EVERTON (B-) There have been plenty of positives this season — including doing the double over local rivals Liverpool for the first time since 2012 — but it consistently feels like Everton are stuck in the middle of the pack and they struggled horribly with injuries to key players again. Backing manager Brian Sørensen with another contract, plus new investment following the club’s takeover, means the future looks bright. But more is needed for them to push on.
WEST HAM UNITED (A-)
It was a disappointing end for West Ham, who were on track to finish in the top half of the table before one win from their last five games. Yet they’ve often been the surprise team of the campaign — notching draws against Chelsea, Man United and Man City — with Shekiera Martinez (10) and Viviane Asseyi (9) providing plenty of goals. The pieces might finally be falling into place for manager Rehanne Skinner.
LEICESTER CITY (D)
An injury crisis threatened to derail Leicester’s season — at one point the side had no fit forwards available. Yet they responded well to clinch a 1-1 draw against a Chelsea side that had won nine out of nine games in December. With other lower-table teams picking up wins, Leicester needed good home wins over Villa, Liverpool and Brighton in 2025 to keep clear of danger and were helped by Crystal Palace’s early drop-off. Warning signs have been there for Leicester for some time and another season passes without much improvement.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (F)
Having secured a sixth-placed finish and a spot in the FA Cup final last season, many tipped Spurs to push on. But instead they have massively regressed. Five wins from 22 games isn’t good enough for this side but their defence was poor and conceded the joint second-most goals in the league (44). There have been few positives this season and manager Robert Vilahamn’s job will be on the line this summer.
CRYSTAL PALACE (D)
The disparity between the first and second tier of English women’s football has, once again, been made clear. Like many of the promoted teams before them, Palace were unable to sustain their place in the WSL after only one season and drop back to the Championship after conceding 65 goals and picking up only two wins. There were positives, but a lack of experience and resources sealed their fate with two games remaining. Sacking manager Laura Kaminski in February also didn’t help. — Emily Keogh
SEASON-LEADING STATS The WSL trophy and Golden Boot award honor the best team and goal scorer respectively, but football is about more than just that. Here, we look at the standout players from the season in a multitude of different skill categories, using data from FBref . And the numbers don’t lie.
Best creator: Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal )
Caldentey has been one of the most influential players this season, as evidenced by her winning the Player of the Season award, and her 14 goal contributions (9 goals and 5 assists) were only bettered by West Ham’s Viviane Asseyi and Man United’s Elisabeth Terland (15 each). However, Caldentey accrued the league’s highest expected assist (xA) tally of 6.9, while the Spain international was also the only player to record over 100 shot-creating actions (104), with 88 of them coming from open play.
Most overperforming xG: Shekiera Martinez (West Ham United )
The 23-year-old averaged a goal contribution every 90 minutes: including four goals against Crystal Palace , a brace against Chelsea , and one against Arsenal. Only Man City’s Khadija Shaw (12) and Arsenal’s Alessia Russo (11) scored more non-penalty goals than the Germany U20 international (10), despite her only returning from her loan at Freiburg midway through the season in January. But her 10 goals came from an impressive expected goals (xG) tally of 5.5.
Best in the box: Alessia Russo (Arsenal)
Best at drawing fouls: Olivia Smith (Liverpool)
Nimble forwards are a delight to watch; anything is possible with the ball at their feet as they twist, turn and create issues for the defenders. Among the WSL players to have played over 900 minutes this season, no one drew fouls at a better rate than Smith (2.64 fouls won per 90 minutes) and the 20-year-old wreaked havoc against Man City, Man United and Arsenal. Nine of the fouls drawn led to shots, with only West Ham’s Asseyi recording more (10).
Best at threading the needle: Grace Clinton (Manchester United)
A through-ball is one of the most threatening passes in the game and Manchester United’s Clinton recorded eight. The 22-year-old midfielder has played some of her best football this season, scoring eight times, though none of her deliveries resulted in an assist.
Best at switching play: Millie Bright (Chelsea)
Chelsea ran away with the league title, with Bright at the heart of things, but it wasn’t just her defensive qualities that made the 31-year-old centre-back valuable. Her 17 switch passes were the most by any player and, among players with over 100 attempted long balls this season, she had the second-best completion rate (71%), only behind Manchester City’s Laia Aleixandri (75%).
Most reliable outfielder: Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United)
Le Tissier was key to United’s solid defence and her impeccable fitness and availability saw her become the only outfield player to start and finish every single league game in the WSL this season. In fact, she has started and finished all league games in four of her last five WSL seasons, never missing a game due to injury or suspension. Her importance to the Red Devils is also shown by her comfort on the ball and she accounted for 13.1% of United’s total open-play touches this season, the highest share of any player. — Yash Thakur
