Lauren Hemp says City should be proud of the progress we’ve made across the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League term regardless of the outcome of the title race.

But the England international reasserted her belief that we can win our second-ever league crown before the shutters fall on the term.

Gareth Taylor’s side currently sit atop the division’s table, three points ahead of second-placed Chelsea, although we’ve played a game more than the Londoners who have a superior goal difference.

Following last term’s fourth-placed finish, we’re guaranteed a place in the UEFA Champions League next season after gaining 52 points across 21 games.

But in what’s already been an exhilarating race to the division’s summit, it all points to an exciting final day of the term with City travelling to Aston Villa and Emma Hayes’ side visiting Manchester United.

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And Hemp believes we will learn from our defeat to Arsenal last time out to ensure we finish the season on a high.

“Naturally, the more seasons your involved in, the harder it is,” she explained.  

“The WSL is growing every single year and it’s so tough to be in and amongst it and I feel like we need to look back and realise how well we’ve done this season.

“We’ve not dropped points many times and every game has been so competitive.

“I’m definitely going to look back at this season, whatever happens, knowing we’re proud of the team and how hard we’ve worked to be in a position where we’re competing at the top and for trophies.

“That’s City and that’s what we want to do every year. For us, it’s so important to be in and amongst it but now it’s the final step of going on and achieving that as well. I still believe it’s possible and all the girls do as well.

“It’s important we stay focused on the task.

“Obviously, there’s bits we need to look at from the Arsenal game where we can improve. Our sights are on the last game of the season and making sure we go out with a bang.”

City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday 18 May with a bumper crowd expected at Villa Park for the 15:00 (UK) kick-off.

A portion of those in attendance will be our devoted supporters who have unconditionally backed Taylor’s team at home and away so far this season.

And Hemp believes our fans could play a huge part in what could be a special season finale in Birmingham.

She added: “It’s going to be massive.

“These are the games you want to be involved in and I’m always excited for the games coming up towards the end of the season because they’re the ones that are going to determine what happens.

“It’s going to be so important to get as many fans as we can to Villa Park.

“If we can try to sell it out and make sure they’re all there with us because it’s the fans at the end of the day and at the end of the game who push you to get that extra goal.

“Whether that’s putting in a tackle towards the end to save a goal so it’s going to be so important for us and we’re going to need that if we want to win the league.”