The WSL title race between Manchester City and Chelsea is not the only contest in women’s football that is set to go down to the wire.
With just three points separating the top three teams, the race to win the Women’s Championship this season and earn coveted promotion to the WSL could not be closer.
Crystal Palace are the current leaders on 42 points – but Sunderland sit just behind them on 40 points – and only one team goes up.
Third place Charlton Athletic are on 39 points, still in with a chance of promotion.
And with Crystal Palace vs Sunderland taking place on the final day of the season, there is time for the order to change considerably before promotion is decided.
But which team is most likely to join the best of the best in the WSL next season? talkSPORT.com takes a look.
Crystal Palace
The narrow favourites to earn promotion this season, Palace’s most impressive statistic this season is embodied in the 53 goals they have scored.
Southampton are their next closest rival in that department, having scored 36 goals – proof of just how strong the Saints’ attack has been this season.
Palace midfielder Hayley Nolan is one of the players to have spoken about their big ambitions, despite how tight the margins are.
Speaking to LiveScore in February, she said: “That’s the beauty of this league. I think people who don’t watch the Championship don’t understand how good the level is.
“You’ve got five teams pushing for the title and a bunch of sides outside of that group who can take points off anyone on their day.
“We can only focus on what we are doing because that’s all we can control.”
Palace’s last two games see them take on struggling Lewes before the all-important clash against Sunderland.
Sunderland
As the only side battling for promotion this season ever to have competed in the WSL before, Sunderland might consider themselves to have something of an advantage.
Not to mention, they have an established history of producing some rather exceptional players – Lionesses Jill Scott, Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and Jordan Nobbs are just a few.
Sunderland captain Brianna Westrup told Sky Sports reflected on just how much the club had exceeded expectations.
She said: “At the beginning of the season, a lot of people anticipated us to be in a relegation battle instead of a promotion battle.
“A lot of teams strengthened and retained a lot of people and we had a fair bit of turnover, so we’re probably achieving above and beyond what people would have expected.
“But once we got into our rhythm in the season, we thought ‘we can expect that from this group’. It’s not a one-off game we’re winning. As we’ve grown into this, it’s provided more belief in the team.”
Sunderland are behind Crystal Palace only because they have drawn one extra game – but the meeting of the two on the final day will render that relatively unimportant.
Their last two fixtures will ultimately determine whether or not they make it back to the WSL for the first time since 2018.
Charlton Athletic
Sitting in third-place, Charlton are the outside contenders for promotion – but not by much.
They have actually lost fewer games than both the sides above – but picking up draws in so many of their fixtures means their points tally remains lower.
The Addicks are just three points behind leaders Crystal Palace, and with the top two facing off on the final day, will look to capitalise on the smallest of mistakes.
Manager Karen Hills told talkSPORT what her message had been to her players this season.
She said: “Focus on the next game, focus on what we can control I’ve been there, this is the third season. When I took over, it was part-time. I had a three year plan to keep us in the Championship to start with, We then went full-time and we were successful in building a team of full-time players and full-time staff.”
And Hills added that the support of the club as a whole had been instrumental in keeping up momentum this season.
She said: “My job is to make the team successful on the pitch. The club is supportive, the club want the women’s team to be back in the top flight of the women’s game. And they’re completely supportive in what I’m trying to achieve. And obviously with my recruitment this year that proved that.”
She added: “If I’m honest, it’s probably been the most competitive league I’ve seen.”
At one point the favourites to go up, some unexpected defeats to the likes of Reading and London City Lionesses have harmed Charlton’s chances considerably.
With an unenviable title run-in that sees them face Sunderland and Southampton in their last two games, Charlton know that any lost points will mean their WSL ambitions must wait till next season.
Can the promoted team survive in the WSL?
Bristol City’s season in the WSL has not been the best advert for promoted teams.
The Robins have only picked up six points this season, having lost 14 of their games so far.
Despite an admirable resolve which has seen them challenge teams more than the final score-line often suggests, Lauren Smith’s side look certain to be relegated just one season after their promotion.
As the only side in the WSL without a counterpart team in the Premier League, they were always going to have to overcome the problems that financial shortages and relatively fewer resources saddled them with.
Charlton manager Hills admitted that promotion to the WSL presented teams with a whole new set of challenges.
She said: “You go up there, it’s a different ball game up altogether. You see the kind of calibre of players that are playing in that top league. The gap is getting closer…however, the calibre of players – to be able to compete like that week in, week out – it’s difficult. And you have to bring world-class players in.”
But there are certainly positive signs for whichever side earns their promotion this season.
Crystal Palace, for example, would not expect to face the financial disparity that Bristol City have struggled with this season, or that Reading suffered with last season, given that their men’s side is in the Premier League.
With the right investment, there is no reason why they should not be able to give survival in the WSL a good go.
And there are increasing signs that the levels of football being player in the WSL and the Women’s Championship are not so far away as they might once have been.
Southampton boss Marieanne Spacey told talkSPORT that was something that had been made clear by Cup games which had seen WSL sides seriously challenged by Championship sides.
It took Chelsea 81 minutes to get a goal past Crystal Palace as they competed for a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals – and that was all they could manage.
Tottenham also needed 76 minutes to get their winning goal past Charlton in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
And Man United were made to work seriously hard this season to defeat Southampton 3-1 in the same round.
The Saints had equalised after an early goal from Ella Toone and it took United bringing on a key substitution in the form of Rachel Williams to really put the game to bed in the last 20 minutes.
Saints manager Spacey said it was testament to the quality and determination they had brought to that game and to other games against WSL sides.
She said: “Before that we played Arsenal in the Conti Cup and we had a fantastic crowd – over 13,000 at that game. And that was 2-1! It was a great game for the fans to watch and for the players to play in.
“And the beautiful thing about the squad is that when they were going out for the Man United game, they were saying ‘Come on, we’ve competed against Arsenal – we can compete against them! We’ve got every chance in this game.’
“Both Arsenal and Man United in those games made changes and brought players into the game which we took as a real compliment.”
She added: “I think that’s what we showcased in both those games – what we’re really capable of. What we have to do now is consistently deliver those capabilities.”
Although Bristol City have floundered in some of their WSL games, they have certainly challenged for many of them and there are strong indications that whichever side is promoted will also be capable of doing the same.
Much will still depend on how sides like West Ham, Everton or the still manager-less Leicester City perform in the WSL next season.
But with some shrewd summer signings, a committed fanbase and sustained investment from the club, next season could well represent the best chance for a promoted club to succeed in the WSL.
You can tune into talkSPORT’s Women’s Football Show on Mondays from 7pm on talkSPORT 2.
News Summary:
- Three clubs fight to join Chelsea and Man City in WSL – but can any of them stay there?
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.