Liverpool Women Draw With Spurs After Promising Start
Heading into the 2026-27 campaign, Liverpool Women could be forgiven for circling their opening three fixtures and doing the maths. Newly promoted Charlton, mid-table Tottenham, and reigning FAWSL champions Manchester City. Four points from nine would have sounded sensible. Realistic. A platform.
Then came Charlton.
A ruthless 4-0 dismantling of the newcomers didn’t just tick the first box, it ripped it up and rewrote expectations. Liverpool looked sharp, confident, and far more polished than the side that laboured through last season. Suddenly, four points from three games felt like the bare minimum rather than the ceiling.
The 1-1 draw with Spurs in week two keeps them on that original track. It doesn’t quite fit the mood, though. Not after the performance they produced.
A Draw That Felt Like a Missed Chance
On Sunday, Liverpool had Tottenham pinned back for long stretches and walked away feeling they had left something out there. The numbers on the scoreboard said one point. The pattern of the game told a different story.
"I'm really proud of the performance," manager Gareth Taylor said afterwards. "I felt we were the better team. We improved second half, but I still felt we were probably the team that were looking more likely in the first. I think where we've just come up short today is our final action."
That final action haunted them. The build-up was there. The territory was there. The control was there. The finish, too often, was not.
Taylor watched his side squeeze Spurs deeper and deeper after the break. The pressure built, the ball barely leaving Tottenham’s half for long spells.
"For the amount of play that we had, it felt in the second half that Tottenham really couldn't get out of their half but only for a couple of moments," he said. "I'm really proud of the team and where we've taken it to now. I thought the goal was quality and I thought we could have had a penalty."
The sense of injustice over the penalty shout only sharpened the feeling that this should have been more than a draw. Yet it also underlined something else: Liverpool are now imposing themselves on games again, not simply clinging on.
Signs of a Different Season
Even if the opening three games end exactly where the pre-season target sat—four points—context matters. That total would already mark a clear step up from last year’s struggles. And that’s before you factor in how Liverpool have actually looked on the pitch, both in pre-season and across these first two league outings.
"There are a lot of elements of our game today that we're really satisfied with," Taylor added. "Tottenham are a good team. They're not going to give up the spaces easily and they wanted to be aggressive and change their press in the first half to try to stop us gaining so much ball."
Spurs adjusted. Liverpool adapted. The visitors tried to choke off possession, to disrupt the rhythm that has started to run through this side. For long spells, it didn’t work. Liverpool moved the ball, found angles, and kept asking questions.
The difference from last season is not just in the scorelines. It’s in the authority. The confidence. The sense that this team expects to dictate, not just survive.
City on the Horizon
Now comes the real test. A rare Friday night kickoff against Manchester City, the defending FAWSL champions and the benchmark Liverpool ultimately want to measure themselves against.
The original equation said four points from three games would be acceptable. They’re on course for that. But after a 4-0 statement on opening day and a performance against Spurs that merited more than a draw, the bar has quietly moved.
The question now is simple: can Liverpool turn this early promise into something that unsettles the champions next?
