The story of Chelsea’s remarkable fourth consecutive WSL title triumph

You could be forgiven for assuming the Women’s Super League is a one-club show. Four league titles in a row, seven of the past nine (if you include the mini Spring Series of 2017), and three back-to-back doubles suggest a somewhat crushing dominance by Emma Hayes’s Chelsea.

To an extent that is true, the silverware doesn’t lie. However, cut a little below the surface and Chelsea’s dominance has been chipped away at. “This isn’t Arsenal Ladies from 10 to 25 years ago,” said Hayes when asked whether Chelsea’s winning run is good for the league. “This is a different situation. Leagues are not being won five, six, seven games in advance, they’re being won on the last day three years running. As much as it might look like that, it’s a league of margins and we’re the team that has narrowly managed to win it.”

In many ways that makes this fourth consecutive title all the more remarkable. This season, the gap between the champions and the rest has looked closer than ever. In fact, Chelsea have spent 95 days at the top of the table while their nearest challengers, Manchester United, have spent 105 days on top. How, then, have they made sure they were top when it mattered most?

The opening day of the season delivered one of the shocks of the season, when promoted Liverpool came from a goal behind, conceding to a Fran Kirby penalty in the third minute, to win 2-1, thanks to two Katie Stengel spot-kicks.

Chelsea had been through it before. The preceding season they lost to Arsenal on the opening day and went on to win the league. However, losing to a team outside the top three or four sides was an unexpected blow.

That was immediately followed by an impressive 2-0 defeat of Manchester City that would begin a 13-game unbeaten run to