The Women’s Super League (WSL) title race is alive and kicking.
In this weekend’s fixtures, first played second and third played fourth, making it the biggest marker of where the top four teams are at with two-thirds of the season gone.
With Chelsea dropping points against Manchester City on Friday night, and Arsenal blowing away Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime, the gap has narrowed at the top of the table. Chelsea and City are tied on both points (34) and goal difference (28) — only goals scored separates them — while third-placed Arsenal trail by just three points.
These clubs have eight games to go, and we have a proper three-horse race on our hands.
So what did this weekend say about the battle to be champions and the contest for Europan qualification?
Chelsea
Position: First
Points: 34. Goal difference: 28
Chelsea met their match against City, who ended their run of 33 league games unbeaten at home, but the champions are still top of the league, just. Emma Hayes’ side know how to ride out results at the business end of a season.
Despite starting well on Friday night, they were victims of City’s high press and clinical finishing. In the 14th minute, Jess Park robbed the ball from Erin Cuthbert inside Chelsea’s half and slipped in Bunny Shaw, the league’s 14-goal top scorer, who finished superbly.
Hayes was disappointed with the goal and it affected her team’s confidence, passing and movement. For the next 20 minutes, City dominated — especially in midfield. Cuthbert admitted Chelsea were not compact enough, the gaps too big, the distances too great to cover. Hayes believes her team should have been awarded a penalty in the 31st minute when Alex Greenwood made a sliding challenge on Mayra Ramirez and neither got a touch on the ball.
From that moment on, the momentum of the game swung Chelsea’s way, as shown by the graphic below.
In the second half, Chelsea threatened but created few clear-cut chances. Despite getting into good positions, crosses were hit out of play, went straight into the goalkeeper’s hands or were too deep. They did not take their opportunities, such as Jelena Cankovic’s shot on goal, when they came. “We have to execute,” said Hayes.
Unlike the first half of last season, in the early stages of this one, Chelsea were, according to Hayes, “electric going forward”. But they were too easily beaten in transition and at times looked defensively insecure, as demonstrated by their 4-1 defeat to Arsenal in early December. The second half of the season has brought more clean sheets, but while similar numbers of chances were created once again execution was lacking.
There has been a lot of change in the spine of the team, with January arrivals Ramirez and Nathalie Bjorn replacing injured absentees Sam Kerr and Millie Bright, as well as Hannah Hampton taking over in goal. One wonders how City would cope if they were similarly without Greenwood or Shaw. It takes time to form those connections on the pitch and Cuthbert admitted, “It’s not quite clicking at the minute”. In a game of tight margins, poor decision-making was magnified.
Hayes said before Friday’s game they were not “overwhelming favourites” and claimed before next month’s quarter-final against Ajax that “the team who is in the Champions League, in the latter stages, is in the least advantageous position to win the league.”
Chelsea have a congested fixture list, competing for four trophies at home and in Europe, having made it to the Champions League quarter-finals. They still have to play Arsenal at home on March 15 and go to Manchester United in their final league game on May 18. Although Hayes says she does not pay attention to the table, Cuthbert does.
“Aye, we’re top of the league,” said the Scotland international. “City will know. They’re coming for us. We have to keep fighting, dust ourselves down and go up another gear, because there’s so many teams coming for us.”
Manchester City
Position: Second
Points: 34. Goal difference: 28
It is crazy to think City have won just one WSL title, in 2016, given the calibre of their squads in the years since (they were runners-up for the next four seasons). After a disappointing fourth place last season, City are determined to win it again this time. They are breathing down Chelsea’s necks and the 1-0 away victory on Friday was, in manager Gareth Taylor’s words, “a big step”.
Their performances this season have gone under the radar. Their 1-1 draw at home against Chelsea in October was overshadowed by them receiving two red cards but City have stuck to their principles and are hitting good form. They have just beaten their biggest challengers for the title, Arsenal (in the FA Cup) and Chelsea, in back-to-back away fixtures.
City like to build up from the back and have ball-playing centre-backs and central midfielders who can receive the ball under pressure and feed wingers Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp or Shaw up top. A cohesive unit — City only signed one player, Netherlands international Jill Roord, in the summer — they stretch the play well.
There were concerns about how City would replace Roord following her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury last month but Park, 22, has risen to the occasion, brimming with confidence and enjoying having freedom in the middle. Despite her small stature, her agility and ball control shone as she drove through Chelsea’s lines on Friday, leaving players in her wake. Her combination with Shaw for City’s goal shows how punishing they can be in attack.
In defence, Taylor’s side have worked, according to him, on their “steeliness and determination” — which in the past has been lacking. They have now kept five clean sheets in as many five games, four of them away from home.
Although they largely controlled the first half against Chelsea, in the second City did not create a better chance than their first-half goal, as demonstrated by the shot map below.
Their ball retention was poor and City needed 19-year-old Khiara Keating to make a fine double save in the 96th minute to preserve their lead.
Taylor said his players played the occasion not the game in that second half and as we approach the business end of the season, City will have to keep more composed than they did a year ago. Following a 2-0 win over Chelsea in March, they were beaten in three of their final six games and lost out on a top-three spot to Arsenal on goal difference.
Although they did not qualify for this season’s Champions League as a result of that fourth-placed finish, they are still in the FA Cup and Continental Cup, where they will face Tottenham (quarter-final) and Chelsea (semi-final) next month. Their final home league game against Arsenal on the first weekend in May looks like it’s going to be crucial. Since their second, and most recent, league defeat of the season, against Brighton in November, Taylor believes his team have been “pretty flawless” but he puts the title-race ball in Chelsea’s court.
“They are the champions,” Taylor says. “We haven’t hidden our ambitions. We go into every competition to win. What Chelsea built is what we’re trying to achieve, but it’s really difficult.”
Arsenal
Position: Third
Points: 31. Goal difference: 18
Arsenal’s season has not gone to plan. They suffered an early exit in Champions League qualification, shock WSL losses to Liverpool (1-0), Tottenham (1-0) and West Ham (2-1), then another in the FA Cup fifth round against Manchester City (1-0). The statistic that no women’s team had ever won the title with three defeats hung over them, but they are right back in the mix after Saturday’s 3-1 home victory against Manchester United.
Their defence seemed shaky in the opening minutes at the Emirates. Jonas Eidevall was forced to field a makeshift centre-back pairing of Laia Codina and Lotte Wubben-Moy after Leah Williamson was ruled out with a hamstring injury and Amanda Ilestedt with illness. Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo also looked nervy when she spilt a free-kick delivery, which nearly allowed United to score.
But once they settled, Arsenal applied pressure, using Cloe Lacasse and Beth Mead on the wings to great effect. Eidevall opted to start Stina Blackstenius instead of Alessia Russo, to be more direct and exploit the space in behind United’s back line. That forced United into a trio of errors. Arsenal were unfortunate not to have scored more as Mead hit the post twice, but created little else in the second half — as the momentum graph below shows. United flattered them.
At their best, Arsenal are intense and aggressive out of possession, aiming to make the pitch small and force high turnovers on one side of the field. In possession, they can stretch the pitch with quick switches of play, enlarging the field to exploit space but they have struggled to be clinical in front of goal. Arsenal sit third but they have the best expected goals difference (1.62) in the league, followed by Chelsea (1.50) and Manchester City (1.12). This measures the quality of chances created and conceded per 90 minutes and can often be a better indicator of how teams are doing than league position, as it shows the process rather than just the number of points acquired.
Arsenal have to maintain their consistency for the rest of the season, especially given they are only competing on two fronts and have already slipped up against teams outside the top four. “If we don’t perform in those (future) games, today is not worth anything,” Eidevall said on Saturday.
The manager believes they can win away at both Chelsea next month and Manchester City in May if they reach their maximum potential. “I’m just glad it’s close,” said captain Kim Little. “We still have control.”
Arsenal are not to be ruled out just yet.
Manchester United
Position: Fourth
Points: 24. Goal difference: 13
At the start of the season, United were arguably in the running for the title, given their impressive performance in pushing Chelsea all the way last time. That second-placed finish, however, is looking like an outlier. They are 10 points adrift of the leaders after 14 of the 22 games and hopes of European qualification are diminishing by the day, with a seven-point gap between third and fourth also emerging.
Ahead of Saturday’s match, head coach Marc Skinner said he would adopt a mixed game plan of being on the front foot and frustrating Arsenal while also being more defensive when necessary. United’s two brightest periods were at the start of the first half and the end of the second but overall it was a lacklustre performance. Skinner pointed to his team’s passivity in individual duels but United looked lost, got stuck in limbo mode and were the architects of every goal they conceded.
In possession, it was a similar story to previous games — United were short of ideas going forward and offered few options off the ball. They did not force a save until the 70th minute and the quality of their chances was low, as shown by the shot map below. It is all in stark contrast to their exhilarating 3-2 away win over Arsenal last season.
United never replaced the quality they lost in Alessia Russo, Ona Batlle and assistant coach Martin Ho from last season’s team and are paying the price. They cannot afford to let Mary Earps leave on a free transfer when the England goalkeeper’s contract expires in the summer.
Skinner has constantly called for the club to invest in a deeper women’s squad to allow them to be more competitive. Despite needing a full-back in January — Gabby George was lost to an ACL injury in October — United did not recruit one. “Look at the bench Arsenal have today,” Skinner said at the weekend. “You look at experience.”
With his contract also running out this summer, Skinner is already under pressure and it will not get any easier. They face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium next month and host Chelsea on the season’s final weekend.
“We’re still chasing. We have to chase, right?” Skinner said.
International breaks rarely come at a good time for teams competing for trophies, as they halt any kind of positive momentum.
But this weekend’s results have revitalised the title race. No doubt there will be more twists and turns to come when the WSL returns on March 2.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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