Tom Garry, BBC Sport
Of all the leagues required by Uefa to decide on a fair way to put forward teams for European competitions by “sporting merit”, the WSL was arguably in the most difficult position of all, following a thrilling, three-way title race, and many will find it strange for the ‘champions’ to have been sitting in second spot.
Nevertheless, Chelsea are more than worthy winners. Unbeaten in the WSL since January 2019 and having come out on top in this season’s head-to-head fixtures against their closest rivals, they had the destiny of the title firmly in their hands prior to the pandemic’s intervention.
Arsenal will feel particularly unfortunate to have missed out on a European spot by just 0.1 points per game, but the Gunners’ hopes of competing in next season’s Women’s Champions League are technically not over yet, because a decision on how to finish the 2019-20 competition is still pending and Joe Montemurro’s side had reached the quarter-finals.
If that competition were to resume later this summer, the rules state the winners would be given a qualification spot for 2020-21, even if they had not earned a place via their domestic league.
At the bottom, some will see Liverpool’s relegation as controversial, with such a large proportion of the fixtures remaining, but the Reds had looked in serious danger of the drop throughout the campaign.
Their demise comes amid the hugely contrasting backdrop of their men’s team enjoying a 25-point lead in the top flight, but other Premier League-backed WSL sides have seen much more investment from their men’s club owners by comparison and the Reds’ board must now decide whether they seriously want to take on the women’s game’s elite.
Replacing them are an Aston Villa setup packed with ambition, having recently hired former England forward Eniola Aluko as their director of women’s football, and their arrival sets up the first WSL West Midlands derbies for next term against Birmingham City, whose longstanding unofficial status as the city’s top women’s side may well be under threat.