For a while on Saturday, it looked like Dan Turner’s incredible volley, a Goal-of-the-Season contender, was going to ruin Manchester City’s day. The Aston Villa defender had stunned the home support when she gave the visitors the lead after seven minutes, and then she frustrated them as the Villans tried to hang on for a result that would’ve taken them five points clear of the drop zone – and left City six points off the pace at the other end of the Women’s Super League table. But this was all before Lauren Hemp had her say.
After a brilliant World Cup, the winger has become even more important for Sarina Wiegman, and her form with Gareth Taylor’s side could be defining
Cometh the hour, cometh the woman: with 61 minutes on the clock, Hemp popped up at the back post to head home City’s equaliser. Four minutes later, she was at it again, lurking in the same area to stretch and direct Alex Greenwood’s looping header into the back of the net. “Both tap-ins really,” she said with a laugh afterwards, to the amusement of the Sky Sports panel.
Neither goal will compete with Turner’s when the end-of-season awards are handed out, that’s for sure, but their importance was bigger, and the way Hemp got them was significant, too.
For a long time, the 23-year-old has been an out-and-out winger – and one of the best around, at that. But she’s evolving. After being chosen by England boss Sarina Wiegman to lead the Lionesses’ line in their two must-win December fixtures, at the expense of first-choice No.9 Alessia Russo, it’s clear that Hemp has become so much more than a player that just torments full-backs.
In 2023, she has developed into a genuine match-winning forward, and despite several setbacks already as we approach the winter break, she is helping to keep Man City’s WSL title hopes alive, too.
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More than a winger
Hemp’s game has, of course, developed and improved constantly since she first broke through as a 16-year-old at Bristol City, but this year has arguably seen the greatest transformation to date. In her last 15 games, the Man City star has scored nine goals and provided six assists. Those are incredible numbers.
“I feel like last season, I had so many more chances that I just didn’t put away, maybe because I was snatching at it or trying to force something that wasn’t there,” she told Sky Sports at the weekend. “But I feel like nowadays, I’m probably having fewer shots and more on target.”
That checks out. Per 90 minutes, Hemp’s number of shots this season, compared to last, is down, but her shots on target is up significantly, from 1.28 to 1.94. Those are becoming goals more often, too, with her shot conversion rate jumping from 10.8 percent to 21.7.
That’s nothing to do with a change in position at City, either. The 23-year-old is still a fixture on the left wing, it’s just that, as was abundantly clear on Saturday, she is sniffing out those goal-scoring opportunities a lot more and developing poaching instincts that weren’t there previously.
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A year to remember
What has provoked such change? Well, this year’s World Cup may have been a turning point. In England’s third game in Australia, Wiegman opted to change formation to a 3-5-2. While some might’ve thought Hemp would be well-suited to the left wing-back role, such is her energy and commitment to her defensive duties, the City star was deployed in that front two alongside Russo – and it worked brilliantly.
In the new position, Hemp scored twice against Colombia in the quarter-finals and was on target in the last four, too, as England broke the hearts of co-hosts Australia to reach a first-ever Women’s World Cup final. She was decisive and, as a result, certainly one of the stars of the tournament.
Again, Hemp’s role at club level hasn’t changed, but perhaps the summer Down Under has made her realise that she can be even more of a goal-scoring threat than before.
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Plenty to offer
With her ability as a winger and her developing knack for scoring goals, as well as her grit and determination that make her an asset defensively, it’s no surprise that Hemp has become a go-to for England as much as she has been for Man City over the last five years.
During the December international break, that was clearer than ever. The Lionesses needed to beat the Netherlands, ideally by two goals, to keep their Women’s Nations League finals hopes – and, in turn, Great Britain’s Olympic dream – alive. After doing that, they needed to thrash Scotland – in the end, a 7-0 result was needed – to top their group and go through to the next stage. Who did Wiegman choose to lead the line for both games? Hemp.
It was a surprise given Russo has been England’s first-choice No.9 ever since Ellen White’s retirement in the aftermath of the European Championships in 2022. But, as well as highlighting a need to figure out how best to use the Arsenal star, the decision underlined Wiegman’s faith in Hemp, who she has played in the central role with relative success on several occasions now.
It wasn’t the easiest international break for the forward, though she did find the back of the net against the Netherlands, as she would have been ruing a couple of shock misses in Glasgow as England fell one goal short of the result needed to progress to the Nations League finals.
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A star in Manchester
However, if those missed chances had been playing on her mind, Hemp hardly showed it at the weekend as she kept up her tremendous form with Man City. She now has five goals and two assists from her last five outings for club and country, a strike in the Manchester Derby triumph at Old Trafford among them.
“We all know what a talent she is, but I think in the last half a dozen games, I’ve even seen her go to new levels – new, new levels – in everything that she does,” City head coach Gareth Taylor told Sky Sports on Saturday. “She is just a constant thorn in the side of the opposition. Whether she’s successful or not, it never deters her in her confidence.”
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That form for her club will be the focus now, too, as England duties go on the back burner until February’s friendlies. It’s clear that Hemp massively enjoys her football with Man City, something the club will hope plays a part in her renewing a contract that expires at the end of the current season, and her determination to achieve great things in the north-west is evident. “We’re not just here to hover,” she said on Saturday. “We’re here to win the league!”
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Hanging on
Thanks to Hemp, City are still in the hunt for that title, too. The three points on Saturday were absolutely vital for the Manchester club to stay in touch with the top of the WSL table, moving them up to second at the time and just three points behind Chelsea, the pacesetters and reigning champions.
Arsenal’s win over the Blues on Sunday, which saw the Gunners leapfrog City into second, has kept Emma Hayes’ side well in reach, too. Had Chelsea emerged victorious at the Emirates, they would’ve opened up a six-point gap between themselves and their rivals. Instead, with one game left before the winter break, Arsenal are level on goal difference and City are three points off, with Manchester United a further point behind their city rivals.
For some, Man City were their pre-season pick for the title. With no European football to burden them and a squad that had very little turnover in the summer having gone through a big change of personnel the year before, they felt well-positioned to have a real go at winning the trophy for the first time since 2016.
However, after being incredibly unlucky to drop two points in a bizarre game with Chelsea in October, defeats to Arsenal and, shockingly, Brighton have dealt Hemp and co. some huge setbacks in their bid to be champions of England.
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Pick of the match-winners
But that result in Sunday’s London derby has closed up those gaps at the top of the WSL table again and certainly increased the excitement around the title race. It will have no doubt had a positive effect on Man City and their hopes of finishing top of the pile come May, as well.
They need their star players to come out in full force for the rest of the season, though, as they’ve already had too many setbacks. Fortunately, they have plenty of match-winners. Khadija Shaw is joint-second in the WSL scoring charts thanks to her six goals in eight games, and no player in the league has more direct goal involvements than her eight. Just one behind in the latter category is another City star, in midfielder Jill Roord, while Laia Aleixandri’s three assists is only bettered by Arsenal’s Victoria Pelova at this stage.
Then there are the likes of Chloe Kelly, a player who has a Euros-winning strike on her CV, and Mary Fowler, the young Australian who has blossomed in 2023 and become a much more important player for her club as a result. With Deyna Castellanos, Filippa Angeldahl and Laura Coombs all chipping in with big moments from midfield, while Japan star Yui Hasegawa creates from its base, this is a squad packed with quality.
But, right now, is there a player who looks as decisive and dangerous as Hemp? Probably not. She’s a big, big reason why you just cannot count Man City out.