Chelsea manager Emma Hayes declared her side the top team in England following their WSL Spring Series triumph on Saturday, reports TONY LEIGHTON.
Chelsea have taken over the mantle of England’s best women’s team from Manchester City, says Blues manager Emma Hayes after seeing her team win the WSL Spring Series on goal difference from City with Arsenal a point behind.
“We are now the top team in the country, that’s a fact,” said Hayes. “We’ve won the Spring Series, that’s something we’ve taken away from Manchester City and I think the team deserves a bit of recognition – which sometimes we don’t get.”
A comfortable 2-0 win at Birmingham City, where in April Chelsea lost the FA Cup semi-final to the same opponents, clinched the title as Hayes’ team clocked up a tremendous goal difference of 32-3 over the Spring Series’ eight games.
She said: “This was a celebration of how much talent and quality we have. We’ve got characters who I think were born to wear this Chelsea shirt and can take the responsibility of winning titles, and that’s what we’ve done.
“We’ve brought new players into the club who have bought into our way of thinking and they’ve added even more quality, and the players who were already here have pushed their game on to another level.
“We’ve improved physically, but mentally you can see we’ve gone to a new place. For us to come back here, where we lost the FA Cup semi-final, and control the game without there being too many chances against us, is a sign of that.
“There’s no special praise for any single player because it’s been a collective effort and it’s incredibly difficult to pick out any individual. It’s been an all-round fantastic performance – winning the title win was built on team ethic.”
Hayes is already looking ahead to the WSL’s return to a winter format, her aim being to win the 2017-18 league campaign and make further progress in the Champions League than in her team’s previous two forays into the competition.
“We’re in a good position,” she said; “we’ve got strength in depth, and I’m sure I will strengthen again to put us in an even better position because we really want to improve on what we’ve done in the Champions League especially.”
