There has been a changing of the guard in the Women’s Super League this season. On Sunday, a symbolic passing of the baton occurred. Six-time defending champions Chelsea relinquished the title to champion candidates Manchester City.

But it was not a happy handover. This is a siege. Manchester City are charging for the title in 2025/26 and appear ready to destroy anyone who stands in their way. It’s the kind of cruelty we once associated with Chelsea.

The latest demolitions in the city, 5-1 The crushing defeat at the Etihad Stadium proved unequivocally that this is a team on its way to the top. Sonia Bompast’s Chelsea, meanwhile, looked like a team in decline, with low confidence and, as the French women’s team said after the game, “poor energy”.

Bonpaste lost consecutive games for the first time in her managerial career, marking her worst performance in charge of Chelsea to date. It’s as if Manchester City has become what Chelsea once was.

Crolin completed his hat-trick in the second half, prompting chants of “Easy, easy, easy”. After Vivianne Miedema scored her fifth header from a corner, the home fans cheered with six cheers, not out of irony but because it was definitely possible. Manchester City had a total of 11 shots on target and created 8 great chances. If anything, the score was generous.

City finished the weekend 12 points ahead of Chelsea, the Blues’ furthest away from the top of the table since the final day of the 2018-19 season, when Arsenal were crowned champions. An incredible 34-game unbeaten run was ended by Everton eight weeks ago, a stunning fall from grace.

Indeed, Sunday marked the culmination of Bompast’s most difficult period since taking office 18 months ago – or ever. She admitted that “nothing went well.” But the results have already arrived.

Performance throughout the season has declined in almost every metric, performing worse than any other team compared to expected goals and conceding more goals than any other team. Liverpool, who are bottom of the table, have conceded fewer goals in their own penalty area than Chelsea this season.

This drop can be seen with the naked eye, as clearly shown in the numbers below. “I’m not worried,” Etihad’s Bompast insisted. “You need to understand that when teams are not in a good position momentum-wise, I think that reflects in the physical form. Now we’re not at our best in terms of confidence, which is normal, and we’re losing games. That’s not what we want. Sometimes it reflects in our body language.”

Many players, including captain Millie Bright and centre-back partner Naomi Gilma, were visibly deflated on the pitch. Chelsea are not used to losing games, let alone losing in this way, and the squad is plagued by injuries.

Unfortunately for Bompastor, this decline comes at a time when one of their closest competitors is hitting its best pace in a decade. The gap in the classroom was as evident on the day as it was on the table. Few predicted that Manchester City would excel in Andre Jaegerec’s first season.

Ultimately, City are a more complete team, with better quality depth and more variety in their game – a powerful combination. They have taken advantage of the recent transfer window better than most teams.

However, Chelsea’s incredible squad strength has always been their best asset, with Chelsea having the largest financial outlay of any WSL club in terms of transfer fees. Chelsea have always been the envy of the league in this regard. What has changed?

“Without commenting too much, I would like to be in a better position in terms of the last transfer window, yes,” Bompast said, suggesting the club had either missed targets or been unwilling to pursue them. Either way, Chelsea lack the talent needed to defend their title for a seventh year. There’s no way City can blow it away from here.

The Blues must now put all their eggs in the Champions League basket; it can be said that they hope to win this game with greater hunger no matter what. After finishing third in the league stage, they automatically qualified for the quarter-finals, with their Europa League campaign not resuming until March – plenty of time to break this damaging cycle.

At the same time, Manchester City also has its own pursuits. They became a championship team faster than Jeglertz could have hoped. This is the new normal in the WSL. Now the onus is on everyone else, including Chelsea, to cover the deficit.