The champions of the FA Women’s Super League were crowned after a PPG verdict to curtail the campaign. Below we analyse the Chelsea squad from the 2019/2020 WSL campaign:
It was a matter of attacking masterclass for the Blues throughout the campaign with Beth England on fire. The English striker scored the most points of any player this season as she topped the goalscoring charts with 14 alongside Miedema. England played over 1300 minutes of football with a goal every 94 minutes. She also recorded four assists.
With 228 points this season, England pipped Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema by a single ShePlays point to the highest points total in the game.
New signing, Guro Reiten took the league by storm in midfield scoring an impressive 183 point in her debut WSL season. The Norwegian international cemented her place in the starting line-up early on and went on to score five goals and eight assists playing over 1200 minutes of football. Reiten finished as the second highest scoring midfielder only behind Manchester City’s Caroline Weir. An outstanding return for a midfielder priced at £40,000.
Defenders Millie Bright and Jonna Andersson were third and fourth in the points total for both Chelsea and the WSL in whole with 172 and 168 respectively. At a price of £45,000, Andersson proved a useful asset away from the ‘big name’ players that managers tend to prefer.
Next up was midfielder Ji So-Yun with an impressive 156 points ranking her the fourth best midfielder of the campaign. The South Korean midfielder scored six times and recorded two assists in the WSL throughout the 2019/20 season.
Scottish starlet, Erin Cuthbert scored 144 points and the youngster will be looking to improve further next season as she looks to cement a place in the forward line. With the addition of Sam Kerr and the return of Fran Kirby, the forward position could be a challenging decision for manager Emma Hayes.
Captain Magdalena Eriksson scored 141 points with Maren Mjelde following behind with 136. Mjelde scored four goals this campaign being used mainly in the back line. The Norwegian also recorded one assist. Eriksson and Mjelde are players often used by Chelsea but can be big differentials for ShePlays managers with a low level of ownership. Eyes peeled for next season…
Sophie Ingle and Ramona Bachmann completed the outfield ten players with the highest scores for the champions last season with 112 and 87 respectively. Bachmann moves on to PSG for the 2020/21 campaign and Chelsea wasted no time finding a replacement bringing in German international, Melanie Leupolz. (This is if a 3-4-3 formation was formed on ShePlays)
Goalkeeper, Ann-Katrin Berger scored 97 points as the 4th highest scoring goalkeeper of the campaign.
Other Chelsea players to score points included midfielder Drew Spence who recorded an impressive 94 points and at the mere price of £20,000 proved a great investment for managers on a budget. Hannah Blundell was the only other player to record a points tally over 50 with a final total of 73 for the defender. A lengthy injury lay off proved costly for the English full back. Fran Kirby also spent a long time out during the season scoring 33 points.
Winter signings, Sam Kerr and Jamie-Lee Napier scored 41 and 8 points respectively and will look to cement a place in the side for next season.
Other players to scored points this season were Carly Telford (24), Maria Thorisdottir (23), Emily Murphy (12) and Adelina Engman (11). Deanna Cooper scored four points as she makes the move to Reading in search of game time while youngster Charlotte Fleming failed to score, and Aston Villa bound Anita Asante also failed to register.
With the addition of Leupolz and Niamh Charles, competition for places at Chelsea will be fierce next season. Expect some price changes for the champions next year as we prepare for another competitive campaign in the FAWSL in 2020/21.