WSL season review 2019/2020
Written by Ben Harrison 24/04/2020
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With the uncertainty that surrounds the future of the season, we have decided to take a look back on this year’s campaign despite the uncertainty that surrounds the true future of the season.
If the season was to end today, it would be Manchester City that would take home the crown, bouncing back from the previous seasons heartache of placing as runner up. However, this would be in controversial circumstances as Chelsea finished one point behind the leaders, but did have a game in hand, which if resulted in a win or draw, would have taken them top of the table. To add to that Chelsea would be ending the season unbeaten having drawn 3 and winning 12 from their 15 games played, including a dramatic, last grasp 2-1 victory over title rivals Manchester City in December.
Last season’s champions Arsenal were the third of the three runaway teams at the top of the table finishing a further 3 points behind Chelsea, having also played 15 games. WSL newcomers Manchester United finished in a very impressive 4th position. The side managed by ex-England international Casey Stoney spent big in the summer and we may be seeing an emergence of a new WSL powerhouse side.
Down at the bottom end of the table it would be Liverpool that finish bottom of the league. Just one win and 3 draws from 14 games left The Reds in position to be relegated. This is despite a change in personnel at the start of the season that saw Vicky Jepson replaced by Neil Redfearn for his second stint in charge of Liverpool. The battle to stay up was another tight one however, as Birmingham finished just one point above Liverpool in relegation but did have the advantage of a game in hand on The Reds.
On the side of the WSL it was Chelsea who picked up the first silverware of the season, winning the Continental Cup thanks to Beth England who fired twice, with one being a stoppage time winner, as Arsenal were defeated at the City Ground back in February .
Georgia Stanway scoring the 2000th WSL goal in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Chelsea
Beth England's (left) double helped Chelsea secure the Continental Cup in February
This season was a success for women’s football in general. The exposure of the 2019 World Cup where a record breaking 28.1 million people tuned in to watch England battle to a brave 4th placed finish. This has translated to the WSL season as there has been more people watching the game than ever with BT’s peak viewing figures for games more than doubling from 46,000 to 103,000 (TheSetPieces as of 17/04/2020). To add to that the WSL struck up a deal understood to be more than £10 million with Barclays. This is another huge step forward for woman’s football as Barclays has been a partner with the men’s side of the game since 2001. It means the prize rewards for competitions is now bigger than ever in the WSL and shows the speed that woman’s football is growing currently.