London City Lionesses were denied a fifth successive league win at the weekend. Jana Fernandez’s late own goal meant the capital outfit were forced to share the spoils with Liverpool.
Kadidiatou Diani’s strike on the stroke of half time looked to have been enough for LCL to claim victory. Even so, a result at Liverpool on Sunday saw the London giants remain on the coattails of league leaders Manchester City. Eder Maestre has overseen a stunning start to the season.
All the more impressive is that LCL have done so despite a raft of incomings. 2026 Ballon d’Or Feminin winner Alexis Putellas moved to England from Barcelona over the summer. Mapi Leon followed her compatriot to Hayes Lane. Diani was another to secure a transfer to England.
The French winger joined from Lyon over the summer after a three-year spell with Les Fenottes. And she’s made the adjustment from French to English football with ease.
Putellas was the standout addition to the LCL ranks, that goes without saying. It meant that Diani’s summer switch flew under the radar a touch. In the weeks since, she’s gone on to become a mainstay for Maestre’s side. Indeed, her first-half strike at the weekend was her third league goal of the 2026/27 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign.
Diani's tearing teams apart
The 31-year-old has three assists to her name. Only teammate Danielle van de Donk and Manchester City’s Lauren Hemp (both 4) have provided more in the BWSL this season. Diani’s three assists have come from 10 chances created. Only Leon (12) ranks higher of all LCL players.
What is key, however, is that Diani is willing to hold the width in order for Maestre’s favoured 4-2-3-1 setup can hurt teams. The 40-year-old demands his players utilise the flanks in order to stretch the play. Just 22% of their attacks come through the middle of the pitch. Only Charlton Athletic (21%) do so less.
Maestre has tasked Diani with receiving the ball out wide, presenting her with one-on-one attacking situations to maximise her searing pace to provide an option on the outside. A total of nine successful dribbles ranks second for LCL this season.
A 56.3% dribble success rate ranks 12th of the 58 players to have attempted at least 10 dribbles in the BWSL this season. Maestre is being rewarded for implementing a gameplan that is well suited to Diani’s style of play. She’s able to ghost past a marker with ease before creating chances for teammates. That she has been dispossessed just nine times serves to highlight just how effective Diani is at holding off pressure from opponents.
And being right footed by nature, the preference is to get round a player on the outside before putting the ball into the box. It’s more of an old school attacking approach that has benefitted LCL in the opening weeks of the season. Rather than demanding Diani cut inside, Maestre wants the former Lyon star to forge the chances by getting to the byline.
It means that seven accurate crosses, excluding corners, is the sixth most in the division. The decision to utilise Diani’s crossing ability also goes against the grain of having the wingers cut inside onto their favoured foot. Evidently, it’s having the desired effect with Diani’s six direct goal involvements the sixth most.
Defensive work key
What’s also been vital has been Diani’s work off the ball. She is a hard-working individual, willing to put in the hard yards in order to aid LCL, particularly in attack. After all, they rank third for possession won in the attacking third (56). One of the key routes to goal is to force turnovers in dangerous positions, thus enabling LCL to spring forward quickly.
They may have scored just two counter-attacking goals in the 2026/27 campaign - no team has netted more - but they rank second to Manchester City (10) for shots following a counter attack (9) in the BWSL this season. And Diani is flourishing with the high-pressing role having made 10 tackles.
While that in itself is the fifth most for her side, Diani is also incredibly difficult to beat when she does commit to the challenge. Across her six appearances this season, she has only been dribbled past once. It’s an impressive feat for a forward who is quite evidently enjoying her start to life in England.
Fantasy stats
Diani’s strong start to her career in England has also helped the 7% of players who have selected the France international in their Fantasy squad. While she’s priced up at £7m, the joint-second highest of all LCL players, Diani is justifying her price tag.
Only Van de Donk (49) has collected more Fantasy points than Diani (48) for LCL this season. It’s the ninth highest overall.
The issue now, however, is that LCL face a testing run of games that may well put players off. Across the next five games, they face defending champions City, Arsenal and Chelsea, the latter matches are away from home. It’s a testing run of fixtures for London City that’ll determine just how ready they are for a title charge.
Even so, they deserve immense credit for their start to the campaign given the number of incomings. And with Diani putting in the hard yards both in and out of possession, they’ll have a fighting chance of claiming a result in their upcoming league outings.
