Chelsea win 2022/23 WSL title
Chelsea have won the WSL title for the fourth season in a row, having beaten Reading 3-0 on the final day of the campaign - relegating the Royals to the Women's Championship in the process - to stay ahead of nearest challengers Manchester United.
After already beating United at Wembley in the FA Cup final earlier this month, it also marked a third successive domestic league and cup double for Emma Hayes’ dominant side.
The Blues had moved to within touching distance of the WSL title last Sunday with their 2-0 win over Arsenal at Kingsmeadow, secured by goals from Guro Reiten and Magdalena Eriksson on what was the departing captain’s final home game before her imminent summer exit.
But United pushed the title race to the final weekend of what has been an incredible season by beating Manchester City with a stoppage time Lucia Garcia goal a few hours later.
However, their efforts would ultimately prove fruitless as a ruthless Chelsea side made light work of Reading on Saturday. Sam Kerr headed the Blues ahead before Reiten added a second inside the opening 45 minutes, and Kerr capped things off with a late strike to seal the win.
United eventually lived up to their side of the bargain, with Garcia's second-half strike earning three points in a 1-0 win over Liverpool, but Chelsea's victory ensured Marc Skinner's side had to settle for second.
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Chelsea had trailed United in the WSL table for most of 2023 until moving ahead last week when games in hand finally unfolded.
Despite a defeat to Manchester City in March and a 1-1 draw against Arsenal in January, the decisive games in the title race proved to be the home and away wins over United in November and March. The latter at Kingsmeadow was decided by just a single Kerr goal, with the Australian eventually going on to be named FWA Footballer of the Year for the second season running.
Chelsea were given a scare in a rearranged game against Liverpool in early May and notably just edged five-goal thrillers against Reading and Tottenham either side of Christmas. That showed their grit and experience to get the job done, while more recent one-sided wins over Everton, Leicester and West Ham have highlighted their more free-flowing side.
For Hayes, who has built Chelsea in her image since 2012, this is a remarkable sixth WSL title – the Blues also captured the shortened Spring Series in 2017. Their dominance is starting to rival that of Arsenal, where Hayes was formerly an assistant coach in the 2000s, a time during which the Gunners won seven straight FA Women’s Premier League (in the day before the WSL era) championships.