Khadija Shaw set the agenda again, scoring her 20th and 21st goals in 22 WSL games in what could be her penultimate game in sky blue as City secured a comfortable win over West Ham before they hoisted the WSL trophy aloft for the first time in 10 years.
What will Manchester City look like without the Jamaican forward? City fans will be hoping they don’t have to find out, but with bigger offers in from other clubs the striker is leaving unless the club do a sharpest and most grovelling of u-turns.
Shaw, arguably the best centre-forward in the world, celebrated both goals in front of the City fans packed behind the goal at Dagenham and Redbridge’s ground. After the first she lifted praying hands aloft in thanks towards them and was engulfed by her teammates after her second.
The celebrations were joyous on the final whistle, with City finally able to celebrate their second league title on the pitch with its destination confirmed after Arsenal’s draw with Brighton 10 days prior.
It was a bit flat, with nothing on the line and an FA Cup final on the horizon for the champions, the game a bit of an irritation. That did not matter though, City were not here for the match, they were here for the afterparty.
The result was predictable regardless of how City played, having won 12, drawn one and lost one of their 14 WSL games against West Ham, but the Hammers did not make it easy for the visiting team. They had won back-to-back league games for the first time since February 2024 and came into the fixture full of confidence.
Quick GuideWSL roundup: Arsenal secure Champions League spot
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Arsenal secured automatic Champions League qualification ahead of Chelsea with a 3-1 win at Liverpool on the final day of the Women’s Super League season.
Alessia Russo bagged a first-half brace either side of Mariona Caldentey’s 32nd-minute strike as the Gunners all but ended the Blues’ hopes of finishing second by the half-time whistle.
Zara Shaw pulled one back for the hosts at Anfield but it was too little, too late as the Reds ended the campaign second bottom.
Chelsea, who needed Arsenal to lose to have any hopes of a top-two finish, will enter the Champions League qualifiers after they ended their campaign with a 1-0 win over fourth-placed Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
The departing Sam Kerr scored the only goal in the 34th minute, equalling Fran Kirby’s all-time record of 116 goals for the club.
Toko Koga scored a stoppage-time winner as fifth-placed Tottenham beat FA Cup finalists Brighton 2-1.
Freya Godfrey struck deep into added time for the London City Lionesses as they also came from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and finish above Albion in sixth place.
And Mayumi Pacheco pounced in the sixth minute of stoppage time as eighth-placed Everton ended the season with a 1-0 win over bottom club Leicester, who head into a relegation playoff on the back of 11 straight defeats.
It was Jade Rose’s first goal for City that divided them in the first half, the centre-back rewarded having heavily impressed in her debut season. Shaw extended their lead in a more aggressive second half from City before Seraina Piubel pulled one back for the hosts, turning in Ffion Morgan’s low cross and City started to put on a show.
Shaw’s second was low and into the far corner from the left and then Laura Coombs provided the cherry on top, her strike for City’s fourth coming in the final league game, having called time on her 19-year career.
The job Andrée Jeglertz has done off the pitch with City this year has been perhaps more impressive than the job on it. He arrived last summer to a squad stacked with world-class talent but a culture and staleness that set in and stagnated under Gareth Taylor, before his departure in March 2025.
Jeglertz brought a personable calmness with him and the commitment of the club in building the right team around the team played its part as City started to play with a freedom and belief that matched the potential of the players.
Critically, he found a way to play Shaw and Vivianne Miedema, something that had seemed to not work under Taylor. That partnership has developed during the season into an enviable one, Miedema’s absence as her mother battle’s cancer leaving City looking far from their best as the season drew to a close.
When the final whistle came there were hugs everywhere, before the trophy lift in the least glamorous of surroundings.
It feels like City are at the start of their revolution, but in probably losing Shaw, their most reliable general, whether they can make this team become dynastic is the big question.
