Well drilled, well balanced and boasting enviable depth, City can move closer to dethroning Chelsea on Sunday
A
fter six consecutive years as champions, Chelsea find their once firm grip on the Women’s Super League crown has been reduced to a little finger clinging to the side of the trophy. They head to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday nine points behind their opponents and surely sensing that only a win could prevent the title from transferring to Manchester City’s outstretched arms.
City have endured plenty of near misses since they last won the WSL 10 years ago, finishing second five times – or six, if we include 2017’s shorter Spring Series. They have frequently made it look as if “next year” would finally be their year, so there is something incongruous about their flourishing form arriving after they finished 17 points behind Chelsea last season.
So strong has City’s reawakening been that, if they beat Chelsea, they would match the number of league victories they managed last season (13) with three and a half months left. It prompts the question: how have they transformed so quickly?
