Chelsea’s status as domestic football’s dominant force is being tested when they meet unbeaten Manchester City in this weekend’s WSL top-of-the-table contest.
That label would once have seemed unthinkable for Chelsea, a club accustomed to collecting trophies rather than being cast as challengers. But Manchester City took the title from them last season, completing a league and cup double and inflicting Chelsea’s second-heaviest WSL defeat in the process.
City’s 5-1 victory in February exposed the distance that had opened up between the two sides. They appeared to have inherited Chelsea’s former identity: a team driven relentlessly by the standards required to win major honours, with every decision designed to secure control and impose authority.
The question now is whether that balance has shifted again.
For the first time since 2020-21, the WSL has two unbeaten teams after nine matchdays. Manchester City lead the table, although the underlying numbers suggest the contest is more evenly matched than the standings indicate.
Sonia Bompastor has moved Chelsea towards a more structured, possession-based style after previously relying on a more direct approach. It is the type of territorial dominance she had wanted to establish, but had not always possessed the personnel to deliver consistently.
The arrivals of Katie McCabe from Arsenal and Melvine Malard from Manchester United have helped make that possible. Chelsea can now press in a player-oriented shape with greater intensity, while the right side of the team has developed a clearer tactical structure.
McCabe has adapted to a back-three system in which the wing-backs function more like inverted forwards. Sandy Baltimore and Ellie Carpenter have provided a major threat from wide areas, while Malard’s work as the focal point has added another dimension to an attack that is difficult to read.
Chelsea lead every measure used to assess attacking performance and have the broadest spread of goals in the league. They are also the WSL’s highest scorers. Their variety gives them more ways to reach goal against Manchester City, while they are producing a greater volume of high-quality chances.
Kiera Walsh is a notable example of the change in approach. The England international has traditionally been valued for her dependability from deep, but has been encouraged to move forward more often this season. More than 35% of her touches have come in the final third, as she has become central to Chelsea’s positional overloads.
With more than half the campaign still to play, Walsh has 2G, 4A and is one goal involvement short of her best return. She is also creating chances more frequently than at any previous stage of her career.
Bompastor’s system has created attacking threats throughout the side. Lucy Bronze has contributed to four goals in eight WSL appearances from centre-back, while Carpenter has scored four times.
Chelsea’s attacking freedom will have to be controlled against Manchester City, however. Their danger may be concentrated rather than spread across the team, with Bunny Shaw responsible for 45% of their goal total. City have scored one fewer goal than Chelsea.
The decisive factor could therefore be which attack performs with greater certainty. Chelsea hold the collective statistical advantage, but Shaw is the individual most capable of overturning that assessment.
Follow Chelsea v Manchester City in the dedicated live blog from 13:00 on Saturday; kick-off is at 13:30.
