How Manchester City won their first WSL title in a decade
Attacking freedom, set-piece dominance and a fully-fit squad propelled City to historic league success
Manchester City are back at the pinnacle of English football after ten years in the wilderness, ending Chelsea’s six-year monopoly on the division’s biggest prize.
Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton on Wednesday night handed City the WSL title with one game to go as the Gunners were the only team who had enough fixtures to chase down the City's points total. Andree Jeglertz’s side are six points clear of second-place Chelsea and 10 points ahead of third-place Arsenal, who still have two games in hand to play. City will lift the trophy away at West Ham on the final day of the WSL season on 16 May.
It’s been an incredible journey for Jeglertz’s team. After losing to Chelsea on the first day of the season, it seemed like City were far off being the best team in the country. However, they responded to that disappointment by going on an emphatic 13-game wining run, which included massive wins over Manchester United, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea.
That run allowed them to gain momentum when their competitors Chelsea and Arsenal started to slip up in the middle part of the season. City built up a healthy points cushion which also afforded them a few bad results. With losses to Arsenal and Brighton, and a draw with Villa this side of 2026, City nearly used up all that buffer, but in the end, they got over the line in the penultimate week of the season.
How City got there
City have always had the squad to go all the way and they almost did it a few years ago, losing to Chelsea on goal difference at the end of 2023-24 season. Even last season, the expectation was to challenge for the title but an injury crisis that took away their best players meant they limped to a fourth-place finish. City weren’t satisfied, and Gareth Taylor departed before the end of last season, with Jeglertz arriving in the summer.
Taylor, who was a few minutes away from spoiling the City party with new club Liverpool last Saturday, was a system-oriented manager whose style of play required positional discipline and precise tactical instructions. Jeglertz, in contrast, is a calm presence with a less hands on style of management, giving the attackers more freedom. City vice captain Kerstin Casparij once called him “big papa” because “he gives everyone confidence to play in their own way”.
Last season’s fourth-place finish meant City were without European football for the 2025-26 campaign. The result was a more forgiving schedule than the three clubs who finished above them. The longer turnaround between games gave the new management ample time to install new ideas in the squad. This allowed Jeglertz to master a more transitional brand of attacking football that got the best out of the attacking players.
It also allowed them to diversify their source of goals with corners being one of their biggest strengths, both defensive and attacking.
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