WSL relegation battle blown wide open after Liverpool and West Ham wins | OneFootball

The WSL relegation battle has been blown wide open after both Liverpool and West Ham picked up surprise wins on matchday 13. 

With Everton and Leicester both also losing, the race to stay in the top flight is heating up.

WSL relegation wide open

Liverpool and West Ham are fighting for survival and both came up clutch this weekend with vital wins.

The Reds needed three points more than their relegation rivals but they had a much harder game to contend.

Gareth Taylor’s side faced Tottenham on Sunday. Nobody expected Liverpool to win against a high-flying Martin Ho side but they defied all expectations.

Despite being 19 points behind Spurs at kick off, Liverpool took the game to the top four hopefuls and they enjoyed their best performance of the campaign so far.

Tottenham summer signing Toko Koga scored an own goal in stoppage time and Mia Enderby put the icing on the cake just two minutes later, for Liverpool’s first win of the season.

While their win was huge, the Reds will have been disappointed to learn that their relegation rivals also picked up a rare three points.

West Ham beat Leicester away from home and they also put in a surprisingly impressive performance.

Shekiera Martinez and Verena Hanshaw scored for the Hammers as they secured their second win of the season.

The good news for Liverpool and West Ham was that Everton and Leicester both lost on Sunday, meaning the fight for survival is well and truly on.

Can Liverpool and West Ham avoid the drop?

Only one team gets relegated at the end of this season. With the WSL expanding to 14 teams, bottom of the league will face third place from the Championship in a one-off game for the right to play in the top flight.

Three points this weekend for the bottom two has completely changed the shape of the relegation battle this year.

There is now just two points separating the bottom four in the WSL with nine games to go this season.

All of the teams fighting for survival have difficult games coming up and it may come down to their head to head records at the end of the year.

Everton vs West Ham is the next key matchup to look out for with that clash coming up in three weeks time.