It’s that time of year again when we start to wonder who will be Chelsea’s player of the season winner once all is said and done.
While of course think all the players have had an outstanding year, there are a select few who stand out from the rest and here I will break down exactly why they are the final nominations.
Starting with Sam Kerr.
You can read the piece on Jess Carter here.
Remember when people said Kerr would be a flop in the WSL? (LOL).
Yet again, a prolific Kerr has been outstanding for Chelsea this season, and although I know awards like this can often go to the player who scored the most goals, the Aussie deserves her place at the top table.
To date (22/04/22) Kerr has scored more goals than any other player in the WSL across all competitions and it’s not even close.
Add to that the fact that Kerr missed some of the season away at the Asia Cup, it makes her goal scoring record even more impressive.
In less minutes than both Ellen White and Viv Miedema, Kerr has scored the same number of goals as the pair combined. And for all the Arsenal fans now claiming that Miedema is a playmaker and not a striker, check out either the assists or the assists per 90 columns, Kerr beats her in both.
She’s also achieved her 23 goals in less shots than the Arsenal striker (67 vs 88) and her 64.2% on target ratio is almost double that of Miedema’s 35.20%.
A criticism of Kerr, if you can even call it that, is that she misses the easy chances and scores the ridiculous ones. Which might make some sense of the next graph which proves beyond any reasonable doubt, that Kerr is the WSL’s best striker.
According to xG (expected goals) stats, Kerr should only have 13.04 goals this season in the WSL, FA Cup and League Cup. She has 23. That’s a +9.96 difference. As you can see, that’s so far ahead of any of her rivals.
White, who has the highest xG number with 14.22, only has 9 goals this season, showing that the Lionesses’ record goal-scorer has been wasteful in-front of goal this season.
Unlike Kerr, who appears to have been designed just to mess with these types of statistical analysis of strikers.
Another reason that Kerr will be included in the player of the season awards shortlist, is not just because of the number of goals scored, but also the value of them.
The Aussie hasn’t just stat-padded against the weakest teams in the WSL, but in big games she’s stepped up when her team needed her.
Against Arsenal, Kerr’s scored three goals in the four games we’ve faced them in all competitions this year, and twice against both Manchester clubs as well. In these moments you need your big players and Kerr stepped up time and time again.
In our ill fated Champions League group stage, Kerr scored four goals and provided two assists, scored the only goal in our Conti Cup final defeat to Manchester City and who could forget the two goals that helped Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Arsenal in the delayed FA Cup final back in December 2021.
It was during this season as well, that Kerr reached 50 WSL goals in just 69 games, a quite remarkable record.
Her most memorable moment of the season so far though, is of course the last minute winner against Aston Villa in the WSL.
Kerr had 7 shots (5 on target) as Chelsea struggled to find a way past the resolute Villa defence, and in the dying moments, Zecira Musovic played a long ball into the box which fell to Kerr’s feet and after 90+ minutes of frustration, Kingsmeadow erupted.
As did Kerr, who ripped off her shirt and swung it around her head, as Chelsea’s title challenge remained on track.
It’s often suggested that players often get nominated for awards just because they score goals, and others who “do more” get overlooked. But you simply cannot get away from the fact that Kerr has reached a level which puts her above most, if not all, strikers in world football.
She’s outperforming all of her WSL rivals by some distance and has scored important goals as the season has gone on and with five games to go, Kerr will play a huge role in the final destination of both the league title and the FA Cup.
Goals are the ultimate end game of football, and right now, there’s nobody better to score them, than Sam Kerr.