Man City boss surprised by runaway WSL lead

Manchester City boss Andree Jeglertz admitted even he was surprised by the speed at which the runaway Women's Super League leaders have latched onto a winning formula in his first season.

City head into Sunday's meeting at Arsenal 11 points clear of second-placed Manchester United and holding a 12-point advantage over Chelsea, who look increasingly unlikely defend their title for a sixth-straight campaign.

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Jeglertz, whose side have also scored 10 more goals -- a total of 41 -- than United, and 16 more than Chelsea, chalked up City's dominance to a combination of cohesion and an insatiable appetite for victory.

"With the quality we have in each player and if they can work together as a group, the results can be fantastic," said the Swedish boss, who was appointed in July.

"But of course I didn't expect that we should be in this situation after six, seven months, but it's almost like you go in, and in every game that I have played, or that we have played since I started coaching was to try to win the game and a strong belief that we can."

He added: "It's crucial [togetherness], but it also has to be with a winning mentality."

Arsenal boss Renee Slegers is keenly aware her European champions have played one match fewer than the three teams above them.

Slegers said: "What it is about for us at this moment in time is this game and what we can do in this game. That's most important and then we'll see at the end what it means for the table.

"All we know is that this game, we want to get the three points and the league is really tight this year again."

Fifth-placed Tottenham have a chance to leapfrog Sunday's opponents Chelsea, who are looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats after they were shut out by Arsenal, then hammered 5-1 at City.

"The target [in the league] is different now but it's still achievable in terms of points," said Blues boss Sonia Bompastor, who signed a new contract with Chelsea on Friday through 2030.

"Sunday's game is crucial. We're not used to losing two games in a row and there's a lot of noise around Chelsea because of our past success."

Spurs head coach Martin Ho said: "If anyone thinks that losing two games turns [Chelsea] into a bad team, then you're very, very, very mistaken.

"You expect the response; you know they're going to be dangerous and we know what the threats are going to be like."

Elsewhere, United travel to Leicester on Saturday, while on Sunday, Liverpool host Aston Villa, Everton make the trip south to London City Lionesses and Brighton visit West Ham.