaster avoided relegation, but this was despite finishing bottom of the table with only three points.
That was due to Notts County, who had finished sixth with 16 points, folding at the end of the season.
1. Yeovil Town – 0 points (2017-18) – finished bottom but not relegated
Yeovil Town not only have one of the worst starts to a season in Women’s Super League history, but hold the worst record since the league’s inception.
In the opening seven games, Yeovil failed to score a goal and conceded 25 in defeats to Manchester City, Bristol City, Sunderland, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool and Birmingham City.
That run included an 8-0 loss to Liverpool and a 6-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Yeovil lost their opening 12 games and scored their first goal in a 3-1 defeat to Everton, on Matchday 15.
Despite a record of two draws and 16 defeats, and a goal difference of -52, Yeovil escaped relegation. Sunderland, who finished with 16 points, did not apply for a licence and were relegated to the FA Women’s National League.
The following season, Yeovil were handed a 10-point deduction for entering administration and relegated with -3 points.
