Sky Sports columnist Laura Hunter analyses the big talking points from the latest Women’s Super League matches, bringing you closer to the key stories at the heart of the women’s game.
Kerr celebrates fitting milestone
A fitting way for Sam Kerr to end her Chelsea journey is as the club’s all-time leading WSL scorer. Rumours are she will depart this summer when her contract expires.
There was a point in time where it felt like she would never reach Fran Kirby’s target, sidelined for 20 months with an ACL injury and unable to complete as many minutes as she would have liked. Of the minutes she did play, few were at her immensely high pre-injury standard.
But since returning from the Asia Cup in March, where she scored four goals as Australia made it to the final, she has been back to her old self, averaging 1.4 goal contributions a game. This is the Kerr of yesteryear, a player revered as the most fearsome forward in the game. Perhaps one of the best ever in her position.
Kerr’s opener in a 3-1 victory over Leicester at the weekend meant she surpassed Kirby’s long-standing total. The 32-year-old had scored in each of her previous three starts against Leicester in the league, so there was no reason why this latest outing would be any different. It also meant she has now found the net in three consecutive WSL games for first time since May 2023.
Recapturing such form in time to become a Chelsea history-maker is very Kerr-coded. The way she scored her 64th goal was typical, too, arriving with perfect timing to meet Niamh Charles’ floated delivery. Kerr’s double movement makes her especially hard to track, and even when defenders manage to get touch-tight her physical dominance and aerial power is such that she is rarely beaten to a header.
Her social media message to fans after the game reinforced the assumption that this season will be her last in west London. “I’m absolutely honoured,” Kerr said in a selfie video, “it’s been amazing to score 64 goals in front of all of you – let’s finish off the season strong.”
Since her debut in January 2020, only Bunny Shaw (81) can better Kerr’s impressive goal rate. The Chelsea striker’s overall goal contributions (86) rank second only to Shaw’s 99, having spent the best part of two years out of action. Remarkable really. Without such a cruel injury there is no doubt she would have kept pace.
Beating Leicester was equally important for Chelsea. It ensured they will play European football next season as Sonia Bompastor attempts to reinvent a title-winning side with what will inevitably be a new ensemble of players. Champions like Kerr, the now-retired Millie Bright and Guro Reiten, who left in January, were pillars of the bygone Emma Hayes era.
Bompastor must now find mainstays of her own to build around. Chances are, none will be quite as prolific as the great Sam Kerr. But in her, Chelsea have an iconic figure to model their next generation of striker on.
Man City must keep nerves in check
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Highlights of the Women’s Super League match between Manchester City and Liverpool.
Manchester City are living dangerously. A too-close-for-comfort 1-0 win over Liverpool at the weekend means they are on the brink of their first WSL title for a decade, but this fraught finish has nerves jangling.
After defeat to Brighton last week, only victory would do. It was achieved via the barest of margins. Rebecca Knaak scored in the 91st minute from a set-piece to earn all three points against a team whose manager knows all too well the struggles of fighting with the finish line.
Under Gareth Taylor it was always a case of nearly-but-not-quite for City. And for a long time on Sunday a haunting narrative was unfolding with uncomfortable irony: Former boss returns to spoil the job he was never able to see through himself.
Man City looked laboured against Liverpool, the game meandering towards what would have been a damaging goalless end. “The first half we struggled a lot,” Andree Jeglertz admitted. “They are good, they’re making it difficult for us”.
Teams managed by Taylor are always well drilled. They play neat football. With better finishing ability Liverpool could actually have been three up inside the opening four minutes, which would have left City’s title hanging on a cliff-edge. But on this occasion their need was greater, their dogged determination to find a way evident even after the clock ticked past 90.
Rebecca Knaak is mobbed by team-mates after scoring last-gasp winner in victory over Liverpool
“There’s something with this group. We never give up,” Jeglertz added afterwards. “Everything is up to us – we’re not playing the best football we have ever done but that’s how good teams win games anyway.”
Knaak stooped to head the winner and lay motionless on the deck after watching the ball trickle fortuitously under the otherwise faultless Jennifer Falk. She was swarmed by team-mates, who flopped to the ground in relief as much as celebration. A symbolic pile-on of solace.
Given their superior goal difference they are likely to only need one point on the final day to outdo Arsenal, the only remaining challengers left on the circuit. The title could actually be won without kicking another ball if Arsenal slip between now and May 16, albeit it’s hard to imagine that happening.
What is certain is we will have a newly-crowned WSL winner for the first time since 2018/19. It deserves to be Manchester City. Hold their nerve, and for the first time in 10 years, it will be them. One final hurdle left to jump…
Read last week’s column
Last week’s column assessed the impact of a woeful weekend for both Manchester clubs and the consequences of two poor results in the context of respective league campaigns.
What’s coming up in WSL?
Wednesday 6th May 7:35pm
Kick off 7:45pm
Arsenal face two games in the space of three days as they take on Brighton on Wednesday and Aston Villa on Saturday to keep their WSL hopes alive, with both games live on Sky Sports. Anything other than victory hands the title to Man City.
