Manchester City the fresher in WSL but Arsenal have boost from Europe

A rsenal welcome Manchester City to Meadow Park with the WSL title race on a knife edge. City’s comprehensive 2-0 defeat of Chelsea last Sunday meant a team that many had written off after beginning the season with back-to-back defeats ensured the top four are tightly matched going into the final stretch of the campaign.

City’s defeat of Chelsea was sandwiched between the two legs of the latter’s Champions League quarter-final win against last season’s winners, Lyon. Gareth Taylor’s team play Arsenal on Sunday after the Gunners’ gruelling midweek defeat of Bayern Munich that earned their place in the semi-finals.

If fixture congestion is to play a part in the outcome of the title, then City have the advantage. With Arsenal and Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals and the latter in the FA Cup last four along with Manchester United, City’s undivided attention on the league could prove to be significant.

In addition to Champions League games, Arsenal have the toughest run-in, with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all still to come. A first league title since 2019 is theirs if they win every game but dangers lie ahead.

Arsenal shared the best defensive record in the league with Manchester United before the leaders’ game away to Brighton on Saturday. City have conceded 14, keeping six clean sheets to Arsenal’s nine. The golden glove winner in the 2021-22 season, Manuela Zinsberger, has been integral to Arsenal’s solid defence, despite a sometimes chaotic nature. The blistering rise of City’s Ellie Roebuck stalled when she was sidelined for five months in 2021, losing her England No 1 place to United’s Mary Earps in the process. It has taken her time to claw her way back towards the level she was before