Despite a defeat last weekend, Manchester City are still in the driving seat for the 2025-26 WSL title. Here, we look at the statistics behind their fantastic league campaign so far.
Although Arsenal refuse to give up the chase, the WSL title race remains in Manchester City’s hands.
After the Gunners routed Leicester City 7-0 in the first of three games in hand, City know they cannot clinch the title at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
But Andrée Jeglertz’s team will be champions if they win their final two matches, and any Arsenal slip-ups could, of course, bring their coronation date forward.
Given the way in which they have largely blown their competition out of the water in 2025-26, City will hope to get the job done without requiring favours from elsewhere.
Here, we dig into the rich Opta insights surrounding City’s season, outlining their evolution under Jeglertz and profiling their key performers.
The State of Play
The Opta supercomputer assigns City a 92.5% chance of winning the title, compared to Arsenal’s 7.5%.
After hosting Liverpool, who are managed by their former boss Gareth Taylor, City round off their campaign at West Ham United on 16 May. Six points from those fixtures would secure their first WSL title in a decade.
Anything less could open the door for Arsenal. The Gunners are in UEFA Women’s Champions League action this weekend, against Lyon, before packing their final four WSL games into 10 days.
They visit Brighton & Hove Albion on 6 May, go to Aston Villa on 9 May, host Everton on 13 May, then face a trip to Liverpool on the final day.
If City beat Liverpool, any dropped points from Arsenal before the final day would seal the deal, so Jeglertz’s side could be crowned champions while not in action.
But the Gunners are in fine form, with their current 13-game unbeaten streak (W9 D3) their longest in the WSL since another 13-match run in 2013.
And with Renée Slegers’ team plundering 17 goals in their last three games, the sides are close on goal difference. If Arsenal earn maximum points and City end with a win and a draw, they will finish level on points.
And City have recent experience of missing out in that manner.
City’s Long Road Back to the Top
If City complete the job, it will mark the end of an agonising 10-year path back to the summit of the WSL.
City’s only previous title triumph, under Nick Cushing in 2016, saw them go unbeaten by winning 13 games and drawing three.
Since then, there have been four more unbeaten campaigns by other teams, with Arsenal going through the 2017 Spring Series without losing and Chelsea enjoying three Invincible campaigns, in 2017-18, 2019-20 (curtailed by COVID-19) and 2024-25.
In five straight campaigns after 2016, City were runners-up, once behind Arsenal and four times behind Chelsea. They won three FA Cups during that time, two under Cushing and one under Taylor, but the biggest title evaded them.
City’s most agonising near misses came in 2019-20, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the title being awarded to Chelsea on a points-per-game basis (City were top by a point when play was halted, having played an additional match) and 2023-24.
Then, Taylor’s team had one hand on the trophy when they led Arsenal 1-0 in their penultimate match, only for two late Stina Blackstenius goals to flip the result.
When Chelsea won their two games in hand by a combined nine-goal margin, beating Bristol City 8-0 and Tottenham 1-0, they overtook City on goal difference, and a 6-0 final-day rout of Manchester United saw Emma Hayes’ team triumph by seven goals.
City finished empty-handed despite equalling their WSL record of 55 points (which they could tie again this term), having also achieved the best single-season winning streak in the competition’s history, with 14 straight victories between November and May.
City carried a hangover into 2024-25, missing out on Champions League qualification following a fourth-placed finish, with Taylor dismissed in March and Cushing returning for an interim spell.
But the appointment of Jeglertz has dramatically revived their fortunes.
The Jeglertz Effect
Only six different managers have won the WSL title, with Chelsea’s Sonia Bompastor becoming the first to do so in her debut campaign in 2024-25.
Former Denmark boss Jeglertz is two games from matching that feat, and he deserves great credit for evolving City’s style for a new age.
This season, City lead the WSL for open-play sequences of 10+ passes (255) and have the averaged the longest such possession sequences (10.3 seconds).
But while City still dominate games with the ball, there are a few noticeable differences when you compare their underlying figures from 2025-26 and 2024-25.
City’s average possession share has dropped markedly, from 65.7% to 56.5%. They also complete far fewer passes per game (420.3) in 2025-26 than they did last season (533.2).
Yet, City have averaged far more touches in the opposition box this season (41.2 per 90) than they did last campaign (33.9), which reflects a general theme – Jeglertz’s team do not prize possession for possession’s sake, instead looking to attack more decisively.
City have moved the ball upfield at a direct speed of 1.49 metres per second this season, compared to 1.3 last term. Their 37 direct attacks (moves starting in their own half that have at least 50% of movement towards the opposition’s goal and end in a shot or a touch in the box) are a league-high figure for 2025-26.
They also attempt more crosses per game (24.5 to 19.8), which has been a major benefit to their big-name attackers – more on them later.
And while City have become more frantic in attack, the opposite is true in defence, as they now allow opponents 9.6 passes per defensive action, up from 8.9 last campaign, which is illustrative of a greater willingness to sit off.
That’s because they usually have something to defend. They have spent 53% of their WSL gametime this season in a winning position, compared to 34% level and 13% behind on the scoreboard.
Last Saturday’s 3-2 loss at Brighton represented City’s first points dropped from a winning position all season, having won their previous 17 games when leading at any stage.
City’s defence ranks as the second-best in the league for goals conceded (18), expected goals against (21.8 xGA), shots faced (185) and shots on target faced (49), with only Arsenal outperforming them in each of those metrics.
It may have been evolution rather than revolution, but Jeglertz’s tweaks have kept City solid at the back while making them the league’s most irresistible attacking force.
WSL History Hunters
City have scored 12 more goals than any other team (57, with Arsenal ranking second on 45), as well as leading the way for expected goals (53.3 xG), total shots attempted (373) and shots on target (142).
And, given they can call upon some of the most productive forwards in the world, that should come as no surprise.
Khadija Shaw and Vivianne Miedema could both make pieces of WSL history in the closing weeks of the season, and when you add Lauren Hemp into the mix, City have a trio of attackers each looking to bring up a century of some sort.
Shaw has scored 19 goals in 20 WSL appearances this season, seven more than any other player (Aston Villa’s Kirsty Hanson has 12), averaging 0.97 goals per 90 and a strike every 93 minutes.
Following league-best returns of 12 goals in 2024-25 (joint with Alessia Russo) and 21 in 2023-24, Shaw is closing in on a third successive Golden Boot. No player has ever won three WSL Golden Boots in general, let alone in consecutive campaigns.
Shaw is also looking to overhaul the all-time single-season record of 22 goals, set by Rachel Daly for Villa in 2022-23.
Shaw has 81 goals in a mere 91 WSL appearances, and with 18 assists to go with that haul, she is one goal involvement away from a century. Only five players have previously accomplished that feat – Miedema (138), Beth Mead (124), Beth England (114), Nikita Parris (106) and Fran Kirby (104).
Hemp is racing Shaw towards the same landmark, as the England international is on 98 WSL goal involvements (51 goals, 47 assists).
And Miedema, the all-time leading WSL scorer, could become the first player to bring up a ton of goals in the competition, having struck 97 times across her spells with Arsenal (80) and City (17).
That trio’s importance cannot be overstated. When all players in the WSL are ranked for their open-play attacking sequence involvements in 2025-26, these City attackers make the top five, alongside Arsenal duo Mariona Caldentey and Russo. Another City player, midfielder Yui Hasegawa, is seventh.
And while Shaw (23) and Miedema (15) lead the WSL for goal involvements in 2025-26, another City star rounds out the top three, with Brazil international Kerolin contributing nine goals and five assists in her first full campaign.
So, City’s dazzling attacking play has been a group effort, and if they can hold their nerve for two more games, it will result in a long-awaited second WSL crown.
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