Turbine Potsdam continue to lead the way after another fascinating weekend of Frauen-Bundesliga​ action.

Tight at the bottom

With four teams now tied up on three points and Borussia Mönchengladbach are yet to win their first of the season, it’s set to be an interesting struggle safety over the coming months. Bayer 04 Leverkusen secured their first win over the season with a narrow 1-0 over fellow strugglers, MSV Duisburg. With good chances for both throughout the game the two would have been inseparable had it not been for Merle Barth first-half 25-yard screamer, a shot worthy of any win.

Similarly stuck on three points are USV Jena who came unstuck against a FFC Frankfurt team who haven’t made the happiest start to this season. After scuffing a number of first-half chances the hosts were behind when Julia Arnold looped an outrageous 18-yard volley over the defence and just under the bar.

But the hosts hit back and Mandy Islacker restored parity ten minutes later, latching on to a long ball before chipping an advanced Kathrin Längert from inside the D before Jackie Groenen completed the comeback with a wonderful solo goal to slice through the defence and tuck the ball beyond the keeper.

Things haven’t been easy for newcomers Mönchengladbach and it was another day to forget as they fell to a 4-0 defeat to surprise package of the season, Freiburg. A goal down less than fifteen minutes in after Christina Bellinghoven did superbly well to stop Cinzia Zehnder’s shot but left on the deck as Hasret Kayikci fired home the rebound, the hosts did well to keep the score respectable until the break but fell apart after the restart.

Giulia Gwinn made it two just three minutes into the second-half as she calmly rolled the ball past Bellinghoven with the home defence scrambled. Sandra Starke piled on the misery four minutes after coming on, grabbing a four-minute brace, first heading home from point-blank range before slotting the ball past Bellinghoven from ten yards. Mönchengladbach’s defensive frailties aside the bigger problem may lay further up the pitch, the attackers looking shorts of ideas and confidence when they find themselves in advanced positions.

Tight in the middle

Still climbing the table after a somewhat quite start to the year, Bayern München added a 1-0 away to SC Sand to their surprisingly merge haul this year. It was a happy to the starting XI for Simone Laudehr who grabbed the only goal just before half-time at the ORSAY Stadion as despite Carina Schlüter’s best effort, Laudehr’s header from two yards out fully crossed the line in a game that looked like the Bavarians couldn’t buy a goal.

Similarly having a surprisingly muted start to the season, VfL Wolfsburg picked up another hard earned three points at 1899 Hoffenheim’s Dietmar Hopp Stadion. The hosts took an early lead as Kristin Demann found an inch of room in the box to smash the ball beyond Almuth Schult at a corner before the Wolves restored parity at the end of the half when Nilla Fischer nodded Lena Goeßling’s cross home.

Hoffenheim did well to repel Wolfsburg’s best efforts throughout the second-half and when it looked like the two would be forced to share the points Alexandra Popp popped up to steal all three points away at the death, heading Lara Dickenmann’s pin-point cross beyond Martina Tufekovic.

Potsdam claim another win

The only team to have won every match so far this year, Potsdam kept up their perfect record with a confident 2-0 win over an accomplished SGS Essen team. The visitors were dealt a huge blow ten minutes into the game when Vanessa Martini was dismissed for a foul on Svenja Huth before Elise Kellond-Knight furthered their misery with a sublime curler from the resulting free kick. Well on top throughout but struggling with the right ball to beat Lisa Weiß the hosts could finally relax twenty minutes from time as Huth doubled their advantage with a driven effort from just inside of the box.

AFBL table as it stands (credit: DFB)
AFBL table as it stands (credit: DFB)
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About the author
Sophie Lawson
Neutral football fan travelling around Europe, covering matches and bothering footballers for interviews