1) City look lost without Walsh

The battle of the champions and last season’s runners-up was always going to be a tight affair and the game was won in midfield, where the Gunners were slick operators. Out of possession they were organised, compact and forced errors from Manchester City. With Lia Wälti pulling the strings in her holding role, Jordan Nobbs and Kim Little were able to add the creative touches up ahead of her and it was a crisp pass slipped through to Vivianne Miedema from Little that provided the chance for the match-winning goal. It was Miedema’s first in four games against City, who badly missed their midfield controller Keira Walsh. Walsh was serving the first game of a three-match suspension and without her they were devoid of ideas. It was City’s first defeat of the season, having won their first four games before it. Nick Cushing will have to find a way to replace Walsh’s ingenuity in midfield if they hope to bounce back strongly. The only real positive was the Ballon d’Or nominee Ellen White making her City debut after returning from injury.

• Match report: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City

2) Cosmopolitan Hammers can take heart from Chelsea defeat

Considering West Ham only joined the WSL at the beginning of last season, the work manager Matt Beard has done in a short space of time is incredible. Their squad has 16 different nationalities and it is possible to hear eight languages being spoken by them on a matchday. But Beard has found a way to gel the cosmopolitan group together and foster a strong team spirit. This was in evidence in the first 60 minutes against Chelsea, when the Hammers went toe-to-toe with Emma Hayes’s supremely talented side before eventually taking the lead. The Canadian substitute, Adriana Leon, scored with her first touch after being summoned from the bench by Beard.

This woke Chelsea up and Hayes must be grateful that Wales international Sophie Ingle appears to be peaking early in the season. She is high on confidence and this showed as she scored her second goal of the campaign to bring Chelsea level having not found the net for the club before this season. Having been provider for the first, Ji So-yun fired home a goal of the season contender for Chelsea’s second. Drew Spence got their third in injury time to confirm a win that takes Chelsea top. A fearless West Ham side can take heart from a valiant performance that would have been too much for lesser sides, though.

• West Ham 1-3 Chelsea

3) Kelly’s class too much for Brighton

Chloe Kelly showed why she recently earned an England call-up as well as being voted WSL Player of the Month for September with another superbly taken goal to lift her clear at the top of the league’s goalscoring charts. For all that Brighton have struggled this season, they were well-organised and offered resistance up until the 57th minute, when Kelly’s lightning quick stepover and finish gave the Toffees’ the platform to go on and win comfortably. Having lost their previous two games, Everton are back in form and a first senior goal for Esme Morgan, the young defender on loan from Manchester City, capped off a good day at the office for Willie Kirk’s side.

• Everton 2-0 Brighton

4) The tide may finally be turning for Tejedor’s Blues

A first win of the season for Birmingham condemned Liverpool to the bottom of the table in what already looked like an early relegation battle. Blues manager Marta Tejedor had big shoes to fill when she came in nearly a year ago to replace Marc Skinner, who was snapped up by Orlando Pride. She has implemented her style with limited success until now but the Blues were on top throughout this game, controlling possession and peppering Liverpool’s goal with 16 shots. There was a lovely moment for Kerys Harrop, who scored with a towering header from 15 yards out, to set her side on their way to victory on her 130th WSL appearance (a club record). Lucy Staniforth tapped in late on to secure Birmingham’s first points of the season. The only positives for Liverpool were the brave defensive display of Sophie Bradley-Auckland and bright spark Rinsola Babajide in attack. Avoiding relegation would be a success for either team. Maybe the tide is finally turning for Birmingham.

• Birmingham 2-0 Liverpool

5) Graham shines for Tottenham’s entertainers

I tipped newly-promoted Spurs to struggle this season but they’ve been great to watch and I’m happy to admit that it looks like I was wrong. They’re so strong in attack and it’s hard to fathom why Kit Graham had not scored in the league until Sunday’s game against Bristol City. She was lethal at the Stoke Gifford Stadium. Two sublime long-range strikes in two second-half minutes turned the game on its head and lifted Spurs up into sixth. If Graham can stay in top form, Tottenham should be able to enjoy a respectable debut season in the top flight.

• Bristol City 1-2 Tottenham

6) Galton’s left-field runs have United on a roll

Having lost their opening two games, newly-promoted Manchester United have bounced back with three wins on the spin. Casey Stoney has obviously gone to work on the training ground since the early-season defeats and drilled the midfield and defence to make her side one of the division’s toughest to break down. They also have well-rehearsed patterns of play on the left, where Leah Galton often finds space with clever diagonal runs. She was instrumental in United’s success against a seasoned Reading side on Sunday, with a break down the left and a dangerous delivery towards the back post finding Kirsty Hanson, who finished smartly after a late surge into the box. Dutch World Cup finalist Jackie Groenen provided the second, springing a sharp counter-attack with a defence-splitting pass to free Jess Sigsworth, in a central role, whose smart finish sealed three points that lifted United up into fourth.

• Manchester United 2-0 Reading