It's difficult to break into the Women's Super League's top three.
The top of the table has been dominated by three teams for the last eight years: Manchester City,Chelsea andArsenal.
Is that going to change this year?
In the past three campaigns, Manchester United and Spurs have finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
After a number of key departures at the club this summer, as well as a see-saw 4-3 defeat on the opening weekend by Villa, has the door been open for their rivals?
There were seven new signings at United, four of which were attackers.
Grace Clinton fromEverton and Maya Le Tissier fromBrighton joined the squad.
The manager said that they had not been lazy in their recruitment.
There have been a lot of changes in other teams. We have to have a great season.
The preparation is to get into that top three. There is no hiding that here. We can't say that we want to finish fourth again.
We have to be exceptional in order to get into that group.
Despite a huge injury crisis in the first part of the campaign, Manchester United finished 5 points behind Manchester City.
New signing Le Tissier scored twice on her debut as Skinner's side got off to a perfect start.
Every season, we want to be the best we can be. It will be a disappointment if we don't make the top three.
Three years ago, Spurs earned promotion to the WSL.
The highest crowd for a WSL match was 38,262 for the game between the two teams at Spurs.
The club has finished in the top eight in each of the past three seasons, and they even got Alex Morgan to join them in 2020.
The performances on the pitch have been aided by backing off. Spurs had new training facilities, were due to open the season at the men's stadium again, and were ambitious in the transfer market.
The Women's Cup, hosted by American club Racing Louisville, is one of the reasons Spurs feel they have added depth to the squad.
Jess said that they brought players that would add value. Making sure standards are set is one of the things we have done.
The addition of former Manchester United defender Amy Turner was a smart one, as was the addition of Ramona Petzelberger, who scored on her debut.
Skinner said that her team was pushing to be in a position to qualify for the playoffs but had not set a time frame.
What are you doing if you don't want to get to the top of the table? She said that they want to improve on the things they did last year.
There were injuries that hampered City's season in the 21st century. It was the first time in eight years that they didn't finish in the top two in the WSL.
They failed to progress for a second year in a row after being beaten by Real Madrid in the qualification rounds of the competition.
One of the players who left City in the summer was the one who scored the goal.
Georgia Stanway, who joined Barcelona for a world record fee, was one of a number of people leaving the club.
With only 22 games in a WSL season, they have little time to get to know each other.
Before last weekend's defeat, questions were asked of Taylor and City's performance did nothing to address those concerns.
They lost their key players. The names that went out had leadership, maturity and WSL winning experience. Laura Bassett is a former England defender.
They can be replaced with talent from overseas, but do they know the league? It takes time to get to know one another.
Manchester City shouldn't be written off. They went 13 games without a loss last season, finishing third. They will know that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
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