With Women’s Super League football returning from the slumber of a winter break, we look ahead to what could be the most exciting half-season in WSL history.
To do that, we’re going to look at some things that could happen. They may not happen but they could.
Invincible Chelsea
In the nine games Chelsea have played so far this season, they have conceded just five goals. Only Manchester City (3) have conceded less.
With the fact that they are also unbeaten in their first nine games this season (7W, 2D), we need to start entertaining the fact that Emma Hayes’ Chelsea side may well finish the season undefeated.
Chelsea have also already played – and beaten – both Manchester City and Arsenal this season. The two sides who locked horns in the title race last season.
This does not guarantee Chelsea will win the league though. Even now, if they win their game in hand over Arsenal, then they’ll still be a point off the Gunners.
The Blues are the only undefeated side left in the league. With the addition of Australian superstar Sam Kerr, you have to believe that they will only keep getting better. A scary thought for every other WSL side.
Sam Kerr to score less than 10 goals
A bit contradictory, but hear me out.
Sam Kerr is a phenomenal striker, with an equally impressive pedigree in both the NWSL and the Australian W-League.
However, when playing for Perth Glory, the Chicago Red Stars and even the Australian National Team, Sam Kerr has been the number one. The main goal threat.
She’s walking into a Chelsea side that already has an established core of attacking talent. A force that includes Beth England, who is currently second in the Golden Boot race – albeit a fair way off Vivianne Miedema.
Sam Kerr is going to have to go into this Chelsea side and play a different in a different set-up to what she is used to. If the way Emma Hayes speaks is any way to go by, then the team will always come first.
This is not to say that she will not be absolutely incredible in the WSL, because she will be. She just may not light it up immediately as so many are expecting her to do.
This isn’t even taking into consideration the time it takes to settle in a new team, let alone a new country.
Many people cite her ability to flip-flop between Perth and Chicago but she was established at both sides. Chelsea is something completely new. She’s going to need time.
Who doesn’t love a 0-0?
In the first half of the season, only one single game finished 0-0.
It was Bristol City vs Brighton in the opening match-week. Brighton had 21 shots, nine on target and somehow still managed to not score.
There was no other 0-0 draws in the first 53 games of this WSL season. This will almost definitely change in the second half of the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs teams become more scared of the drop and forcibly grind out results, this figure will surely rise.
Teams will need to find a way to get points, especially with things being so close down at the bottom of the table. The bottom three teams have all drawn three games this season, more than any of the nine teams above them.
For Liverpool and Bristol City, these are the only points they have so far, and will need to continue getting those results in order to stay up.
All hail Vivianne Miedema
2020 in the Women’s Super League will be entirely about one woman. That woman is Anna Margaretha Marina Astrid Miedema – Vivianne Miedema to you and me.
You heard it here first, but Vivianne Miedema will break her own scoring record by scoring over 25 goals in the league this season.
Not only that, but she will also finish the season with more assists than any other player in the WSL.
Embed from Getty ImagesFara Williams? Janine Beckie? Not having any of either of you.
Both incredible players with incredible creative footballing ability, but this is truly the season where Viv crosses the ancestral plains into legendary status.
At the age of 23, she is already the Netherlands’ all-time leading goal scorer. She’s still a fair ways off Lianne Sanderson in terms of Arsenal goals but she has 269 career goals. AT 23-YEARS OF AGE!
Any more discussion here will just be repeating points that have been made previously. She is just, really, really, really good.
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League returns on Sunday. You can watch all the action live on the FA Player.
