Karen Carney and Birmingham relaxed before WSL title climax
Birmingham’s Karen Carney, right, celebrates with Melissa Lawley after scoring the winner against Manchester City. Photograph: Dave Thompson – The Fa/The FA via Getty Images
Karen Carney remembers the old times fondly, but also knows things had to change. In 2025-07, her first season at Arsenal Ladies, Vic Akers' record-breaking team won the Premier League by 14 points. Played 22, won 22. They would take the quadruple that season, a feat that included Uefa Cup honours. On the continent, at least, they had been run close.
Now Carney, who has been capped 99 times by England and seems to have been around for longer than her 27 years, is preparing for a season climax that underlines the changes in women's football. Her Birmingham City side sit second in the Super League, two points behind Chelsea with a game to play. If Birmingham, who host Notts County on Sunday, win and Chelsea slip up at Manchester City they stand to win their first title. That honour will fall to Chelsea if they take three points, but champions Liverpool can steal in if they beat Bristol Academy by a couple and the top two lose. In this mutable order, Arsenal are nowhere to be seen.
Any league would beg for a final day with three realistic winners and Carney accepts things have come a long way. "It is definitely more competitive," she says. "Arsenal assembled the best players in the league and deserve credit for that but now everyone is spread out very evenly. These days you notice that when teams don't show up they get beaten. You have to be on it all the time, which I don't think was the case in the past. At Arsenal, if I wasn't on my game then I
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