Manchester City Extend WSL Lead Despite Chelsea Challenge, Jeglertz Warns

Manchester City tightened control of the Women's Super League title race with a 5-1 home win over Chelsea, extending a perfect run to 13 league victories and moving 11 points clear at the top, yet head

coach Andree Jeglertz insisted the championship is not secured.

The result also pushed City 12 points ahead of Chelsea specifically, with the defending champions dropping to third place after Manchester United's earlier win on Sunday, while it marked City's first home success against Chelsea since March 2023 and underlined a shifting balance in this WSL rivalry.

Analytical projections now strongly favour Manchester City in the WSL title race, with the Opta supercomputer rating Jeglertz's team as having a 97.1% chance of finishing first, while Chelsea's prospects have fallen sharply to 0.9% after back-to-back league defeats damaged the title defence.

City's advantage is also notable in historic terms for the Women's Super League, as the only previous instance of a club holding a lead greater than 10 points at the summit came last season, when Chelsea finished the campaign 12 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table.

"We haven't won the league. " That warning from Andree Jeglertz followed the heavy victory, as the Manchester City head coach aimed to keep focus within the squad despite the statistics, stressing performance standards and consistency rather than the emerging narrative around the likely destination of this season's WSL trophy.

"We haven't won the league, Jeglertzsaid. I will never say that [it's won] until it's done. Just playing that kind of game, the result is a fantastic win. We are getting players onto the field and keeping the standard high, and that is very important for the rest of the season. We played with a confidence that is not rare in football, but we are a team that is so determined. We attack on the transition, and we own their half and control the game. We had so many layers, but we did everything with determination. That's the crucial thing. There are a lot of expectations on this team now, and that's when they've delivered the best performance. I think that's impressive from this group. "

The match itself underlined Manchester City's attacking depth in the WSL title race, with Kerolin scoring a hat-trick, Khadija Shaw adding another goal and Vivianne Miedema also on target, while Alyssa Thompson produced Chelsea's only reply on a difficult afternoon for Sonia Bompastor's side.

Chelsea WSL title race setback and form concerns

Chelsea's loss followed defeat at Arsenal and extended a poor away sequence in the WSL title race, with three defeats in the last five league matches on the road, two wins in that spell, and this is the first time Chelsea have suffered successive league losses since July 2015.

Earlier in the week, Sonia Bompastor had initially ruled Chelsea out of the WSL title race after the reverse at Arsenal before revising that stance, and despite the growing gap to Manchester City, Bompastor now insists the squad will continue to prioritise league fixtures alongside other competitions.

"There are a lot of things to say about the performance. Really disappointed, Bompastor said. We were not efficient at all on the pitch. We made too many mistakes, and when you play against a team like Manchester City, you just get punished. We are in a tough moment. It's tough for everyonefor players, for staff. We are not going to shy away from that. We need to find solutions. I need to find solutions as the manager. We have quality in this squad to be confident. We need to focus on every game. We have enough equality in the squad to achieve what we want this season. Every game will be tough for us, and every game will be important. We need to go into the next one knowing that we need to stay in the present. "

The result leaves Manchester City firmly in control of the WSL title race with a double-digit cushion and strong statistical backing, yet Jeglertz continues to urge caution, while Chelsea and Bompastor look for quick answers as the champions attempt to respond to rare league setbacks and maintain pressure during the run-in.