Four seconds pass and a thought forms: stick a leg out, Chelsea.
Any expendable limb, really.
But on Kerolin sprints.
Though it’s not so much a sprint as it is a glide, starting in her own half, past one, two, three inconsequential blurs of opposing dark blue. Eventually, the Manchester City winger is bearing down on goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, chipping her shot to score City’s third goal of the day, before landing on her backside, arms folded and tongue out; a punk-rock finish.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of that nine-second move on Sunday was how predictable it was, how nobody in the Etihad Stadium expected Kerolin not to score, or that Chelsea would stop her, or even get in a position to do so.
Catch her if you can… 💨
Kerolin blitzes through before executing the perfect lobbed finish 🌟@ManCityWomen #BarclaysWSL pic.twitter.com/GWtSIJPLGL
— Barclays Women’s Super League (@BarclaysWSL) February 1, 2026
And of course it was a metaphor. City are so far clear of Chelsea that the eight-time champions cannot even stick a leg out in the hope of a stumble which might stop the kind of title procession that used to be their party piece.
City are 12 points clear of third-placed Chelsea at the top courtesy of Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing, the Brazilian’s hat-trick coming on top of goals from Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw and Vivianne Miedema.
Head coach Andree Jeglertz dutifully played down any talk of a title being won with eight matches to go. “We still have a big game next week,” he said in his post-match press conference, referring to City’s trip to European and now world champions Arsenal on Sunday. “We look one game at a time.”
An admirable comment, but it’s hardly controversial to speculate that City have things wrapped up already.
Perhaps what’s so surprising is the manner in which they’re doing it. Before Sunday, Chelsea were the one team Jeglertz had failed to defeat in the six months and 13 league matches since his appointment in July — in fact, they remained the only team to (twice) get the better of City this season.
Yet before kick-off yesterday there was a jovial swagger to City — more so as they scythed through their visitors with an ease that bordered on impudence, the clearest manifestation of a squad which no longer exudes the smell of fear but instead hunts it themselves, delighting in its discovery.
“Easy! Easy!” chanted the crowd after Kerolin’s second goal made it 3-0 early in the second half, and it was.
City boasted an xG of 3.8 to Chelsea’s 0.9. They registered 21 shots with 11 on target to Chelsea’s 16 and six.
Those statistics might have leaned more heavily in City’s favour had they not merrily taken their foot off the gas by the hour mark. Kerolin was substituted having wrapped up her hat-trick six minutes earlier and thus the game, it was 4-0 at the time, leaving the rest of her team to smile through the remaining movements until the final whistle.
At this point, it’s worth recalling City’s opening match of the season, the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge, with City staff lamenting Kerolin’s unavailability due to the timings of the Copa America, which did not conclude (with Kerolin and company lifting the trophy) until early August, and the WSL’s return barely a month later. Injury then prevented the 25-year-old forward being part of their starting XI consistently until December.
Yet since January, she has started all three league matches (Everton, London City Lionesses and Chelsea), and has opened the scoring in all of them.
Her hat-trick marked the first time in WSL history that a player had scored three goals in a game against its title holders. Considering Chelsea have been those champions for the past six years, it can seem ludicrous that no one else, across 12 other clubs and all those 20-something-match seasons, has managed the feat.
That Kerolin did so in a matter of 54 minutes on Sunday speaks to City’s renaissance, a full peacock spreading of their feathers, but also Chelsea’s subsequent drop-off, appearing unnervingly accepting of their fate.
For them, it means an inquest, and some tough conversations. For City, Kerolin’s spike in form is good news. If she had been available regularly before the new year, had been in this form well before all the trees in England went bald, would Jeglertz still be in the position to pretend this title is not inevitable?
But this is part of his, and thus his team’s, strength: a dogged persistence to not be comfortable. Jeglertz would not be drawn into hyperbole on Kerolin in his post-match press conference. Her pace was exceptional, her timing and finesse exquisite. We know this. What we don’t know is her efficacy when playing more centrally, to link and progress play through those channels.
It is this obsession with progress and improvement that drives City more insatiably towards the top, their fans still baying for goal number six in the 10th minute of added time.
City last won the WSL in 2016, a decade including five seasons of finishing second (six, if you count the 2017 Spring Series).
As of Sunday, they rank first in the league for goals (41), expected goals (39.4), shots on target per match (7.5), big chances created (69), big chances missed (43), touches in the opposition penaty area (574), possession wins in the final third per match (9.3), and xG differential (27.8), according to Fotmob. They continue to lead for goals-in-set-piece threat, and are yet to concede in stoppage time in either half.
Those metrics paint the picture of what this City team has become: a beast capable of sublime individual performances reliably undergirded by consistently indomitable team ones.
“At the moment, winning creates confidence, and we have been winning a lot,” Jeglertz said. “But at the same time, there is something in this group that they feel that we still can be a little bit better. The players are engaged and involved in everything that we do. That builds the hard work, the group feeling, the togetherness, but also confidence, because we are winning, and that builds the feeling that you are a good team.”
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