1 Chelsea (28pts)
Marking unbeaten Chelsea down a point may seem harsh and a kneejerk reaction to the 1-1 draw against Leicester that rounded off their WSL schedule for 2024. Sonia Bompastor’s side were poor in that game, accruing 81 touches in the opposition box but mustering one goal. However, had they won, a 10 out of 10 score would not have been a given. Why? Bompastor’s side have thrilled this season, sweeping teams aside, and the results have been consistent, but the performances less so. They have conceded goals to Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton and Leicester but, even when they have kept a clean sheet, there have been signs of a defensive fragility that, on different days or against different opponents, could be punished. It may seem like scraping the barrel to find faults in an outstanding start to the season, but this is the level of scrutiny they will apply to themselves. SW 9/10
2 Manchester City (22pts)
Gareth Taylor’s team started the campaign in formidable form and deservedly defeated the European champions Barcelona in October, but their lack of squad depth has hurt them in recent weeks, highlighting how reliant they have been on key individuals. Injuries suffered by Lauren Hemp, Khadija Shaw, Alex Greenwood and Vivianne Miedema all contributed to their shock loss at Everton on Sunday, which badly dented their title chances, while Laia Aleixandri and Hemp also missed November’s loss at Chelsea. While City look like one of the best teams in the world when their first-choice XI are fully fit, this season has shown they need a stronger squad to be successful on all fronts. TG 7.5/10
3 Arsenal (21pts)
Giving Arsenal a score out of 10 for the first half of the season is tricky. Pre-Eidevall and post-Eidevall scores would be fairer. If we consider the former, a score of two out of 10 seems apt. Despite a squad stacked with quality and a team largely recovered from the injury crises that blighted previous campaigns, Arsenal struggled. They quickly fell off the pace in the title race, momentum-sapping draws against Manchester City and Everton and a bruising 2-1 loss to Chelsea falling around a 5-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. That period triggered Eidevall’s resignation. Fast forward to the performances achieved under the interim manager Renée Slegers and the contrast is stark. Arsenal have five wins and a draw from their six league games under Slegers, scoring 16 goals and conceding once. Critically, those goals have primarily come against teams lower down the table. It’s a solid eight out of 10 spell. Many would like to see what Slegers can do at the end of January against Chelsea and City in back-to-back away games. SW 5/10
4 Manchester United (21pts)
With the strongest defensive record in the WSL, having conceded just three times in 10 games, but the least-prolific attack among the top five, Manchester United’s season has had pros and cons but overall they are well-placed to make a push for European qualification after Christmas, if they can avoid a repeat of performances like their lacklustre draw at home to Aston Villa. They will be disappointed they did not really lay a glove on Chelsea and they are yet to meet Manchester City. However, the good form of the England trio Maya Le Tissier, Millie Turner and Grace Clinton is encouraging, as is the excellent start that Phallon Tullis-Joyce has made as the team’s new No 1 goalkeeper. TG 7/10
5 Brighton (17pts)
A stellar start to the campaign has petered out a little but Brighton are still in the battle for a top four or even top three spot. Now just two points off their tally for the whole of last season, Dario Vidosic has done a remarkable job of gelling a team that had a high turnover of players in the summer. Up front they have shone, with the Japanese forward Kiko Seike and the England duo Fran Kirby and Nikita Parris particularly influential. While they have looked assured against the teams below them, they have dropped points to each of the top four, losing three, drawing one and conceding 11 goals. Their first dropped points to a team outside the top four, the 1-1 draw with Tottenham on Sunday, has slightly soured their end to 2024, but expectations will be high in the new year. SW 8/10
6 Tottenham (11pts)
After such a promising start under Robert Vilahamn, Tottenham have struggled this season. They have already suffered five league defeats, having accumulated seven across the entirety of the 2023-24 season. The stunning run to a maiden FA Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United, feels like a long time ago and as many points, six, separate them from Brighton in fifth and Crystal Palace at the foot of the table. October was their poorest month, with three defeats from three league fixtures, but seven points since then has helped them stay in mid-table. The good news is that Bethany England is back on track, having scored four of their last five league goals to put her joint-fourth in the scoring chart. Smart recruitment in January would breathe new life into a team that feels like it is stagnating a little. SW 5/10
7 Aston Villa (9pts)
As one of the six teams trundling along at a rate of under a point per game, Villa are in contention for relegation along with everybody else in the bottom half. There is still enough quality in their squad for them to comfortably stay clear of trouble if they can make improvements after Christmas. Sunday’s victory over West Ham under the interim manager, Shaun Goater, who has started strongly, will have given them a confidence boost, after a difficult week marked by the departure of Robert de Pauw. The club’s first priority is to choose a new manager and whoever comes in will have a good length of time to prepare for their return to action in January. TG 4/10
8 Liverpool (9pts)
After such an impressive campaign last year, when Matt Beard’s team defied expectations to finish fourth, the first period of this season has been deeply disappointing for Liverpool by comparison. They created sufficient chances to win their early season meetings with Leicester, West Ham and Crystal Palace but they were not clinical enough and those three 1-1 draws have set the tone. They have undoubtedly been weakened by a long list of injuries, which has clearly been a frustration for Beard since pre-season, but they will need to pick up results quickly after Christmas to ease fears of getting sucked into a relegation tussle. TG 4/10
9 Everton (9pts)
Understood to be operating on the smallest budget in the division and having lost several key players to injury, there were many who expected Everton to be bottom of the table at Christmas. However, they have given themselves a platform to build on after securing wins in the Merseyside derby and then at home to Manchester City on Sunday. All attention will now turn to the proposed takeover of the club by the Friedkin Group and whether or not that will lead to an injection of funds to bolster the squad in January. TG 5/10
10 West Ham (8pts)
Consistency has not been a friend of West Ham this season. That they’ve gone from loss, draw, loss, draw, loss to loss, win, loss, win, loss shows signs of improvement, but they have been unable to string two positive results together. A stunning comeback against Crystal Palace, where they were losing 2-0 before battling back to win 5-2, did not lead to a new dawn, a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa completing their year. The victory over Palace did put a crucial three points between the two sides, though, and West Ham remain one point behind Everton, Liverpool and Villa. With limited resources, Rehanne Skinner’s side are hanging on in the WSL. They are fortunate to have Katrina Gorry, Viviane Asseyi and Riko Ueki, big international players who are helping to elevate their play. Reinforcements are needed in January, but whether they will be afforded what they require remains to be seen. SW 3/10
11 Leicester (6pts)
It has taken time for Amandine Miquel’s ideas to lead to progress on the pitch and Leicester have looked poor for long periods this term, but their campaign picked up on Saturday when they became the first team to stop Chelsea winning this season, and they were good value for the draw. They must start scoring more goals – their miserable tally of three is significantly lower than anybody else in the division – but they will be without their main striker, Noémie Mouchon, for the rest of the campaign and have also been hit by injuries to Jutta Rantala and Lena Petermann. TG 3/10
12 Crystal Palace (5pts)
What warrants the team at the bottom of the table having a score higher than some others? Put simply: exceeding expectations. Any side that wins promotion to the WSL is earmarked for the drop, such is the gap between the WSL and Championship. Palace, like most teams arriving in the WSL, are earlier in their journey as a full-time professional outfit and that has an impact. Last season’s promoted team, Bristol City, went straight back downwith one win and just six points. However, backed by a Premier League club, Palace have greater resources. Laura Kaminski’s side have five points from 10 games, but they are only six points off Tottenham in sixth. They have also scored more than Leicester and Everton. Crucially, they look well-organised. Some additions in January would help Palace kick on and get a second win of the season, but it doesn’t feel far away. SW 5/10
