Why beating Arsenal shows Man City title hopes more than ’empty words’

Andree Jeglertz’s message to his Manchester City players that they are capable of winning the Women’s Super League would be “empty words” without any significant results to back up it up.

His side, however, are already producing, squandering just one point from leaders Chelsea with a strong 3-1 victory over fellow title rivals Arsenal on Saturday.

Only five games into the WSL season, which is almost a quarter of the way through the 12-team league’s campaign, are still in Jeglertz’s final months.

City hasn’t won the WSL in nine years, finishing second six times since 2016, including losing the title due to goal difference in 2023-24.

However, Jeglertz’s faith in his players is unwavering, and City are now looking like real contenders despite losing to Chelsea by 2-1 on the opening day of the season.

“I can say to the team in front of the team, “I believe we can win the league and defeat every team,” he said, but if we don’t, those words can turn into empty words,” he said.

It’s crucial for the group to feel confident that we can challenge and defeat them.

Before Iman Beney’s dramatic late winner at Joie Stadium, Arsenal had come back from two-goal deficits.

It gave City their best winning streak since November 2024, extending it to four WSL games.

After five games without a win against the European champions, it was City’s first victory over Arsenal in the WSL since February 2023.

In their previous three games, Arsenal dropped seven points from a possible nine, but City has quietly and effectively run their business.

“Of course, I’m pleased with the outcome.” We kept on believing, Jeglertz said, “The game was won.”

The team still believed that we would create more goalscoring chances even when they scored 1-1 and 2-1.

No player ever considered, “Oh, we need to protect this result.” This group won’t have that happening. That opinion is crucial.

When faced with setbacks, the team demonstrated that they don’t do their own thing; they simply keep going. They conceded two goals.

City have been poked at in the past, perhaps because they lack the bite and ruthlessness of Chelsea, who have won six times in a row.

They played possession-based football well from the days of former manager Gareth Taylor and occasionally looked stale and rigid.

Since Jeglertz arrived in the summer, he has since added some unpredictability and adaptability.

Yui Hasegawa’s midfield pushes him further up the pitch, and his attackers’ fluid play on the frontline has been excellent.

Khadija Shaw received the ball in the middle, where she is most damaging, while full-back Kerstin Casparij advanced against Arsenal.

Jeglertz said, “It’s about making sure we keep the Manchester City identity of being possession-based, but it’s also about scoring,”

We have had a lot of goalscoring chances in these final few games. That must always be the top priority.

Finding the best ways to maximize each player is what it is. That is my core belief. The players should feel that, in my opinion.

Arsenal, who had just won the Women’s Champions League for the second time in their history, reigned supreme in the town in the summer.

Renee Slegers had protected them as a difficult interim manager, earning them the job full-time, and bringing home the biggest trophy a few months later.

They added depth to their squad and signed Olivia Smith, their first player worth £1 million, during an exciting transfer window.

So this season’s expectations were very high.

With two draws and a loss in their previous three games, Chelsea is currently fifth in the table, five points clear of them.

Chelsea, in contrast, won a domestic treble last year while going unbeaten and only dropped six points.

City’s most recent defeat is troubling.

We are deeply disappointed with the outcome. Both United and Villa’s results, both draws, both disappointed us. Slegers remarked, “We know the league is very small.

There are some excellent teams in this league that challenge you. We want to try to control anything that is outside our control.

In these kinds of games, we consistently score three points. If you could ask before the season, we would like more points.