Khadija Shaw has stressed she and her Manchester City team-mates must “keep pushing” after their impressive finish to 2023.
Following back-to-back defeats in the Women’s Super League in early November, Gareth Taylor’s side subsequently beat Manchester United 3-1 in an Old Trafford derby and thrashed Tottenham 7-0 before last month winning 2-1 against Aston Villa and 4-1 at Everton in the build-up to the winter break.
Striker Shaw scored seven times across those four victories, including hat-tricks against Spurs and Everton, and was named Barclays Player of the Month for December.
The league resumes next week with Shaw leading the Golden Boot standings on nine goals and City – chasing a first WSL title since 2016 – lying second in the table, and she told the PA news agency: “We spoke about finishing 2023 strong and I think we’ve put ourselves in a great position to crack on to try to compete for winning the league.
“We just have to keep pushing, keep improving, just focus on what we can control, and we’ll see.
“It’s about being consistent. We’ve had some really good results but let ourselves down in other games. Now we’re in a good place, it’s about just keeping it and keeping the confidence high within the group.”
City have four more points than United and the same as Arsenal, three behind Chelsea, who are in their final season under boss Emma Hayes as they aim for a fifth successive WSL crown, and have just lost star forward Sam Kerr to an ACL injury.
Now we're in a good place, it's about just keeping it and keeping the confidence high within the group.— Khadija Shaw
Shaw added: “I don’t tend to look at what’s going on on the outside, because no matter what is, if we don’t get points then none of that matters. We just have to focus on ourselves.”
The Jamaica international, signed in 2021, has continued her superb scoring form from last season when she registered 20 league goals, amid 31 for City in all competitions.
Shaw’s fine treble against Everton, notched after she had an early penalty saved, saw her go into the winter break with a WSL season’s tally one higher than she did a year earlier.
And on potentially getting more than 20 league goals this term, she said: “I think it’s definitely possible – especially when I look back on last season, with the amount of opportunities and chances we created, I think I should have scored even more.”
The 26-year-old, nicknamed ‘Bunny’, who has netted 60 times in total for City and is her national team’s record goalscorer, has emphasised her desire to keep enhancing her game, saying: “I think for me the sky’s the limit. I think there’s a lot more room to improve, especially when I watch back my videos.
“It’s about keeping my head down, working hard on the pitch, building good relationships with my team-mates and just keep pushing on.”
Shaw’s compatriot Usain Bolt was in attendance in March when City beat Chelsea 2-0 at Joie Stadium, with social media posts from the pair afterwards showing them posing together in pictures.
Shaw said of the eight-time Olympic gold-medallist sprinter: “He’s always been supportive. We speak about my progress. We have a good relationship. When he’s in town he lets me know and we will link up.
“In certain aspects, if I’m struggling, whether that means strength work, I’ll reach out to him. We had a really good conversation in March and he told me some things I could work on where I could get an edge over defenders, and stuff like that.
“It’s just the little things, and he always says the little things matter the most.”
City are at Durham in the FA Cup on Sunday before returning to WSL action by hosting Liverpool seven days later.
