Lucy Bronze, Grace Clinton and GOAL's WSL Team of the 2024-25 Season so far

Following in the footsteps of Mary Earps, winner of The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper award in each of the last two years, would not be an easy task for any goalkeeper. Yet, Phallon Tullis-Joyce has risen to the challenge remarkably well and has been the most impressive goalkeeper in the first half of this WSL season.

Man Utd have the best defensive record as the league heads into its Christmas break, conceding just three times in 10 games despite their expected goals statistic against sitting at over 11. With a league-leading save percentage of over 90 per cent, Tullis-Joyce has played no small part in that great record.

But it's not just about the American's ability as a shot-stopper, with her distribution and consistency also standing out. She's been so good since inheriting the starting gig, in fact, that she earned her first call-up from Emma Hayes to the United States women's national team back in November. That says a lot, given the depth the U.S. has.

When Lucy Bronze signed for Chelsea in the summer, there were a lot of people who questioned whether it would be a good deal for the champions. With Ashley Lawrence and Eve Perisset both already at the club, they didn't need a right-back, while others simply just didn't believe that the 33-year-old had the level in her to be a consistently competent performer in a Blues team looking to go to the next level and win a Champions League. It's fair to say she's proved her doubters wrong so far.

Nailing down the starting role, Bronze has been superb for Chelsea through the first half of the season, with Katie McCabe, who takes set pieces for Arsenal, the only defender who has created more chances than the England star, and one of just three players overall in the league to have done so. But it is actually in her defending, the part of her game that her critics question the most, that Bronze has really stood out.

The full-back has consistently showcased her experience with her discipline getting forward, knowing when to go and when to stay, and leads the league in interceptions thanks to how well she has been reading the game. Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to the summer arrival is that arguably her most impressive performance of the season came in the 2-0 win over title rivals Man City, emphasising the fact than Bronze can certainly still hang with the best.

It's not just because of Tullis-Joyce that Man Utd have a great defensive record this season. While her opportunities for England continue to primarily come at right-back, Maya Le Tissier is having another fantastic campaign at the heart of the Red Devils' back line. That she is producing such stand-out form in her first season as captain of this club says a lot about her character and the manner in which she can step up when the pressure is on, despite being just 22 years old.

A fantastic distributor of the ball, and taking up a role in that sense which is vital to the way Man Utd play, Le Tissier also takes some beating in a physical battle, no matter who her opponent is. Leading her team in aerial duels won and interceptions, the young defender continues to catch the eye.

While Alex Greenwood has been widely regarded as the Lionesses' best centre-back for a while, and has been having herself another strong season, it's her England team-mate, Millie Bright, who gets the nod ahead of her in this XI. Boasting a defensive record of just six goals conceded in 10 games, Chelsea have been strong at the back this term and Bright's ever presence has certainly helped, especially while those around her have often been rotated.

There's been no one particularly impressive performance from the Blues skipper but rather a very good showing week after week, as she leads the squad for aerial duels won and ranks fourth for interceptions made, while also boasting two assists for rather different reasons. The first came from Bright doing as she always does, in causing problems attacking a corner, while the second was a perfect cross-field ball that Johanna Rytting Kaneryd volleyed home just as brilliantly.

Having adapted brilliantly to an unnatural left-back role, Chelsea star Sandy Baltimore was in with a shout of being the club's third representative in this defence, but she is beaten out by Arsenal's Katie McCabe, who has been in excellent form so far this year. The Gunners' defensive record is even better than the Blues' and their versatile left-back is a big reason why. Ranking in the top three in the Gunners' squad for successful tackles, interceptions made and fourth for possession won, McCabe has been extremely solid down that left flank throughout the first half of the season.

As always, her attacking output has been consistently brilliant, too. Only Lauren Hemp and Guro Reiten, two out-and-out wingers, have created more chances across the entire WSL than McCabe, while only the former has more assists to her name.

If there is one outfield player who feels closest to really breaking into Sarina Wiegman's best XI ahead of England's defence of their European title next summer, perhaps it is Grace Clinton. That's in part due to her performances for the Lionesses, of course, but also because she is giving her national team coach no choice but to grant her opportunities based on her club form.

No one has more goals for Man Utd this season than Clinton, who has settled in brilliantly after having something of a breakthrough season on loan at Tottenham last year. Yet, what is starting to really stand out alongside those obvious attacking qualities is the 21-year-old's work rate and her willingness to contribute on the other side of the ball.

No one has won possession back more often across the entire WSL, despite Clinton being perceived as a more attack-minded midfielder. All the names closest to her are holding midfielders or even defenders, which highlights just how much Clinton is contributing in that area to make herself an all-round asset for club and, as we are seeing recently, country.

Some might not have expected Frida Maanum to have the starring role she has had for Arsenal this season. After struggling for a regular place in Jonas Eidevall's XI last season, the arrival of Rosa Kafaji, and her sublime pre-season performances, suggested that the summer signing could get the nod in the No.10 role for the Gunners instead this term. However, none of those reasons are related to Maanum lacking the quality to perform, which she certainly has so far this season.

The Norwegian has been playing at a level similar to that which saw her really steal the show in the 2022-23 season, winning the club's Player of the Season award, and with four goals in 10 games making her Arsenal's second top-scorer, just two behind centre forward Alessia Russo, she may well surpass her totals from that sublime year.

Benefitting from a slight change in Arsenal's shape under interim boss Renee Slegers, Maanum is able to be more creative, as well as finding the space to score goals, and she is making better decisions in the final third, too. It's all helping her team rise back up the WSL table after a slow start.

Fran Kirby deserves an honourable mention here for how well she has performed at Brighton in the first half of this season, her new chapter after a nine-year stay at Chelsea certainly going to plan, but it is a creative playmaker in England's next generation that takes the final spot in this team's midfield, in Jess Park.

Park didn't start a WSL game for Man City until February last term, struggling for game time behind the excellent Jill Roord. However, she grabbed her chance with both hands when it came and has carried her sublime end-of-season form into this new campaign, kicking it off with a brilliant goal in the 2-2 draw at Arsenal on the opening weekend.

In the weeks since, City have been dealt a big blow in the absence of Vivianne Miedema, who had been operating in those attacking midfield spaces with Park. Fortunately, the 23-year-old has helped limit the negative impact of that injury on the team, regularly standing out as one of the best players on the pitch in any game, while being City's third most productive player in terms of goals and assists.

Brighton are this season's surprise package in the WSL and it is Kiko Seike who has regularly caught the eye for the Seagulls, managing five goals in just six starts, meaning she averages one every 118 minutes. Perhaps most impressive about Seike's first half of the season is that she's been used in a wide variety of roles, be it on the right of attack, on the left, back in the midfield or as an impact sub - and yet she finds a way to be consistently effective.

A hat-trick against Everton on the opening weekend saw the Japan international really announce herself to the WSL and she's followed it up with some other highlights, such as the goal-and-assist display in a narrow 3-2 win over West Ham and an energetic goal-scoring performance against Chelsea in which she and Brighton gave the champions a serious scare.

A shoutout must go to Johanna Rytting Kaneryd here, who has been a fantastic threat out on the right for Chelsea throughout their unbeaten start to Sonia Bompastor's tenure, but Seike just edges her out for this spot at the halfway point.

There are some really in-form centre forwards in the WSL this year. Nikita Parris has settled brilliantly at Brighton, Elisabeth Terland has done the same at Man Utd and both Bethany England and Rachel Daly deserve particular credit for their goal-scoring exploits in sides that have done a little less winning, representing Tottenham and Aston Villa respectively. After a slow start, Alessia Russo is catching fire too, netting six goals in her final five games before the winter break. This spot, though, simply has to go to Khadija Shaw.

Leading the race for the Golden Boot yet again, Shaw has nine goals in as many games, despite the expected goals statistic implying that she should only have six. That's an ode to how good her finishing continues to be, even in high pressure moments, with crucial winners netted against Brighton and Liverpool to help City keep pace at the top of the table.

Having missed the climax of last season's tight title race due to injury, only able to watch from the stands as her team came up just short, it'd be no surprise if that is motivating Shaw even more to fire City to a first WSL triumph since 2016. Her relentless performances in the first half of the season certainly suggest as much.

If Hemp had not picked up a knee injury in November that has since required surgery and left her sidelined for an unknown period, it's likely that picking between her and Reiten for this final spot would be near-impossible. That it is still a tough task says everything about the performances of the Man City winger, and the numbers she has put up, despite missing the last three league games. Still, Reiten has been able to edge ahead of her in that time to secure this place on the left wing.

They've both been outstanding for different reasons. Hemp's impressive contributions have come more in the creative sense, as she still leads the league for assists and chances created. Reiten, meanwhile, is only a few behind in the latter column, but it is her goal-scoring that has really caught the eye, with Shaw the only player in the WSL to have found the back of the net more often in the first half of the season.

Even when she doesn't score or assist, Reiten is a constant threat down the left in an unstoppable Chelsea team that is still yet to taste defeat under Bompastor. With Rytting Kaneryd running riot on the opposite flank, it makes for quite the combination and ensures whoever is playing centre forward has plenty of service.