The two best teams in the FA WSL after seven (or six, in the Blues’ case) league matches played will square off on Saturday with the whole world watching, as Manchester City and Chelsea Women are set to do battle in a match that could very well be seen as a title-decider when the season closes.
Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor is already hyping up this weekend’s bout as such, and he absolutely should. Chelsea have been a powerhouse in women’s football for years under Emma Hayes and now have another legendary manager at the helm in Sonia Bompastor.
Both squads are littered with stars – new and old – and both are the top two teams in the league, with Chelsea only a point behind by virtue of the fact that they have played one fewer game than the Citizens.
Let’s take a closer look at six players who can decide this matchup, choosing three on each powerhouse team.
Manchester City ST Bunny Shaw
Bunny Shaw has already scored seven goals in seven games, and the Jamaican international is safely one of the best players in the world and should be regarded as the best pure goal-scoring striker on the planet.
Quick and clinical, Shaw is a nightmare for any defense, and she can, on her own, be the deciding factor in this game. All she needs is one yard of space in the box or one counterattacking opportunity to devastate an opponent.
Not only does Shaw have 20 goals in each of the previous two seasons, but she also averaged at least 1.4 key passes and 1.2 dribbles completed per game in each of them.
Her goal-scoring prowess is so incredible that it often underrates just how brilliant she is as an all-around striker.
Chelsea ST Mayra Ramirez
Mayra Ramirez joined Chelsea from Levante in 2023 as the most expensive transfer in women’s football history at the time, having broken out as one of the world’s most sensational young forwards with some top performances at the international level for Colombia.
The 25-year-old showed her potential last season and is now the key player in a loaded Chelsea attack, as she is unstoppable with the ball at her feet and an ideal player to work with two talented wingers.
Ramirez is averaging 2.4 dribbles completed per game for the Blues in the 2024/25 season, and she has the technical skill and explosiveness coming out of tight spaces to be the ultimate X-Factor in Chelsea vs. Manchester City.
Manchester City CM Yuri Hasegawa
Every world football fan needs to know who Yuri Hasegawa is, as she remains far too underrated despite being beloved by every single diehard FA WSL fan.
Hasegawa is the perfect midfield anchor for Manchester City and the unsung hero who allows the more attacking players on the side to flourish, as she is both an elite deep-lying creator and defensive presence.
This season, Hasegawa is averaging close to two chances created per game with four combined tackles and interceptions per match, building off splendid 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns defensively as one of the top up-and-coming 6’s in world football.
At the age of 27, Hasegawa has arrived in her prime, and it is scary to think the number of assists she could end up with as a defensive midfielder by the end of the season.
Chelsea LW Guro Reiten
Massive games like this one with title-deciding stakes can often come down to one moment of quality, one pass, one set piece, and if you had to bet on any player to provide that golden moment of quality, then it would be Guro Reiten.
The best wide playmaker in the game, Reiten is quietly having another phenomenal season for Chelsea in 2024/25 both as a scorer and provider. She’s averaging two key passes per game and is already at four goals in six matches.
Reiten has the best matchup of any Chelsea forward against the right side of the Manchester City defense away from Leila Ouahabi, and you had better believe the Norwegian superstar will take every advantage.
Manchester City AM Jill Roord
Jill Roord sent shockwaves around world football when she completed a record transfer from powerhouse to powerhouse, leaving the Wolfsburg juggernaut for an ever-growing one with Manchester City.
So far this season, Roord has proven to be worth every cent, scoring three goals and causing all sorts of problems with her delayed runs into the box and her constant patrolling of dangerous shooting situations on the edge of it.
The 27-year-old Dutch international is just entering her prime, which is astounding when you think about all she has already accomplished for both club and country.
Shaw will be occupied with Chelsea’s elite center back duo, so Roord could have one or two golden opportunities to put the game away if he can find the right spaces – and you know she will.
Chelsea CB Millie Bright
Kadeisha Buchanan is way too underrated and one of the most intelligent covering and ball-playing defenders in world football, but this battle between Chelsea and Manchester City could come down to her more fiery center back partner, Millie Bright.
The England international is a veteran of these big games for club and country, and she epitomizes what Chelsea are all about defensively with loud, crunching tackles and elite aerial defense.
Bright is great with the ball at her feet, just like Buchanan, and that will come in handy against a Manchester City midfield that will want to dictate as much of the game as possible.
Expect Bright to show a willingness to get rough with Shaw at striker and step up to make both tackles and challenges in midfield. With 1.5 tackles, 1.7 interceptions, and just 0.3 dribbles completed per game, Bright has a case for being Europe’s top center back of the 2024/25 season thus far.
