SUE Smith believes Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw can power Manchester City to a long-awaited Women’s Super League triumph.
Shaw has scored three goals in the WSL so far this campaign as well as netting the decisive second goal in City’s statement Champions League win over Barcelona.
The Jamaican finished as the top goal scorer last term despite missing the final three games of the season with a foot injury and Smith believes she could be the difference-maker this year if she stays fit.
“You cannot switch off for one second with her around,” said Smith, speaking at the Copa del Cure Leukaemia tournament at St George’s Park.
“Her movement is so good in and around the box and her first thought is ‘can I score?’ She’s just so ruthless. I think the reason they didn’t go all the way is because her injury came at the wrong time.
“She is so key and they have to keep her fit for the whole season. At the moment you’d have to say she’s the league’s top striker.
“She took a little bit of time to adapt but not long and her movement was great straight away and the goals then followed. She’s just formidable in front of goal.”
Results so far this season suggests another tight title tussle between City and Chelsea is on the cards.
City have not won the WSL title since 2016 but Smith feels they are best placed to capitalise on managerial changes at Chelsea and Arsenal.
“I think it’s going to be tight,” she said. “Sonia Bompastor has done brilliantly and coming into a club after what Emma Hayes had achieved was always going to be difficult. But she’s come in and fitted in so well and the way that she speaks, already the players have bought in to what she wants.
“They’ve started well and you would think they’re going to get even better, so that’s a worry for the rest of the league but I fancy Man City.
“With Jonas having left Arsenal you just feel like they’re out of it because you just can’t drop so many points early on.
“I’m sure they’ll start picking up results, we know how good they are but they just haven’t had the start we all expected.
“I just think City have been together for a longer period of time. I look at the bench sometimes and I think wow, they could change the game with who they’ve got there.”
Cure Leukaemia is a UK-based blood cancer charity founded in 2003, working to accelerate the process of bringing life-saving treatments to leukaemia patients by funding specialist Research Nurses across the country
