It is no wonder Bethany England is the fans’ choice for Women’s Player of the Season, given her outstanding individual efforts throughout 2019/20 and crucial role in Chelsea’s Double-winning campaign.

It was an unusual season but for Bethany, it was exceptional in more ways than one.

In a year when every minute mattered, as the Blues were awarded the Women’s Super League on points per game and clinched the only cup that reached its conclusion, our Barnsley-born No.9 made the very most of them, playing in all 15 fixtures of our top-flight charge and starring during our Continental Cup winning run.

She finished as Chelsea’s top scorer with 21 goals in 24 outings, 14 of those in the WSL, while her seven cup goals eclipsed every other player in the competition. Had she been able to carry her prolific form into the missing remainder of the season, at that rate, her tally would have gone over the 30-goal threshold.

However, it was not just the number of goals she put away that earned her recognition from across the league, most notably the division-wide Player of the Season accolade; it was also the nature of them, the timing of her contributions in headline matches proving as perfect as the timing of the strikes themselves.

England opened her and her team’s account for the season with a show-stopping goal at Stamford Bridge on opening day, ensuring the Blues made a winning start against Tottenham in front of our record crowd for a women’s home game.

She also found the net in our opening League Cup game, with a smart finish at home to West Ham, before going on to achieve the individual milestone of her first goal for England’s Lionesses against Brazil. We might have said she stamped her name on the England side, had it not been there already.

Back from international duty, the goals kept coming in London derbies: a crucial equaliser at home to Arsenal – the first of four against the Gunners in the campaign – a quickfire brace against Crystal Palace, and two more against Spurs as part of our 5-1 win in the cup.

That was before she embarked on a remarkable streak of scoring in eight consecutive league outings. She scored the equaliser in our comeback against Man City as we made it 10 wins on the spin.

Then came what turned out to be a fantastically fruitful flourish to the season. She crucially fired in a 30-yard rocket to earn us a point in the 3-3 draw away to City.

England’s pace, muscle and finishing ability were hallmarks of her outstanding attacking play last term and we enjoyed them one more time when she notched both goals as we got our hands on our maiden Continental Cup, defeating Arsenal 2-1 shortly before lockdown.

She also won the WSL monthly individual award in January and February as the season drew to an early close, as well as the PFA Player of the Month award at the start of the year. She has been rewarded with a contract extension to keep her at the club until 2024, so there is plenty more to come from Beth.

Chelsea Women’s Player of the Year Winners

2015 – Eniola Aluko2016 – Katie Chapman2017 – Karen Carney2018 – Fran Kirby2019 – Erin Cuthbert2020 – Bethany England

This award announcement follows those earlier in the day revealing Billy Gilmour as the Academy Player of the Season and Fikayo Tomori as the winner of the Goal of the Season

The Player of the Year for the men’s team will be announced later today.