The 2024-25 Women’s Super League (WSL) season is over and Chelsea have been crowed champions for the sixth successive year. Many predicted that the Blues might struggle in the wake of losing legendary manager Emma Hayes last summer but Sonia Bompastor has made a mockery of those suggestions by leading the team to an unbeaten season, a record points total (60) and League Cup success, with an FA Cup final to come against Manchester United next weekend.
Arsenal pipped United to second place, while last year’s runners-up Manchester City struggled with injuries, sacked manager Gareth Taylor and managed to only finish fourth.
Elsewhere, inconsistency dogged Liverpool and Brighton in their push to break into the top four, while Tottenham had one of their worst seasons ever to finish 11th after winning just five of their 22 games under Robert Vilahamn. And, as so often happens in the women’s top flight, the promoted team (in this case, Crystal Palace) went straight back down.
Next year will see Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses become the first independent women’s club to play in the WSL, so that could change, but for now let’s look back at the season.
TEAM GRADES
CHELSEA (A+)
Given their sixth-consecutive title and an unbeaten run (19 wins, three draws from 22 games) all season in the league, it’s impossible to argue that Chelsea do not deserve the highest grade possible. It was a seamless transition during Sonia Bompastor’s first year — you wouldn’t know Emma Hayes had left with how dominant the Blues have been. A record points tally (60), beating their former record of 58, tops off an impeccable campaign.
ARSENAL (B-)
It’s been a frustrating season for Arsenal. It started slow, as they won only one of their first four games, and Jonas Eidevall resigned in October. Then there was a rebirth under Renée Slegers, who was appointed full-time in January. But the Gunners dropped off at the end of the season, conceding 12 goals (46% of their overall tally) in their last three games. Despite reaching their first European final in 18 years — they face Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final on May 24 — the domestic campaign has left a lot to be desired and they finished 12 points behind Chelsea.
MANCHESTER UNITED (B)
Despite putting in an exceptional defensive campaign, with the joint-most clean sheets, United’s lack of clinical finishing left them struggling for answers in games they should have won comfortably. While ending the season in third place rather than fifth (as they did last year) shows improvement, it’s hard to see where the team are growing. An FA Cup win next weekend would allow them to go out on a high, but they’ll need some investment if they are to mount a serious title challenge.
MANCHESTER CITY (C-)
City’s campaign has been anything but positive. It all started well, with six wins from seven games, but collapsed as five defeats ensured they failed to qualify for Europe and finished fourth. Last season’s runners-up closed the gap so many times but were undone by their own misfortunes. Their injury crisis didn’t help, neither did Gareth Taylor’s sacking five days before their League Cup final loss to Chelsea. The only way is up next season.
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (B)
Brighton pulled out some pretty impressive results — including a win over Arsenal and draw against Chelsea — and looked like they might challenge for the top four early on. Yet in games you’d think they’d win easily, they struggled immensely. Ultimately, that inconsistency sealed their fate as they finished 15 points off City, but there are positives for manager Dario Vidosic to build on from his debut campaign.
ASTON VILLA (C+)
If you were to rank Villa’s opening half of the season, it would be a D. But their second half of the season, which included five straight wins to take them from 11th to sixth, would rate as an A. That turbulence has made it hard to grade the season as a whole, but the turnaround under new manager Natalia Arroyo has been nothing short of remarkable.
LIVERPOOL (B-)
After their fourth-placed finish last season, Liverpool will be disappointed to fall to seventh. They lost their grip on the top half of the table toward the end of the season, as coach Matt Beard was sacked in February, and it was a repeated narrative for the Reds: poor defending, injuries, and a lack of clinical finishing. Something needs to change soon or they could face further disappointment and it’s unclear if interim boss Amber Whiteley will remain in charge.
EVERTON (B-)
There have been plenty of positives this season — including doing the double over local rivals Liverpool for the first time since 2012 — but it consistently feels like Everton are stuck in the middle of the pack and they struggled horribly with injuries to key players again. Backing manager Brian Sørensen with another contract, plus new investment following the club’s takeover, means the future looks bright. But more is needed for them to push on.
WEST HAM UNITED (A-)
It was a disappointing end for West Ham, who were on track to finish in the top half of the table before one win from their last five games. Yet they’ve often been the surprise team of the campaign — notching draws against Chelsea, Man United and Man City — with Shekiera Martinez (10) and Viviane Asseyi (9) providing plenty of goals. The pieces might finally be falling into place for manager Rehanne Skinner.
LEICESTER CITY (D)
An injury crisis threatened to derail Leicester’s season — at one point the side had no fit forwards available. Yet they responded well to clinch a 1-1 draw against a Chelsea side that had won nine out of nine games in December. With other lower-table teams picking up wins, Leicester needed good home wins over Villa, Liverpool and Brighton in 2025 to keep clear of danger and were helped by Crystal Palace’s early drop-off. Warning signs have been there for Leicester for some time and another season passes without much improvement.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (F)
Having secured a sixth-placed finish and a spot in the FA Cup final last season, many tipped Spurs to push on. But instead they have massively regressed. Five wins from 22 games isn’t good enough for this side but their defence was poor and conceded the joint second-most goals in the league (44). There have been few positives this season and manager Robert Vilahamn’s job will be on the line this summer.
CRYSTAL PALACE (D)
The disparity between the first and second tier of English women’s football has, once again, been made clear. Like many of the promoted teams before them, Palace were unable to sustain their place in the WSL after only one season and drop back to the Championship after conceding 65 goals and picking up only two wins. There were positives, but a lack of experience and resources sealed their fate with two games remaining. Sacking manager Laura Kaminski in February also didn’t help. — Emily Keogh
SEASON-LEADING STATS
The WSL trophy and Golden Boot award honor the best team and goal scorer respectively, but football is about more than just that. Here, we look at the standout players from the season in a multitude of different skill categories, using data from FBref. And the numbers don’t lie.
Best creator: Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal)
Caldentey has been one of the most influential players this season, as evidenced by her winning the Player of the Season award, and her 14 goal contributions (9 goals and 5 assists) were only bettered by West Ham’s Viviane Asseyi and Man United’s Elisabeth Terland (15 each). However, Caldentey accrued the league’s highest expected assist (xA) tally of 6.9, while the Spain international was also the only player to record over 100 shot-creating actions (104), with 88 of them coming from open play.
Most overperforming xG: Shekiera Martinez (West Ham United)
The 23-year-old averaged a goal contribution every 90 minutes: including four goals against Crystal Palace, a brace against Chelsea, and one against Arsenal. Only Man City’s Khadija Shaw (12) and Arsenal’s Alessia Russo (11) scored more non-penalty goals than the Germany U20 international (10), despite her only returning from her loan at Freiburg midway through the season in January. But her 10 goals came from an impressive expected goals (xG) tally of 5.5.
Best in the box: Alessia Russo (Arsenal)
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Laurens: ‘Unplayable’ Alessia Russo a worthy FWA award winner
Julien Laurens reacts to Arsenal’s Alessia Russo being named Women’s Footballer of the Year winner by the Football Writers’ Association.
Russo’s ability to threaten inside the box has been a vital addition to Arsenal’s attack and the England forward registered 149 touches in the opposition area this season, the most by any player in the WSL. Indeed, she has been a constant outlet for the Gunners in behind, getting on the end of 137 progressive passes and was caught offside 26 times — 10 more than her nearest rival.
Best in the air: Sophie Román Haug (Liverpool)
No player has contested or won more aerial duels than the Norway international this season (88/140 aerial duels won). She may only be 5-foot-7, but Roman Haug is one of just two players to win over 50 aerial duels in this season alongside Crystal Palace’s Katie Stengel (51). Much like Liverpool men’s player Diogo Jota, it’s her aerial technique that makes her such a dominant figure rather than her height, and it adds a further dimension to the team’s attacking structure.
Best all-action defender: Ashleigh Neville (Tottenham Hotspur)
While Tottenham had a poor overall season, finishing second from bottom, Neville put up great defensive numbers. The 32-year-old full-back, who has played on the right and left this season, has been a behemoth in defence and no player won more tackles (73) or intercepted the ball more times (44) than her. Neville’s 42 blocks was also second behind Crystal Palace’s Lexi Potter (45).
Best at recovering the ball: Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City)
Playing as the defensive midfielder often requires you to tidy up loose balls, screen the defence and initiate attacks, among other things. And, with 174 recoveries, no player recovered the ball more than Hasegawa. The Japan international did all the defensive work while committing no fouls in her 1,935 minutes — the most by any outfielder.
Best goalkeeper: Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United)
Tullis-Joyce had big shoes to fill at Manchester United this summer in replacing Mary Earps, but she kept 13 clean sheets in her 22 league games and shared the Golden Glove award with Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton.
In the chart below we can quantify a goalkeeper’s impact on their side by looking at the goals saved tally. This metric allows us to see how many goals a goalkeeper would have conceded based on the number of shots on target they faced. And the 28-year-old tops the charts by having stopped 6.8 goals for her side.
Best at drawing fouls: Olivia Smith (Liverpool)
Nimble forwards are a delight to watch; anything is possible with the ball at their feet as they twist, turn and create issues for the defenders. Among the WSL players to have played over 900 minutes this season, no one drew fouls at a better rate than Smith (2.64 fouls won per 90 minutes) and the 20-year-old wreaked havoc against Man City, Man United and Arsenal. Nine of the fouls drawn led to shots, with only West Ham’s Asseyi recording more (10).
Best at threading the needle: Grace Clinton (Manchester United)
A through-ball is one of the most threatening passes in the game and Manchester United’s Clinton recorded eight. The 22-year-old midfielder has played some of her best football this season, scoring eight times, though none of her deliveries resulted in an assist.
Best at switching play: Millie Bright (Chelsea)
Chelsea ran away with the league title, with Bright at the heart of things, but it wasn’t just her defensive qualities that made the 31-year-old centre-back valuable. Her 17 switch passes were the most by any player and, among players with over 100 attempted long balls this season, she had the second-best completion rate (71%), only behind Manchester City’s Laia Aleixandri (75%).
Most reliable outfielder: Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United)
Le Tissier was key to United’s solid defence and her impeccable fitness and availability saw her become the only outfield player to start and finish every single league game in the WSL this season. In fact, she has started and finished all league games in four of her last five WSL seasons, never missing a game due to injury or suspension. Her importance to the Red Devils is also shown by her comfort on the ball and she accounted for 13.1% of United’s total open-play touches this season, the highest share of any player. — Yash Thakur
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