MANCHESTER, England — While history dictates that you can’t win a league title in February, Manchester City‘s latest victory in the Women’s Super League (WSL) has surely made their coronation this term a formality.
Certainly, that was the collective feeling inside the Etihad Stadium when the magnificent Kerolin netted her second of the afternoon in a 5-1 rout of perennial winners Chelsea, who have finished top in each of the past six seasons. The Brazil international collapsed to the turf and was promptly mobbed by her elated teammates, while City manager Andrée Jeglertz — usually so reserved on the touchline — celebrated wildly with his backroom staff.
By the time Kerolin bagged her hat trick just nine minutes into the second half, there could be no escaping the sense that this was the performance of champions in waiting. City now have an 11-point lead at the top of the WSL and are 12 points clear of third-placed Chelsea. It is the furthest from the top the Blues have been in the WSL since the final day of the 2018-19 season, when they finished third behind Arsenal and City. Chelsea responded to that disappointment by winning six top-flight titles in a row, but their hopes of extending that remarkable sequence this term lie in tatters following Sunday’s remarkable collapse in East Manchester.
Even before a ball was kicked at the Etihad, Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor knew it was a tall order to ask her team to claw their way back into the title race. After last weekend’s defeat to Arsenal she conceded that the defense of their crown was “probably over,” and that assertion only rang more true when Kerolin’s half-volley deflected into the back of the Chelsea net after just 13 minutes.
The visitors responded well to the early setback, with Keira Walsh and Erin Cuthbert forcing goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita into two fine saves in quick succession. But City valiantly weathered the Chelsea storm and got their reward when the prolific Khadija “Bunny” Shaw outmuscled Naomi Girma and rolled home her 14th WSL goal of the season before half-time.
With nothing to lose in the second half, Chelsea streamed forward in an attempt to halve the deficit, only to quickly find themselves 3-0 down after Kerolin ran into space from inside her own half and dinked the ball neatly over Hannah Hampton. The 26-year-old was wheeling away in celebration again only five minutes later, having tapped home from close range to net her first City hat trick.
Kerolin has now scored or assisted in each of her last six WSL appearances and boasts the best minutes-per-goal involvement rate of any player in the league this season. It is little wonder, then, that she was given a standing ovation when she was substituted shortly after the hour mark.
Chelsea did manage to pull back a consolation goal thanks to a quite brilliant finish from Alyssa Thompson, but any hopes of a miraculous comeback were promptly dashed when Vivianne Miedema headed in from a corner in the 72nd minute.
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USWNT’s Alyssa Thompson scores from range for Chelsea
Alyssa Thompson scores from the edge of the box during Manchester City vs. Chelsea in the Women’s Super League.
That goal ensured Chelsea suffered their heaviest WSL defeat in more than seven years, since a 5-0 loss to Arsenal in October 2018. And it is the first time the Blues have lost back-to-back league games since July 2015, with Bompastor losing consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time in her managerial career (181 games).
“I think for me after having this tough result it’s difficult to talk about the title race,” she said in her postmatch news conference. “I said before the game and I still have the same mindset; we just focus on ourselves.
“As you can see, the result is tough but there are reasons to explain that. The staff and the players have to stay together and understand where we are, what we need to do to get back to the position we were in last season. A lot of things could be said. Sometimes I like to keep that more private between the board and the players. The squad is not the same as last season.
“A lot of people talk about Chelsea as being an example in terms of having depth in the squad and a lot of different profiles who can make a big impact when they come in the game, and I think now probably we are not in that place.”
Bompastor is right to point out that Chelsea’s injury woes have cost them dear in recent weeks, while the club’s progression to the knockout stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League means her squad has had to contend with a higher workload than City, who didn’t qualify for Europe this term. Still, that is no slight on the brilliance of Jeglertz’s side who, after a 10-year drought, now look poised to become WSL champions once more.
“I think that is very difficult to say,” Jeglertz said when asked if his team already have one hand on the trophy. “We showed today that we are definitely a team with great confidence. We are able to win games in different ways and play against a good team in Chelsea.
“The pressure is there from [the media], saying that we’ve won the league, and the team is coming out and handling it marvelously … This belief the team has at the moment that we will find a way to win is a thing we can use in the future also. We have a couple of games left of the season and we have a huge game coming up [against Arsenal] next week and what we have been good at so far is always seeing the next game coming up. That will definitely be the focus for the coming rounds also.”
Indeed, next weekend’s clash at Emirates Stadium will be another test of the league leaders’ mettle, particularly considering that Renee Slegers’ side toppled Chelsea at Stamford Bridge only last week. But, while there are still hurdles for City to overcome, it now feels like a matter of when — rather than if — they can finally get the job done this season.
