Emma Hayes’s nous could give Chelsea edge over Arsenal in WSL title race

Chelsea know the exhilarating feeling of edging a Women’s Super League title race. Last season they won the trophy on the final day and they go into the last five matches of this campaign one point clear of Arsenal at the top and will be confident of repeating the feat.

It seems like Chelsea always peak at the right time and this is not luck but thanks to careful planning by Emma Hayes to get the best out of her players at the crucial points of the season. It is a risky tactic but when I played under her the idea was always to get the team to reach their optimum level when things started to matter. Chelsea were not at their best when this season started – losing to Arsenal – but as last weekend’s 9-0 win at Leicester shows, they look unstoppable now.

When I was at Chelsea, you would start the season at 60-70% of your capacity and build up. There were no small-sided games because Hayes did not want any muscle injuries and the people coming back from international tournaments were gradually reintegrated whereas those who had benefited from a full pre-season were pushed a little harder. Through the season, Hayes will start working you harder during the week and tell you that you will go into the game fatigued but that you have to get through that – which is as much in the mind as it is physical – so you will come good towards the end of the campaign. There were times in games where we were fatigued and not at our best when I was there but we would get the result because we had the quality; and then when it did matter we were strong.

Arsenal have a different approach and started like a house on fire, using the bounce from a new manager and signings to build momentum. Jonas Eidevall replaced Joe Montemurro over the summer and