Guardian writers’ predicted position: 2nd (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 2nd
The plan
Manchester City were devastated last season not to secure their first WSL title since 2016, missing out on goal difference, and will be desperate to end that wait. They go in as one of the strong favourites and this summer have added the WSL’s all-time record goalscorer, Vivianne Miedema, to their attacking ranks, which already included last term’s Golden Boot winner, Bunny Shaw. That’s a formidable-looking combination.
It is at the back where they are strongest, though. They conceded only 15 goals in their 22 league games last season, the fewest in the division. That defensive success starts with their domination of possession, for which they had the highest average percentage (60%) in the WSL last term, orchestrated by the intricate interplay between the holding midfielder Yui Hasegawa and their technically gifted centre-backs Alex Greenwood and Laia Aleixandri, enabling the team to play through any press.
They have great pace on the wings, too, not least via the England duo Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly, and have received a sizeable boost with the return to full training of the Netherlands attacking midfielder Jill Roord, who the head coach, Gareth Taylor, said on Monday was “very close” to her competitive return after an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January. The England midfielder Jess Park is also finding excellent form. The club have finished as runners-up an agonising seven times – to Chelsea on six of those occasions – and there’s a growing sense that the time has come for this team to finally fulfil their potential. They haven’t got the easiest of starts, though, travelling to Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool – the other sides in the top four last season – in their opening four away fixtures.
The manager
Taylor, a former Wales forward, has been in charge since 2020 and, in March, signed a new contract until 2027, illustrating that the club believe he can lead this team to success. Despite that new deal, the pressure has never been higher for Taylor to deliver silverware. The former City, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest player has lifted a Women’s FA Cup and a League Cup but the past two campaigns have ended trophyless and if that drought extended to a third full season, his position would look under real threat. If his team continue playing the way they have done, though, he has every chance of success.
Off-field picture
After the much-discussed hearing into Manchester City’s alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules began on Monday, it is worth emphasising that these charges do not relate to the women’s team, who would not be directly affected by any of the independent commission’s findings. The women’s arm of the club is in the middle of building a £10m training facility for the women’s team’s use and the club hope it can open in 2025. It is to be located on the site of the existing training base, a few hundred yards from the women’s team’s stadium.
Breakout star
Among the summer signings, the 20-year-old Japan forward Aoba Fujino has the potential to burst on to the WSL scene very quickly after her switch from Tokyo Verdy Beleza. She possesses great skill, balance and vision, starring as one of the standout youngsters at the 2022 Under-20 Women’s World Cup. She was named as the most valuable player in Japan’s league in 2022 and 2023. She is not simply a young player signed for the future; she looks able to shine for City already.
A-lister
Hemp, the Jamaica striker Shaw or the Australia forward Mary Fowler could claim this kind of “celebrity” status in most other sides around the world but it has to be Miedema after her high-profile summer switch. The Netherlands forward scored 125 goals and produced 50 assists in her 172 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions. She is also her country’s all-time top goalscorer. She won the WSL’s Golden Boot in 2019 and 2020 and remains one of the sport’s biggest names.
This summer’s business
Miedema’s and Fujino’s qualities are there for all to see, but the addition of the England youth international centre-back Naomi Layzell feels like a smart signing for the future. In the more immediate term, expect the Japan goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita to provide serious competition for the No 1 shirt for last season’s WSL Golden Glove winner, Khiara Keating. Yamashita has won six league titles in Japan, looks comfortable in possession to aid City’s style of playing out from the back, and saved two penalties in a pre-season shootout win over Leicester in Perth. The club also signed the Japan right-back Risa Shimizu from West Ham but she will unfortunately miss this campaign after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury at the Olympics.
Where do they play?
The 7,000-seater Joie Stadium, which hosted group matches at the 2022 European Championship, is the women’s team’s home and lies a short walk, across a footbridge, from the men’s team’s Etihad Stadium. The club’s former head of women’s football Gavin Makel previously suggested they would prefer to expand the Joie Stadium rather than permanently share the larger ground. Nonetheless, three WSL games will be staged at the Etihad this season, against Tottenham Hotspur in November, Manchester United in January and Chelsea in March.
