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Chelsea’s dominance won’t be ending soon

Photo: Tom Phillips / SPP

For all the excitement of a title race that involved four teams, the narrative for the Women’s Super League season in 2022-23 contained some eerily familiar themes. Once again, Chelsea started the campaign slowly. Once again, Chelsea won the title.

Beginning with a shock defeat to newly promoted Liverpool, head coach Emma Hayes and her players did what they do every year — brushed off the early setback, stayed calm, and developed as the season went on. This is a team that relishes the slow burn, their eyes remaining on the ultimate prize while others enjoy smaller triumphs and fleeting flourishes of form. As the title race went to the final day, Hayes described the unfolding drama matter-of-factly as “business as usual.”

A final-day win over Reading ensured that Chelsea picked up a fourth consecutive WSL title, and a fifth in the last six years. The Blues paired the league triumph nicely with an FA Cup win, courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Manchester United, who also finished second in the league. Of the last 12 domestic competitions, Chelsea has won nine. Worryingly for their rivals, that dominance doesn’t look like it will end soon.

In Sam Kerr, Chelsea has the world’s best striker. Kerr laid claim to that status during her time in the National Women’s Soccer League with the Chicago Red Stars, and has only underlined her argument since. She is not only a consistent scorer of goals, but a scorer of important ones — she hit the winner in this year’s FA Cup final, found an 89th-minute equalizer away to Arsenal back in January, and scored the opener in that final-day win over Reading. 

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