Chelsea vs Manchester United WSL clash pits Sam Kerr against Alessia Russo 

Chelsea host Manchester United in a top-of-the-table clash in the Women’s Super League this Sunday with just a point separating the two clubs.

United have never beaten the Blues but come into this game in a strong run of form while Chelsea managed to bounce back from their Continental Cup final defeat by Arsenal with a 3-1 victory over Brighton on Wednesday.

Both teams will be looking to their star strikers, Sam Kerr and Alessia Russo, to provide the spark at Kingsmeadow on Sunday. Russo scored United’s first ever WSL hat-trick in their 5-1 win over Leicester last weekend and is the club’s top scorer with eight goals in 12 games.

Kerr is closely behind with six goals but has played two games more. The Australian was by far the best performing forward in the WSL last season but Russo has made some key improvements to her game and data from Delphlyx shows she has caught up to and overtaken Kerr in certain areas.

Sportsmail has looked at the key stats from last season and the current campaign and what it tells us about both forwards and the roles they play in their team.

Sam Kerr has won three Women’s Super League titles with Chelsea in the last three seasons

Manchester United’s Alessia Russo has been key to their rise to top spot in the WSL table

How Sam Kerr [purple line] and Alessia Russo [blue line] compared in the 2021-22 season

Goals and xG

Kerr was the top scorer in the WSL last season with 20 goals while Russo managed nine. 

But the United forward, who was the subject of a world record bid from Arsenal in January, is only one goal behind her tally for the 2021-2022 campaign.

Russo is currently out-performing Kerr on xG (expected goals) and goals scored and also has a higher shot conversion rate.

For the current season, Russo is over-performing her xG per game, meaning she is scoring a higher number of chances than is expected of her.

Kerr is on par for her xG per game, meaning she has scored the chances she is expected to convert. Last season, the forward significantly out-performed her xG.

In addition, a higher percentage of her shots and headers have been on target than Kerr’s, which differs from last season.

Despite her small stature, Kerr scores a high number of headers. In fact no player has scored more headed goals since she joined Chelsea in 2020. 

Russo, though, has been more prolific in the air this season with three headed goals while Kerr has just one in the league.

A comparison between Kerr [purple] and Russo [blue] for the current 2022-2023 campaign

Kerr (right) celebrates with Jelena Cankovic after scoring in the Women’s League Cup final

Russo celebrates with Martha Thomas after netting for United against Leicester in the WSL

Creativity and xA

When it comes to creativity, Kerr has made slightly more key passes and has more assists and a higher xA (expected assists) than Russo.

This is perhaps down to the fact that Chelsea have been without both Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder for the majority of the season, though Lauren James and Guro Reiten have both provided creativity. Reiten tops the WSL charts for assists.

But the fact Kerr has more assists than Russo shows that the Australian is perhaps having to take on a slightly different role than what she played last season.

Russo, though, has played a higher number of passes to the final third and has more link-up plays than Kerr.

Last season Kerr had far more link-up plays than Russo but the two players had similar stats for passes to the final third.

Kerr has a greater expected assists this season, indicative of a revised role at Chelsea

Russo has an impressive number of passes into the final third and more link-up plays than Kerr 

Off the ball and defensive work

Defending is still an important part of a striker’s game, especially with the pressing style many teams now adopt.

When it comes to work off the ball, both strikers are clearly hard-working and win back possession for their teams.

But Russo is slightly ahead of Kerr in this area, which again differs from last season. 

Russo has a higher number of ball recoveries per game and has won twice as many defensive duels as Kerr.

The Chelsea forward had a higher number of ball recoveries in the previous campaign but Russo was still ahead on defensive duels won.

Kerr scores against Arsenal in the teams’ recent Women’s FA Cup meeting at Kingsmeadow

Russo celebrates after Tottenham’s Molly Bartrip puts through her own net last month 

Summary

Kerr and Russo are clearly two of the best strikers in the world and are both performing at a consistently high level. 

Kerr, 29, has experience and has won eight trophies with Chelsea and has set the standard in the WSL for the last three years. 

But it is a standard that Russo is showing she can reach. The United forward is still looking for her first piece of domestic silverware and the result of Sunday’s game could have a big say on where this season’s WSL title ends up. 

Both strikers will undoubtedly have a big role to play.