Women's Super League Matchweek 15 Preview: Can Shaw Hold Off Russo, Terland To Win Golden Boot?

With two-thirds of the 2024-25 season gone in the Women's Super League, and only seven games left to play, the race for the Golden Boot is really heating up. (More Football News)

🌌With a total of 252 goals scored across the league so far, many more are expected when all 12 teams play in a packed card of fixtures on Sunday.

🐠It has been a goal fest, and unsurprisingly, Manchester City's Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw has been prominent in front of goal.

ౠShaw finally got her hands on the Golden Boot last season after chasing the elusive honour and narrowly missing out in the previous campaign. It was Aston Villa's Rachel Daly who stunned the league in 2022-23, scoring 22 goals to Shaw's 20.

🍌The Jamaica international made sure there was no doubt last season, and the City forward bagged a remarkable 21 goals in just 18 WSL appearances, netting eight goals more than the chasing pack containing Elisabeth Terland (13), Lauren James (13) and Alessia Russo (12).

✃It has been a case of mixed fortunes for some of the competition's bigger names, with two-time winner Sam Kerr unable to play for virtually the entire season due to a long-term knee injury and Vivianne Miedema now finding her form again after swapping Arsenal for City.

🥃Shaw, meanwhile, has been able to continue where she left off this season despite having to overcome a long injury lay-off.

ܫSo, how does the race to be named WSL top scorer stand so far, and who should we be looking at as the most likely candidate to dethrone Shaw?

♑Or is Shaw simply too prolific to stop, as she looks to win the award for a second consecutive year, something which has only been achieved by team-mate Miedema and Chelsea foe, Kerr. 

Khadija Shaw – 11 goals

💛Since joining Man City in 2021, Shaw has been nothing short of prolific. The talented striker holds the all-time scoring record for the club, having netted 81 goals in all competitions.

🍒Despite having some weeks out in December before returning after the winter break, Shaw still leads the scoring charts with 11 goals from 12 games, with her total coming from only 799 minutes played.

𓆏Shaw has had 82 touches in the opposition box and has scored all 11 goals from inside the area. She is a complete threat, having scored five with her head, four with her right foot and two with her left – the number of aerial efforts means she has the most headed goals by a player in the WSL this term.

🦩Shaw has outperformed her 6.74 expected goals (xG) significantly by 4.26, and notably, compared to many of the major top-scorer races in both the women's and men's games, none of her 11 goals have come from the penalty spot. She has had 46 shots overall, hitting 20 on target, and has a shot conversion rate of 23.91%.

🧔She boasts the best minutes-per-goal among her direct competitors at 72.64. However, her goal total could be even higher as she has missed five of the big chances that have come her way among ample opportunities.

ꦜShaw has also provided one assist, with her 12 total goal involvements being the joint-best total in the league (level with Mary Fowler). The link-up between her and the Australian has been exceptional for City in recent weeks, and they remain among the best attacking teams, despite some shaky recent form.

ꦫWith Fowler and Miedema among the players providing for Shaw, you would not bet against her winning the award again, and she will attempt to extend her lead away to Tottenham this weekend.

Alessia Russo – eight goals

🥂Russo is having a renaissance under new manager Renee Slegers and has flourished under her style at Arsenal.

Russo sits just three goals behind Shaw with eight from 14 matches, and a home match against a West Ham team sitting in the bottom half of the league table next may have her eyeing an opportunity.

🔜The Gunners striker has played 1,101 minutes and has outperformed her xG (6.13), but only by 1.87. 

🐽All eight of her goals have come from inside the box, scoring the most with her right foot (five), while getting two with her left and one header. Only one of her goals has come from 12 yards (xG excluding pens - 5.4).

ওIn comparison to her City rival, Russo has had more shots than Shaw (48) and more on target (23), though has a much lower shot conversion rate at 16.67%. Russo has also had more touches than Shaw (563 to 357), with 111 of those inside the opposition box.

﷽She averages a goal every 137.63 minutes and has provided two assists. Russo ranks fourth for WSL goal contributions (10) this term.

𓆏With games still to come against Everton, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and former club Manchester United, she may well feel confident of giving Shaw a run for her money, while building her form ahead of a crucial Euros campaign for England in Switzerland in July. 

Elisabeth Terland - seven goals

🥃With talent departing from Man Utd last summer, Marc Skinner did some canny business as he secured Terland's services on a free transfer.

♕Having scored 15 goals in 28 games in all competitions last season for the Seagulls, she has proved crucial in United's campaign.

ꦛTerland opened her United account in October against Spurs, scoring a brace. She has the third-best xG among players in the WSL (6.08 – outperformed by 0.92). She has also not scored any spot-kicks.

𝓰She has had 45 shots, and fewer on target than the top two (17), while her shot conversion is also the lowest at 15.56%. Terland also ranks first for big chances missed 10 and may rue her missed opportunities this season.

ౠLike Shaw and Russo, all of Terland's goals have been scored from inside the box, but her finishes are more evenly split – three on her right foot, two on her left and two headers. She averages a goal every 150.14 minutes.

🦄Terland has also provided four assists, more than the top two goalscorers put together. She sits third overall for goal contributions with 11, behind the unstoppable Man City duo of Shaw and Fowler. 

The Chasing Pack

🎉There are some other notable standout players whose performance and goals should not go without a mention and who are still within touching distance of Shaw to mount their own challenge for the Golden Boot.

Bethany England🉐 has proved again this season why she must be considered as one of the best strikers to grace the WSL.

🐓She also has seven goals for the season (scoring from 4.98 xG) and is closing in on the all-time WSL goal record. Already this year, she has secured the remarkable feat of becoming the first player to score against every WSL team.

𓄧Since the league's inception in 2011, 19 clubs have played in the competition, with England scoring a brace against Crystal Palace in January to earn her slice of history.

💟England (81) is just four behind Miedema (85) as the record WSL goalscorer, but with the Dutchwoman also back in form, she is making England work to get close to her record. 

🍨Chelsea have been in incredible form and at the beginning of the season, the catalyst for this was Guro Reiten. Her efforts also have her on seven goals for the season (from 4.92 xG), making her the Blues' top goalscorer in the competition.

💯Reiten has scored her haul from the fewest shots (26, 11 on target), while England has had 32 (12 on target). Out of the top five goalscorers in the WSL, Reiten has the best shot conversion rate (26.92%).

📖Reiten is also the only one out of the top five to score from outside the box (six inside, one out). None of her goals have been headers. 

In joint-sixth position, but still in Golden Boot contention, is Frida Maanum, who has netted six goals this term.

😼The Arsenal star went off like a train to start the season, though has since slowed a bit in her efforts in front of goal. She has had 36 shots overall and scored with half of her attempts on target.

ౠAll six of her efforts have been scored with her right foot (four inside the box, two outside), including a stunning long-range curling effort that won her the WSL Goal of the Month award for November.

✃The final player to mention and one that has been tearing up the WSL in the last few weeks in the absence of team-mate Shaw, is none other than Fowler.

﷽While she shares the top spot for goal involvements with Shaw, Fowler has six assists, the most of any player in the league. She is also the first player in WSL history to be directly involved in two or more goals in four consecutive appearances.

🐻Of players to score more than three goals in the WSL this season, only Brighton's Kiko Seike (27.78% - five goals) has a better shot conversion rate than Fowler’s 27.27% (six goals).

꧃The Golden Boot race remains tight though, with the likes of Vivianne Asseyi, Seike, Mariona Caldentey, Nikita Parris, Daly, Miedema, Aggie Beever-Jones and Grace Clinton all joint-eighth on five goals.

🍸Miedema won January's goal of the month for January for her second goal against West Ham and is looking to keep holding off England at the top of the all-time scoring charts, while Caldentey, another player with a title hopeful, will be hoping to pick up where she left off against West Ham, having scored against Spurs.

🀅The final weeks of a dramatic WSL campaign are now set to play out, and we have one of the closest and most varied Golden Boot races we have seen in many years.

𒅌But all the contenders know how tough it is going to be to defeat Shaw, as her pursuit of goalscoring history – such as the most goals in the competition and the most Golden Boot triumphs – continues this year and beyond.