WSL West Ham team news: Fran Kirby available

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Albion go in search of their first win of the WSL campaign on Sunday.

2025-09-19T14:30+01:00

Fran Kirby joined Albion from Chelsea at the beginning of last season. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Albion return to the Broadfield Stadium on Sunday as they take on West Ham in the WSL, kick-off 12pm.

Team news

Fran Kirby was substituted off against Manchester City at half-time. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Albion: Speaking in his press conference on Friday, head coach Dario Vidosic said, "Fran [Kirby] should be fine, she’s been training. She will be fit for Sunday."

West Ham: Kinga Szemik could return for the Irons this weekend.

Dario's thoughts

On West Ham's opening two games ending in defeat, "Against Tottenham they had a lot of chances, on another day they go into the back of the net. You don’t want to look at the table after two match rounds, it can be very misleading.

"We respect them highly, we played them in a friendly game in pre-season, so we will take a little bit from that, but out of season and in-season are two very different things. We know we’ve got a tough challenge, we’re looking forward to it and we want to use the positivity of being at home.

On Football Manager 26 including the WSL, "It's cool. It’s a game I played a little bit [when I was younger] – I did get frustrated with it because there were so many things that I wanted to do to get into the details. I haven’t played for a few years and I wouldn’t have any time to play it now!

"But I think it’s cool for the girls, maybe they can play and see how tough it is to do all the day to day stuff! It’s great for the women’s game and it’s a positive step in the right direction."

Their last line-up

First home XI of new season 🏠

Walsh between the sticks 🧤
Tysiak the defensive wall 🚧
Ueki leading the line 🎯 pic.twitter.com/0jzqJ9RdpY
— West Ham United Women (@westhamwomen) September 12, 2025

Having gone it at half-time with the score level at 1-1, a stunning second-half from Arsenal saw the Gunners beat West Ham 5-1 at the Chigwell Construction Stadium last Friday.

Match stats

Albion won six WSL games in a row against West Ham between the 2020/21 and 2022/23 campaigns, but have since won just one of four league meetings with the Hammers (D1 L2).

West Ham have lost four their last five WSL away games against Albion, with the exception a 2-0 win in 2023/24.

Albion kept a clean sheet in their previous WSL home game on MD1 against Aston Villa and are looking to record back-to-back shutouts on home soil for only the second time in the competition (Feb/March 2021). The Seagulls have kept seven clean sheets against West Ham in the WSL, the most against any opponent.

Since making her debut for Brighton in September 2024, Fran Kirby has scored WSL goals than any other Seagulls player (eight). Meanwhile, Kirby both scored and provided an assist in this fixture last season.

Match officials