Why the FA Women’s Super League title race is Europe’s best

With Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all within one point of first place, the FA WSL is proving to be the most exciting title race in all of Europe.

On Sunday, Manchester City will host Arsenal in a battle between the FA Women’s Super League’s top two clubs.

And with Chelsea looming just one point behind both City and Arsenal, the FA WSL title race is clearly the most captivating one in all of European football.

In 2018-2019, Arsenal won the FA WSL by seven points. The previous season, Chelsea did so by six. Manchester City finished second both times.

Over the past three years, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City have been clear mainstays in the top flight of women’s soccer in England. They have traded places in the top three, but have never done so this tightly or with this level of star power.

Sunday’s clash between City and Arsenal is one that fans cannot afford to miss. If last season’s Premier League battle between Liverpool and City felt like appointment television, then a title race fought evenly by three world-class sides is indeed something for the ages.

Take City and Arsenal, to start. Entering Sunday, they are even on points with only one goal separating them in the table. Arsenal are the league’s highest-scoring team, but City’s dominant defensive record (five goals allowed in 13 games) gives them the slight goal differential advantage.

And then there’s Chelsea. They may be third in the table, but there’s an argument to be made that they are, in fact, the favorites to win the FA WSL.

No club has a higher xG or a lower xGA. Furthermore, Chelsea are only one point behind first-placed City and have a game in hand. They are the league’s only undefeated team. Oh, and they signed Sam Kerr, who broke her own single-season scoring record in the NWSL this summer despite missing league games due to the World Cup.

In Kerr, Chelsea have signed a true superstar striker who can score at any given moment. Kerr can lay claim to being the best player in the whole world, but the Blues have a few other stars who should not be neglected. Bethany England has 10 goals in 12 games, leading the league in xG, and Guro Reiten, who crosses are perfection, joins her in the league’s top five in goals and assists per 90 minutes.

England, Reiten, and Kerr all found the scoresheet in January when Chelsea blew out Arsenal 4-1 in front of their own fans. That win served as notice to the rest of Europe that Chelsea can be a powerhouse club with Kerr in the fold, while it puts the onus on Arsenal to bounce back in their upcoming big match against City.

For their part, Arsenal are just as loaded in terms of star power. Dutch superstars Vivianne Miedema and Danielle van de Donk are operating at another level. Arsenal’s fluid attack attack around the penalty area is mesmerizing, and Miedema is lethal in the penalty area with 14 goals in her 12 appearances. She leads the league in goals and assists.

And since she and van de Donk are both in the top three in passes into the penalty area, there are plenty of opportunities to go around. Miedema’s reputation focuses on her goal scoring – and rightfully so. She is already the Netherlands all-time scoring leader at the age of 23. With eight assists this season, Miedema is averaging nearly two goals and assists per game.

So Arsenal have Miedema creating chances in the box, van de Donk and captain Kim Little pulling the strings in midfield, Beth Mead providing service from the flank, and Leah Williamson quarterbacking the entire attack from the center-back position. They are undoubtedly an exciting team to watch.

Yet City have just as much all-around quality. Ellen White, Pauline Bremer, and Tessa Wullaert might be the most under-appreciated trio of strikers in Europe. White is a household name after battling Megan Rapinoe for the World Cup’s Golden Boot, but even her impressive pace of 0.74 goals per 90 pales in comparison to Bremer’s league-leading 1.64.

Elsewhere, City’s lineup is peppered with international stars Keira Walsh, Jill Scott, Lee Geum-min, the exciting Georgia Stanway, and the impervious Steph Houghton.

But the unsung hero might be Caroline Weir, who is having a breakout season in midfield. She is in the top 10 in both tackles won and dribbles completed, winning 81.1 percent of her battles while on the ball and 67.8 percent of them in defense. Nobody has more tackles won than Weir, and only five players have more interceptions. She, Walsh, and Houghton are all among the top five in passes into the final third.

Statistically, Weir is the most complete midfielder in the FA WSL right now, and City’s secret weapon in bridging their stout defense and efficient attack.

Heading into Sunday’s game, Arsenal have a distinct advantage, having defeated City 2-1 in the FA WSL Cup semifinal. But with the benefit of home support and potential lessons learned from the mid-week defeat, it will be a whole new ballgame for City and a chance to create some breathing space between them and Arsenal.

While the top three in Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga and France’s Division 1 Feminine are relatively competitive in the sense that third and first aren’t separating by double-digit points, neither Wolfsburg nor Lyon are at any real threat this year.

The FA WSL on the other hand feels wide open in ways that most leagues in Europe are not. Even the Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A aren’t this close – and certainly not the Premier League – since the FA WSL has three teams with nothing statistically splitting them apart.

Every bounce of the ball, every 50/50 challenge, and every shot on target matters that much more in the FA WSL this season. City, Arsenal, and Chelsea are talented beyond comprehension, and the result is a title race that should be one for the ages, with Sunday’s showdown another thrilling chapter.