Manchester City's Chloe Kelly will lead the title charge this season. Photo: Tim Markland/PA Wire
After a disastrous World Cup in which Brazil, Germany and favorites USA were eliminated early, will the new Women's Super League season also be unpredictable?
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City will remain the only English women's teams to have won a major trophy since 2014. The new WSL campaign kicks off on Sunday and here's a look at the crystal ball…
Who will win the title?
The smartest prediction would be Chelsea as they bid for a fifth straight league title and their team is still looks the strongest in terms of winning trophies.
This year, however, my gut tells me there may be a few surprises, especially in a season where the World Cup interrupted every team's pre-season preparations at the end of the summer. Chelsea are the only title contenders currently guaranteed to combine the rigors of Champions League football with games this winter, and so domestically their rivals may never have a better chance to end their dominance.
After finishing fourth last year, the surprise team could be Manchester City. Left Europe completely and finally with a settled party. Netherlands midfielder Jill Roorde has been a fantastic summer signing and Australian Mary Fowler, currently in her second season in England, could also make a huge impact.
Welcome to the City, @JillRoordNL! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8vX86smYbS
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 6, 2023
However, Gareth Taylor's side are under pressure after a disappointing 2022-23 season. When asked what success in the WSL would look like this season, Taylor didn't hold back and replied: “Win. We're here to win the championship and that's what we'll try to do.”
Arsenal will also have a huge impact in the title race and their squad looks better than ever. They're missing some key players early on due to injuries sustained last season — not least Vivianne Miedema and Leah Williamson — but once everyone is back they too will be able to get going. It could be a very close final in May.
For Manchester United, who finished superbly in second last season, the loss of Spain right-back Ona Batlle in particular was huge, but they did recruit very well towards the end of the window. However, it remains to be seen how quickly their new players can really settle in, and their fixture list is really tough early in the season, which will be particularly difficult when trying to secure the hold of these new players. They will need time and patience.
Who will fly out?
Newly promoted Bristol City have a huge task ahead of them and, as the only team in the top flight whose men's team does not compete in the Premier League, remaining in the team would mean challenging a huge financial chasm in terms of resources. In fact, it looks like they are in for an extremely difficult season.
Another problem for Bristol City is that the two teams that came closest to falling last season, Brighton and Leicester, have impressively stepped up in the transfer market this summer and looked significantly better in the second half of last season after the arrival of new players. managers Mel Phillips and Willie Kirk respectively. I don't see either of these two leaving now.
Brighton have bought the former Manchester City striker Pauline Bremer, on the right, returned from Wolfsburg. Photo: Barry Coombs/PA Wire
Bristol City's closest rivals in the table may be West Ham United, who have hired a highly respected manager in Reanna Skinner, but appear to have a weaker squad in theory last season after the departure of key defenders Grace Fisk and Lucy Parker. when their contracts expire in the summer.
An even bigger loss for the East London side this season is their captain Dagny Brynjarsdottir, who will miss the season due to pregnancy. The Icelandic midfielder was arguably West Ham's most important player and her absence leaves a huge hole to fill.
Can anyone break into the top four?
Aston Villa enjoyed great success last year and finished fifth, 10 points off fourth place and the same distance from third place as required to qualify for the top four. Women's Champions League. I think they'll finish a little closer to the big four this season, but it still feels like a year or two too early.
However, they will pose problems for the title challengers in their head-to-head meetings — and their summer transfer business looks encouraging, particularly the addition of Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar and young England striker Ebony Salmon — and where Villa could see real success this year — in the cups.
Carla Ward's side are the only WSL team in their group competing in the Continental Tires League Cup, so they have a chance to go very deep into this competition.
What does a real expert think?
Pundit Izzy Christiansen will be analyzing the games on Sky, with coverage returning to Sky Sports and NOW from October 1, and the former England midfielder told Telegraph Sport:
I think champions Chelsea are favorites for the title with target on your back and they'll love it. This may not happen, but the next closest [contender] should be Arsenal with their squad.
I'm not entirely sure what we'll see from the two Manchester clubs this season. Manchester City will have to somehow develop their style of play to be more competitive and how we analyze their trajectory this season will be interesting. Manchester United, with the number of people who have come and gone, can be said to be an unknown number. On paper their lineup has improved significantly in quality, but I want to see how they tie it all together.
It will be very difficult for Bristol City. Carrie Jones will be interested to know what their plan is… Bristol as a city I've always really liked their sporting culture and together as a team they could definitely save them. But women's football now is not just about unity, it is about the style of play, the structure, the tactics… and it will be very interesting to watch how they develop as a team.
Who will win the Golden Boot?
Rachel Daly Aston Villa's Khadijah «Bunny» Shaw of Manchester City and Chelsea's Sam Kerr will be in first place again and I suspect Jamaica's Shaw could win this season.
New Arsenal striker Rousseau is a great addition for the north Londoners, but one would suspect that Arsenal's goals are spread across a wealth of attacking talent rather than one single player being the key contributor to the bulk of their goal total, so it's hard to imagine that an Arsenal player will win the Golden Boot.
Khadijah Shaw is a strong contender for the Golden Boot this season . Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
Elsewhere, several teams in the mid and bottom half of the table have signed strikers who actually know where the goal is, notably Everton signing Italian striker Martina Piemonte, Liverpool signing Norwegian striker Sophie Roman Haug, transfer » Leicester» in favor of the German striker Lena Petermann and the signing of «Brighton» striker of the German «Wolfsburg» Pauline Bremer. As a neutral, I'd like to see them also join the Golden Boot race to make it more competitive.
Who could be the best summer signing?
Brazilian Geise is an excellent signing for Manchester United and the WSL as a whole, and Chelsea's signings of Ashley Lawrence and Catarina Macario showed some truly shrewd business. Kira Cooney-Cross, like Rousseau, is also a great signing for Arsenal, while Aston Villa would also be happy to sign Salmon and van Domselaar.
Some of the league's most important trades may well be conversions. previous loans into permanent deals, for example, Aston Villa acquires striker Kirsty Hanson, defender Anna Patten, and Leicester makes goalkeeper Janina Leizig.
Sky Sports pundit Christiansen, who won the league title with Manchester City in 2016, added: “Chelsea's central midfielder Sjoke Nusken is definitely one to watch. She could be a classic Emma Hayes signature, where it's not her first year, but her second and third years where she really starts to own it. From what I've seen of her, she's a real businesswoman.
Chelsea's Sjok Nusken — Izzy Christiansen& Player No. 39 to watch this season. Photo: Harriet Lander/Chelsea via Getty Images
“I am very pleased to see Alessia Russo at Arsenal, especially as the return of Vivianne Miedema approaches. I could actually see them developing a really good partnership throughout the season, with Miedema coming into the 10 role and passing to Rousseau.
“And the dark horse, Carrie Jones at Bristol City.” , is the best player. She has a very bright future ahead of her. She's super talented and a really exciting one to watch.»
Telegraph Sport predicted the final league table
I expect the teams at the top to be separated by only a minimal margin, and similarly there is very little splits the teams between sixth and 10th place, but here's what the final table could look like in May:
1st place — Manchester City
2nd place — Arsenal »
3rd place — Chelsea
4th place — Manchester United
5th place — Aston Villa
4th place — Manchester United
5th place — Aston Villa
6th place – Leicester City
7th place – Liverpool
8th place – Brighton
9 place – Everton
10 place – Tottenham
11 place – West Ham
12 place – Bristol City
p>Which team do you think will win the title? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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