Every Manchester United Women brief The Playbook has printed, newest first — 16 editions so far. Plus the 6 Ledger calls this paper put in print on them, graded. The Archive runs two days behind the paper.
Julia Zigiotti Olme came off the bench to score the only goal as Manchester United Women won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday 8 November, BBC Sport reports. United are 5th on 15 points. The win left them unbeaten in five matches: a 3-1 win at Charlton on 18 October, a 1-1 draw with Manchester City on 25 October, a 3-0 League Cup win over Burnley on 28 October, a 0-0 draw at Everton on 31 October and the win at Villa. Mared Griffiths leads the scoring with six goals in all competitions, and Lea Schüller has five. The next game is Crystal Palace at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday 14 November at 7:45 am ET. The home fixture is the next chance to keep the run going.
Substitute Julia Zigiotti Olme came off the bench to score the only goal as Manchester United beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park on Sunday 8 November, per BBC Sport, a result that followed a 0-0 draw at Everton on Saturday 31 October and gave United clean sheets in two straight league games. United are 5th in the Women's Super League on 15 points after nine games, with four wins, three draws and two defeats. Mared Griffiths leads the scoring list with six goals in seven appearances, and Lea Schüller has five. Crystal Palace visit Leigh Sports Village on Saturday 14 November at 07:45 ET, giving United a home game against a side that sits 10th on 9 points, lower in the table than United.
Ten matches unbeaten in all competitions is a real number. The 0-0 away draw at Goodison Park on Saturday is what it looks like in practice — and those two things sit in tension. Per The Guardian, United barely troubled Everton's goalkeeper in the first 75 minutes, the kind of creative absence that a 10-game run can quietly absorb until it cannot. The standard for a club with United's investment in this squad is not surviving; it is generating. Mared Griffiths carries six goals this season across the Women's Super League and League Cup, Lea Schüller five, yet neither could unlock a game United needed to win to keep pressure on the top four. They sit fifth on 12 points, one behind Tottenham, with Aston Villa — nine on ten points, with five goals conceded more than they have scored — arriving at Villa Park on Sunday as a fixture United will be expected to convert.
# Manchester United Women held by Everton before Aston Villa trip
Manchester United Women drew 0-0 away to Everton on Saturday, October 31, following a 1-1 Women's Super League draw with Manchester City six days earlier. The club have been unbeaten across the five most recent matches, but the two league draws have limited their progress in the table.
The recent sequence includes two Women's League Cup victories: 3-0 at home to Burnley on October 28 and 5-3 away to Liverpool on October 21. United also beat Charlton Athletic 3-1 away in the Women's Super League on October 18. Those cup wins belong to a different competition and do not add league points, even though they contribute to the broader unbeaten run.
United sit fifth in the Women's Super League with 12 points from eight games, having won three, drawn three and lost two. They have scored nine league goals and conceded 11, a minus-two goal difference. The two recent league draws therefore matter because the club have not been turning every positive performance into three points.
Mared Griffiths leads United's individual scoring figures with six goals in seven appearances across all competitions in the totals. Lea Schüller has five goals in 12, while Rebeca Bernal has three in eight. Julia Zigiotti Olme has three goals in nine, and Elisabeth Terland has three in eight. These are season contributions across competitions, not scorers from the Everton draw.
The Guardian's report describes manager Olid demanding improvement after the goalless result. The article's emphasis on progress fits a team that has avoided recent defeats but has also struggled to turn league fixtures into wins.
The next game is away to Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday, November 8, in the Women's Super League. United have won their latest away league match against Charlton, but Everton's draw shows why the next assignment cannot be taken for granted.
Kick-off against Aston Villa is at 7 a.m. ET on Sunday, November 8. Their league record reads three wins, three draws and two defeats from 8 matches, with 9 scored and 11 conceded for a goal difference of -2.
The club's cup results have been positive. The immediate challenge is to make the same momentum count more consistently in league points.
Manchester United Women drew 0-0 at Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday, a result BBC Sport said extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches in all competitions. The Guardian reported United barely tested Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan for 75 minutes, and quoted the head coach: "We need to be better."
The draw followed a 3-0 home win over Burnley in the League Cup and a 1-1 home draw with Manchester City at Leigh Sports Village, a comeback BBC Sport used to explain how United have turned around their WSL form since last month. United are fourth in the Women's Super League with 12 points from 3 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses, although their goal difference is -2. Mared Griffiths leads the club with 6 goals in 7 appearances, and Lea Schüller has 5.
Next is Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday 8 November. Villa are eighth with 9 points and have conceded 14 goals in seven games.
Manchester United beat Burnley 3-0 on Wednesday — this paper called that result and it delivered — but the performance standard that actually matters is Saturday at Goodison Park, where Everton sit two points and three places below United in the Women's Super League table. On balance, The Playbook expects Manchester United Women to win at Goodison Park, though Everton's seven goals across seven league games means they carry a threat United cannot dismiss. The tactical question from BBC Sport's post-match read of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Manchester City is the one that carries into this fixture: Eva Olid's side showed enough defensive resolve to stop City's perfect WSL run, but United's attacking output remains heavily concentrated — Mared Griffiths accounts for six goals across all competitions this season, with no other player past three. If Griffiths is contained, United must find a second route. Previous meetings offer some comfort: United have won all four across the last two seasons, including a 4-1 away win in October 2025, but form in this competition is the more relevant measure.
Elisabeth Terland's 89th-minute equaliser — her third goal across all competitions this season — salvaged a point from the 1-1 home draw with Manchester City at Leigh Sports Village, and this paper called Manchester City to win that match. They didn't. Per BBC Sport, it was the strongest performance yet under head coach Eva Olid, a team that held its shape and forced its way back into a game against the WSL's form side. The standard Olid is building toward is being met in moments, if not yet consistently across 90 minutes. Manchester United win over Burnley in Wednesday's Women's League Cup at Leigh Sports Village. Burnley are not in the WSL table, so the matchup carries no league-table weight, but a home cup fixture two days after a taxing derby is the kind of performance test that separates rotation depth from wishful thinking. Mared Griffiths, with six goals in six appearances across the WSL and League Cup this season, is the player this squad is most dependent on in those moments. The one concrete test: whether United can get through a full 90 without leaning on a late goal to settle it.
Manchester City arrive at Leigh Sports Village on Sunday having won all six of their league matches this season, scoring 19 and conceding 8 — they sit 8 points clear of United at the top of the WSL table. That is the standard Sunday's performance will be measured against, and on balance, The Playbook expects City to win. United have found form across their last three results — the 3-1 away win over Charlton Athletic and then the 5-3 away win over Liverpool in the League Cup showed Mared Griffiths in particular carrying attacking threat, with 6 goals in 5 appearances across the WSL and League Cup this season against 3 for the next-highest contributors. But Griffiths' six goals represent the extent of United's attacking concentration: when she is kept quiet, United's forward returns thin quickly. City's defensive record — 8 goals conceded across 6 WSL games — suggests they have the structure to do exactly that. History sharpens the picture: United have lost the two most recent meetings 0-3 each time. Whether United can break that pattern at home is the one concrete test Sunday offers.
Mared Griffiths has scored 6 goals in five appearances across the Women's Super League and League Cup this season — double the next-highest scorer in this squad. On Sunday, that concentration meets a Manchester City side that has won all six of its league games, scored 19 and conceded 8. The Playbook expects a Manchester City win at Leigh Sports Village. That verdict is uncomfortable to file for United's readers, but the table gap is 8 points across the same number of games played, and United have conceded three goals in each of the two most recent meetings against City, the 0-3 home loss in March and the 0-3 away loss in November. The 5-3 away win over Liverpool two days ago tells you the goals are flowing in both directions when United attack freely, and Griffiths and Julia Zigiotti Olme — 3 goals of her own this season — will find space if City commit bodies forward. Whether United can tighten the defensive side enough to stay competitive through 90 minutes is the one concrete test Sunday answers.
Three goals in 31 minutes at The Valley set the standard United brought into Sunday's fixture — and they met it, taking the 3-1 away win over Charlton Athletic to make it three wins from three across all competitions. This paper called a clean sheet and missed; Charlton's Leah Davidson pulled one back in the 13th minute to prevent it. The wins, however, keep coming.
Tonight's League Cup tie at St Helens Stadium against Liverpool is the first real test of whether United can perform at this level against a side with genuine points in the table. Liverpool sit seventh with seven points from six WSL games, three fewer than United's ten. That gap is tight enough to matter. The Playbook expects United to win in St Helens on Wednesday — the current attacking form, nine goals scored across these last three fixtures with only two conceded, tips the balance. Julia Zigiotti Olme and Ella Toone each carry season totals of three and two goals respectively across the Women's Super League and League Cup, and that front-to-middle output is the reason United go in as the stronger side. How Liverpool contain it decides the night.
Charlton Athletic have lost all five of their Women's Super League games this season, conceding 15 goals and collecting zero points — and Manchester United, seven places and seven points above them in the table, are the standard against which that record will be judged on Sunday when United make the trip to The Valley. The Playbook predicts a United win and a clean sheet. Three wins from three across the last three completed games, with eight goals scored and two conceded, set the expectation Eva Olid carries into this fixture, per BBC Sport's profile of a manager who built her approach around possession and building from the goalkeeper — a style that should be well suited to an opponent yet to find the defensive organisation to hold a lead. Julia Zigiotti Olme opened the scoring inside six minutes in the 1-0 home win over Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village; Mared Griffiths and Rebeca Bernal, who between them account for seven goals in the Women's Super League and League Cup this season, are the pressure United will carry into The Valley. The real test is whether that attacking performance sustains away from home.
Seven games into Eva Olid's tenure, the standard Manchester United Women now carry into Sunday is straightforward: three wins in a row, eight goals scored across those fixtures, two conceded. That is the performance Olid — who per BBC Sport favours a possession-based style built from the goalkeeper — was appointed to produce. The Playbook predicts United win at The Valley. Charlton Athletic sit bottom of the Women's Super League, five games played, no points, fifteen goals conceded, two scored; United travel there as a team with genuine momentum in their scoring. Mared Griffiths leads both competitions with four goals in four appearances, Rebeca Bernal has added three from defence in five, and Julia Zigiotti Olme — whose sixth-minute finish secured the 1-0 home win over Liverpool — brings two herself. Charlton's defensive record makes the case for United, but Olid's real test is not the result; it is whether the standard holds on an away pitch, against a side with nothing to protect, in front of fewer than four thousand supporters. How United manage that — the performance, not just the scoreline — is what Sunday actually measures.
Three straight wins at a standard that genuinely tests the squad — and Sunday at The Valley will reveal whether United can maintain it without Leigh Sports Village's help. Julia Zigiotti Olme's sixth-minute finish settled the 1-0 home win over Liverpool on 3 October, the club's 250th fixture in its history per BBC Sport, and it was the kind of performance that asked United to defend an early lead rather than build from equal footing. That they did so, conceding just twice across the three-match run while scoring eight, tells you something about the defensive organisation. What it does not yet tell you is whether United can impose the same shape on the road. Charlton arrive at The Valley having lost all five of their opening fixtures and conceded 15 goals, a record that invites United to be direct and aggressive in the final third. Mared Griffiths's four goals in four appearances across the WSL and League Cup make her the most productive forward in the squad by that measure. Whether that output travels is Sunday's question.
Three wins across the last three matches — 8 goals scored, 2 conceded — set a standard that the first weeks of the season did not. The mechanism behind it is worth understanding, because it is specific: Mared Griffiths, who has four goals in four appearances across the Women's Super League and League Cup this season, provides United with central midfield output most WSL sides do not get from that position. Rebeca Bernal, a defender with three goals from five appearances, adds a threat opponents cannot account for in the way they would a forward. That combination means goals are arriving from unconventional roles, which makes United harder to read. This paper said yesterday that three league wins from five was close but not yet confirmed; two of those wins are now banked, with seventh place and seven points the current league position. Sunday's trip to face Charlton Athletic at The Valley, where the hosts have conceded 15 goals in five games and have yet to take a point, is the first test of whether that recent production holds against a side structured to invite pressure.
Three league wins from five — the standard this investment demands — is close but not yet confirmed. What the 1-0 home win over Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village does confirm, per BBC Sport, is that Manchester United Women marked their 250th club fixture by holding a sharper opponent to nothing, finding a goal, and not conceding one. That is the pattern across the recent three: 8 goals scored, 2 conceded, and Mared Griffiths leading the contributors with 4 goals across the combined WSL and League Cup competitions. The mechanism is a front line that creates separation — Lea Schüller and Elisabeth Terland both on 2 goals each, Rebeca Bernal contributing 3 from defence — without a single result leaning on individual heroics. Sunday 18 October at The Valley should widen the argument: Charlton carry five losses and a goal difference of -13, and that is the standard a side building momentum needs to convert into a definitive three points.
Seven points from five league games is a modest return, and the shape underneath it is lopsided. Manchester United Women average 1.00 goals scored and concede 1.80 per game in the Women's Super League, so the table's goal difference of -4 is a defensive problem more than an attacking one. The 2-1 home win over West Ham United and the 1-0 home win over Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village arrived with 43.6% possession and 2.80 shots on target per game. That points to a side winning through efficiency, with Mared Griffiths on 4G and Rebeca Bernal on 3G across the league and League Cup. At Charlton Athletic on Sunday 18 October, the gap is stark: they average 0.80 shots on target and have conceded 15 in five games. Whether United's possession share climbs against them is the test.