A one-of-a-kind balance in the 100 club
The assist she laid on for Khadija Shaw in Manchester City’s 4-1 win at Aston Villa last weekend pushed Lauren Hemp into a very exclusive group. One hundred direct goal involvements in the Women’s Super League: 52 goals and 48 assists in 154 appearances.
Only six players had got there before her. Vivianne Miedema has 138, Beth Mead 127, Bethany England 114, Fran Kirby and Nikita Parris 111 each, and Khadija Shaw 105.
The split matters more than the total. None of the seven has such an even balance between goals and assists. The others reached the milestone with a clear lean towards scoring. Hemp, at 26, built hers with both feet, and did it despite an injury-hit 2024-2025 campaign that limited her to 730 league minutes.
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Dribbling is her signature
What sets the Manchester City winger apart is simple: she can turn a harmless-looking possession into danger just by carrying the ball.
The 2021-2022 season was the turning point. Hemp produced 59 carries into the penalty area that year, the best total in the league, and 29 carries that ended in a chance. That second number remains the WSL single-season record. She also led the league for successful dribbles, successful open-play crosses and carries ending with a dribble.
The following season, she went up to 62 carries into the box, again a WSL record for a single campaign. In 2023-2024, seven of her eight assists came after a carry. Nobody has ever done better in a season.
Her 2,187 total carries put her fifth since the data was first tracked in 2015-2016. The four players above her are all defenders.
Output that goes beyond England
Hemp holds the WSL record for big chances created, with 67. Her 48 assists are the second-highest total in the competition’s history.
Across Europe’s five major leagues since 2022-2023, she sits second for open-play chances created with 192, just behind Mariona Caldentey on 193. She does, though, top everyone for chances created after a carry, with 86, and for successful open-play crosses, with 118.
Last season, when City won the title for the first time in 10 years, she finished top of the league for chances created, successful crosses and carries that ended in a chance. It took her only two matches this season to move back to the top of the assist chart with 11 chances created.
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