The FAWSL was enjoying a mouth-watering title race between Manchester City Women, Arsenal Women, and Chelsea Women with five points separating the top three. Chelsea have had a stellar season under Emma Hayes and the rebirth of a number of players under her tutelage this season has been phenomenal.
This is in no small part due to the tactical alterations made this season going from a predominantly 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2. Not only has this system change unleashed players but it’s made Chelsea a much more flexible, smoother, and fluid team. No player has improved more so than Bethany England. The striker has been in scintillating form this season with 21 goals in league and cup competitions. England registered 19 goals in the entirety of last season across the two competitions. 19 goals is an excellent return but a 21 goal season with a handful of games to go is nothing short of remarkable. Her form prompted Phil Neville to select England as part of the She Believes Cup squad, however, he failed to use her effectively preferring Ellen White in two of the three games from the start.
In this tactical analysis scout report, we will examine the reasons behind England’s rise in form and the attributes that make her a deadly, clinical striker and how she compares to White in the Lionesses setup. This will also entail the tactics employed by Hayes and how that translates into the England setup. As a result, we will determine whether or not England should be starting ahead of White for the Lionesses based on this analysis.
Role at Chelsea & the Kerr effect
Hayes has deployed a 4-4-2 formation for much of the current campaign with England partnering Kirby until her injury upfront. England is a dynamic centre-forward playing the role of a hybrid pressing and deep-lying forward. England is a combination of a striker that will break opposition lines but also help out in linking up play whilst pressuring the opposition defenders out of possession. She tends to press the opposition but aggressively allows others around her to apply more pressure and pounce on any mistakes. England’s participation in the forward areas is most apparent in and around the defensive line and box. Most of her playstyle is predicated on two aspects – her movement and positioning and anticipating on where the cross or pass will land.
Sam Kerr’s arrival prompted discussion on how the two can play together. For much of her Chelsea career, she played a floating role up front, often finding herself in the wide areas at times. Kerr’s move would see her play with another true number ‘9’. While they both usually take up a more advanced role, Kerr has the capacity to transform herself into a deep-lying link player. The Australian should have no problem in playing a more supporting role whilst retaining her natural goal-scoring instincts as she’s shown from her days with the Chicago Red Stars. England often played with Fran Kirby where she benefited from her repositioning next to her and was allowed room to manoeuvre and find space in the 18-yard box. Kirby’s movement and vision kept defenders guessing and moved them out of position to give her strike partner that extra bit of space to find goal scoring opportunities.
So how has England got along since Kerr’s arrival? The few outings we’ve seen of both players together have been promising. England has eight goals in six games with one of them being assisted by the Australian striker. Kerr meanwhile has one goal and one assist in her four games though she has been disrupted by international duty not giving her time to settle.
Utilising space
As we’ve mentioned earlier in this analysis, England is a very mobile striker and does her best work in and around the box. Her ability to utilise space in those areas is one of her strongest assets. You will often see England sitting on the shoulder of defences waiting for a through ball or long-ranged pass from deep to latch on to. As a result, she’s able to exploit any space in behind defensive lines and doesn’t need extra time to get a shot away. Often her ability to effectively utilise the space is predicated on the players around her garnering the attention of the other defenders leaving her in an isolated situation. While she isn’t the best at static take on’s, she has improved in her ability to take on defenders in 1v1 situations which has enabled her to become a much more effective striker able to work the channels.

Movement & Link-up play
After analysing England’s build-up to the final third we will now examine the movement that gives her the freedom which compliments her lethal finishing. Having scored 21 goals this season so far, England has been clinical in the final third with her goal-scoring exploits down to her impeccable movement in the final third especially in the 18-yard box. Her combined ability of utilisation of space and being able to understand and predict movement in the final third has been key to England’s goals. England has shown a lot more of her link-up play this season than she has in previous ones involving herself with the midfield and her strike partner. This gives Chelsea different passing options and opportunities to open space against low-block opposition. One issue Chelsea face in the FAWSL is low-block systems because of how dominant the Blues are in possession. Pure poachers usually struggle against these types of opposition but England’s ability to link-up with players around her create dilemmas for the opposition defence.
Looking at England from a personal perspective, her goals and assists average per 90 minutes between the 2018/19 and 2019/20 season has improved too. The centre-forward averaged 0.6 goals and 0.13 assists in the 2018/19 season whilst her averages this season have risen to 0.79 goals and 0.18 assists. The Lionesses’ striker has proven lethal in the final third this season. She was a predatory, clinical striker but being the main focal point of the team and receiving a constant supply from midfield has made sure her finishing skills have been put to full use.
This sort of link-up play has elevated England’s game, making her a more malleable centre-forward to play effectively as both a sole striker or part of a two. The return of Kirby will only prompt more interchanges and intricate play across the final third. England has proven herself to be an asset this season.
Lionesses’ number 9 – Bethany England or Ellen White?
Now, England’s form has brought up the debate of bringing her into the Lionesses squad on a permanent basis and possibly starting ahead of White. The recent She Believes Cup was a chance for England to stake her claim in Neville’s plans and cement her place as the number one striker. We need to first understand the Lionesses’ style of play before we can compare the two players.
Neville tends to play three systems, typically a 4-4-2, 4-1-4-1, or 4-3-3 both of which England can adapt to. When England adopt a 4-4-2 system, it usually switches with the 4-1-4-1. In this formation, one central midfielder occupies a deeper role whilst the other midfielder moves into more advanced positions. Another common factor is in the forward line with one centre-forward staying higher whilst the other drops deeper to link play with midfield to create numerical superiority. Lastly, two wide players can be seen occupying both the wide and half-space channels giving them the flexibility to create overloads inside or out wide. In a 4-3-3 system, the central striker tends to remain high whilst the midfield and wingers tend to stay much narrower to create an almost diamond-like midfield. The striker needs to be able to play closer to the box to receive crosses and passes from the wide players in the half-spaces.
Does the data support Bethany England’s claim?
In this section of the analysis, we will compare England and White’s statistics from the current FAWSL season more extensively to get a better idea of their performances across different metrics. The first graph indicates that two strikers’ performance from a pure goal scoring capacity.
At first glance, we can see England has better statistics than White this season. Starting from the number of goals scored, England has managed to score almost double of White’s goals this season taking more average shots (4.50 vs 3.09) and touches in the box (7.21 vs 5.73). What we can deduce from this data is England is able to get into more goal scoring positions in the box. Her ability to play quick exchanges and collect crosses is a possible reason behind her high number of touches in the box. The average number of touches in the box can be derived in two ways. White’s lower touches in the box can be attributed to her time spent outside of the box either holding up play and linking more with the midfield whereas England, while she has improved here, spends more time in the 18-yard box. The higher number of offensive duels (6.14) can be correlated to England’s ability to press more and be involved out of possession.
How should the Lionesses’ line-up?
Ultimately, it comes down to the type of opposition Neville and co. come up against. Teams that will sit back more will possibly require a more physical striker whilst teams that are more open against the England Women’s team will require a quicker one. Neville has two excellent choices at his disposal and can adjust at any point. Based on the earlier analysis of White and England’s play style, I believe playing both strikers in a 4-4-2 is redundant because the opportunity to play them both in the same line up would only make sense against the so-called ‘lesser’ sides. When only one can suffice alongside the versatile Stanway. Playing both of them takes away one of Stanway or Jill Scott from England’s midfield if a 4-4-2/4-1-4-1 system is used. Against the top sides, you would need the two wide players to be able to score goals and aid the central striker, in this case, White in creating space. England could be beneficial coming on in the second half to take advantage of tired legs or pressing from the front and using her incredible pace on the counter-attack.
My preferred line-up would be the following for matches against teams that will give England space to attack in behind:

Conclusion
England has been a revelation this season with Neville finally recognising her talents by picking her for the She Believes Cup. I believe she will only improve and if the Lionesses’ can find the right attacking combinations then they can start taking the games to the likes of the USWNT and France. Those two nations have a system that works for the players at their disposal whereas the Lionesses seem to still be chopping and changing. England’s future with the national team is bright, playing alongside Kerr will only improve her game and understanding in a striking partnership. White’s seemingly underwhelming season since moving to Manchester City Women from Birmingham City Women is a cause for concern, and it could be a matter of time before the Chelsea striker stakes her place as England’s first-choice number 9.