By Alyce Collett (4/10/25)
Above: Sunderland huddle post-match. Photo: @SAFCWomen on X.
This weekend’s action in the Barclays WSL2 competition sees a potentially fascinating clash between two of the top three sides. Both Sunderland and Charlton Athletic have had strong starts to the season, but who will come out on top on Sunday?
Form
Both sides have made a pretty strong start to the season to date.
Charlton Athletic are currently sitting second on the table, with three wins and one draw to their name, while Sunderland are merely two points behind them in third after starting the year with two wins and two draws.
Sunderland come into this match off a one all draw with Southampton, while Charlton Athletic come into the clash off a 1-0 win over Newcastle United.
Free flowing attack vs tight defence
The interesting thing about this match up is that both sides have shown contrasting strengths this season.
For Sunderland, goals have not been an issue. They have the third best goals for tally so far this season (behind only Birmingham City on 12 and Southampton on nine), with five different players having gotten on the scoresheet.
Meanwhile for Charlton Athletic, it is their defence that is their strength.
Scoring has been a bit of an issue for them – with The Addicks currently holding the third lowest goals for tally in the competition – but their defence has been super strong, only conceding one goal so far this season.
Interestingly, in all of the matches Sunderland has conceded goals this season, the goals that Sunderland did concede came after the Lasses had scored all their goals they would end up scoring.
By contrast, the one goal Charlton has conceded this season was scored first in their match with Durham, but then Charlton came back and scored two goals to take the win.
This does also mean that the clean sheet stats are starkly different between the sides.
Charlton’s first choice keeper Sophie Whitehouse has kept three clean sheets, while Sunderland’s first choice keeper Grace Moloney has only done so once.
Where have the goals been coming from?
As previously mentioned, Sunderland have had five different players get on the scoresheet so far this season.
Emily Scarr has been the main source of Sunderland’s goals in 2025/26, scoring three goals to date. Katie Kitching has pitched in with two goals, while Isobel Atkinson, Rhiannon Roberts and Katie Watson have also gotten on the scoresheet.
In stark contrast, Charlton have not had anyone score more than one goal for it yet this season, with Emma Bissell, Gillian Kenney, Lucy Fitzgerald and Kate Bradley the ones to get on the scoreboard.
Sunderland v Charlton kicks off at 2pm UK time on Sunday. The game will be shown on the WSL 2 Youtube channel.
Follow Impetus on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball TikTok: @impetusfootball
Instagram: @impetusfootball
impetusfootball.org 