Now a third of the way through the 2026/27 season, the title race is beginning to heat up.
Before Gameweek 9’s fixtures, Chelsea sat top with a better goal difference, but level on points with reigning champions City.
Come full-time of both of Saturday’s early afternoon clashes, City’s three points saw us leapfrog Sonia Bompastor’s side and move two points clear after Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Everton.
And there were plenty of positives to take from our win at the Joie that we’ve dissected a little deeper…
HAT-TRICK HERO
Bunny Shaw now has nine hat-tricks in the English top-flight to take her overall tally to 12 goals in nine games.
That is four more than second-placed Vivianne Miedema and joint-third Fran Kirby, Sam Kerr and Bethany England who all have three.
The three-time WSL Golden Boot winner has also extended her lead as the frontrunner for the award once again.
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With the possibility to become the first player to ever win it for three successive campaigns, those hottest on her tail is Oceane Hurte, Victoria Pelova and Melvine Malard on six. Will they be able to catch our prolific number nine?
Squeaky clean
In our nine games thus far, Jeglertz has made a whopping 25 changes to his starting line-up.
A large portion of those have come in the backline, with Saturday’s game no different.
Following the absence of skipper Alex Greenwood, we saw a back four of Kerstin Casparij, Jade Rose, Rebecca Knaak and Carlotta Wamser for the very first time.
So, it was a welcomed reward for their hard work, plus that of substitutes Risa Shimizu, Iman Beney and Gracie Prior, to earn just our second clean sheet of the campaign after our 1-0 win at Charlton back in September.
Off the mark
It’s not very often two players get their goalscoring campaign up and running on the same day.
Aoba Fujino has been one of the most exciting players to watch in Jeglertz’s team this term, showcasing versatility, composure and a constant desire to help the team both offensively and defensively.
So when she rattled the woodwork twice, it felt like her wait for her first goal of the season would have to wait.
But a fine solo goal, which began by Fujino winning the ball back in City’s half, was the perfect goal to summarise everything the Japan international’s game has.
Not long after Fujino turned provider for young exciting Switzerland international Iman Beney to score her first goal this season.
A wonderful first-time finish shows just how important she will be during our busy schedule and can be relied upon in both ends of the pitch.
5, 10, 20, 25
City’s numbers were certainly pleasing to the eye on Saturday.
The Blues registered an impressive 20 shots, with half of those on target.
And if you half that number again, that’s how many times City put the ball in the back of the West Ham net.
In the other direction, in another increment of five, Jeglertz’s side totalled 25 touches in the opposition’s box, showing once again how we can utilise tight space in the final third and reap the rewards.
