A big game, a big goal. No one does it quite like Sam Kerr and the defining moment of last season’s Women’s Super League arguably belonged to her, again. It was at the Emirates and in front of a crowd of over 45,000 when Kerr scored the 90th minute equaliser for Chelsea against rivals Arsenal to keep the champions leading the way towards a fourth-consecutive title. On a crisp January afternoon, this was Kerr delivering on the big-stage with another signature goal, and the WSL producing the drama on its latest landmark occasion. Halfway between the Euros and the World Cup, this was the WSL propelling itself forward purely through its own momentum.
Yet a week later, that momentum had stalled. Or rather, as Chelsea faced Liverpool at a frozen Kingsmeadow, the match was abandoned after a farcical six minutes as players slipped on the ice and struggled to stay on their feet. It was not the only fixture in the women’s top-flight to be called off for that reason, in what the former England and Everton midfielder Izzy Christensen described as a “dark weekend”. Chelsea manager Emma Hayes calmly pointed out that it was the latest example of WSL clubs not being afforded equal opportunities, or access to the country’s biggest stadiums and best pitches that her side played on just a week before.
