Manchester United moved a step closer to winning a maiden Women’s Super League title with a 3-0 victory over Tottenham.
United are now six points clear of Manchester City at the summit thanks to first-half goals from Leah Galton and Alessia Russo and a second-half Nikita Parris strike.
Chelsea, who have three games in hand, could cut the gap to four points later on Sunday as they play Everton in the evening kick-off.
It was a fifth successive win for Marc Skinner’s United, who now take a break from WSL action to play Chelsea in next weekend’s Women’s FA Cup final.
Defeat did little to help Spurs’ relegation worries and they remain just three points above rock-bottom Reading.
United were able to extend their lead at the top after City were beaten 2-1 at Liverpool on Sunday, which was their second defeat in four games.
Mid-table Liverpool went ahead through Natasha Dowie’s 16th-minute strike, but Lauren Hemp levelled matters 12 minutes later.
Missy Bo Kearns restored the hosts’ lead shortly after the restart and despite a strong City response, where they racked up 17 shots during the game, Liverpool held on for a surprise win.
Rachel Daly scored a hat-trick as Aston Villa sent Reading closer to relegation with 5-0 thrashing.
The England international opened the scoring in the 14th minute and then added further strikes in the 55th and 63rd to claim the match ball, with Alisha Lehmann and Kirsty Hanson also netting before the break.
Brighton beat West Ham 1-0 thanks to Kayleigh Green’s second-half goal.
Marc Skinner wants his Manchester United side to enjoy the finale to the season rather than feel the pressure of two trophies being on the line.
United lead the Women’s Super League with three games to go, but defending champions Chelsea, who will also take on Skinner’s side in the Women’s FA Cup final, are only four points behind with two games in hand.
Whether they pip Chelsea or not, this has been a hugely impressive season for United, who were only founded in 2018.
“We’ve equalled our best ever points tally with three games to go, we’re in an FA Cup final making history, we’ve had the best clean sheet record, joint best defensive record, best goalscoring record,” Skinner told reporters.
“For me, this team should go into these last games and enjoy every minute and I’m going to remind them of that.”
The first of their final trio of league matches comes against struggling Tottenham, who need points to try to avoid relegation, on Sunday.
United will be without suspended captain Katie Zelem, while Norwegian duo Maria Thorisdottir and Lisa Naalsund are injured.
Chelsea needed a late winner from Sam Kerr against Liverpool on Wednesday to keep matters in their hands, and they will again be playing catch-up when they take on sixth-placed Everton on Sunday evening.
Boss Emma Hayes believes her side are ready for a final push, saying on chelseafc.com: “The first challenge on Sunday is to make sure we’re wide awake from the first minute.
“We weren’t against Liverpool, and they punished us for that, which meant we were then chasing the game from that moment. So we need to be better prepared mentally.
“This part of a season is always really tough – even more so with a World Cup on the horizon – but we’ve got a gutsy group that loves winning trophies.
“Wins like Wednesday night’s will give us the confidence that we can keep going and picking up the results we need to achieve our goals.”
Key defender Millie Bright may not play again this season, but her centre-back partner Kadeisha Buchanan is close to a return.
Kerr, meanwhile, missed training on Saturday to lead Australia’s delegation at the King’s coronation.
Second-placed Manchester City, who are still just about in the title hunt, take on Liverpool, while bottom side Reading host Aston Villa and fellow strugglers Brighton meet West Ham.
Tottenham will host a double-header featuring their men’s and women’s teams later this month.
Spurs announced on Friday morning that their Women’s Super League clash at home to Reading had been moved forward a day and would now take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 20.
The WSL fixture will kick off at 4.15pm and be part of a first-ever double-header for the club, with the men’s team in Premier League action against Brentford in a 12.30pm kick-off earlier in the day.
All supporters with tickets for Tottenham versus Brentford will be able to stay in the stadium to watch the women’s team later on the Saturday.
It will be a pivotal fixture in the bid to beat the drop for Vicky Jepson’s side with bottom-of-the-table Reading only three points off ninth-placed Spurs.
Sam Kerr’s late winner kept Chelsea in control of their Women’s Super League title destiny as they saw off Liverpool 2-1.
The Australia international struck four minutes from time at Kingsmeadow to complete a laboured comeback win after Niamh Charles had cancelled out Emma Koivisto’s early opener.
Victory left Emma Hayes’ side, playing for the first time since their Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of Barcelona, four points behind leaders Manchester United and a point adrift of Manchester City with two games in hand on both teams.
The visitors, who won the reverse fixture 2-1 in September, stunned their hosts when they took a second-minute lead, full-back Koivisto smashing home a volley after Natasha Dowie had crossed to the back post.
Debutant goalkeeper Faye Kirby denied Guro Reiten at her near post after 14 minutes and then palmed away Kerr’s 22nd-minute header as the Blues responded.
They finally got their reward four minutes before the break when Charles glanced Eve Perisset’s corner past 19-year-old Kirby, although it took a fine stoppage-time save by Ann-Katrin Berger to keep out Shanice van de Sanden before Perisset blocked Dowie’s follow-up to ensure their side went in level.
Hayes made her move within nine minutes of the restart, sending on Pernille Harder and Jelena Cankovic for Lauren James and Erin Cuthbert, and the two newcomers almost made a swift impact with Harder only just failing to connect with Cankovic’s whipped 63rd-minute cross.
Frustration mounted among the Chelsea ranks as the breakthrough remained stubbornly beyond them with Reiten seeing an 82nd-minute strike ruled out for offside.
A point would have left the reigning champions six points behind United with a worse goal difference.
But they regained control of the title race with four minutes left when Kerr stabbed home the winner after Jessie Fleming’s attempt had crashed back off the crossbar and dropped to her.
Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw scored her 19th league goal of the season as Manchester City Women drubbed Reading 4-1 to go second in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.
Manchester City are now just three points behind Manchester City with three games to go before the season ends. However, Chelsea, with 40 points are third, four points behind Manchester City but with three games in hand.
In what was yet another dominating performance from City, it was Reading who took the early lead when Sanne Troelsgaard’s strike on the turn put the visitors ahead in the very first minute of play.
Chloe Kelly would level the score, bundling the ball over in the 15th minute.
Shaw’s header from a corner put City ahead in the 24th minute, a lead they took into the half-time break.
Manchester City would extend their lead shortly after the resumption when Lauren Hemp tapped in from a sizzling cross from Kelly to the far post in the 47th.
City’s fourth and final goal came from a Steph Houghton free kick into the bottom corner of the Reading goal to secure all three points.
Leicester’s hopes of Women’s Super League survival were handed a big boost as they beat Liverpool 4-0.
A second straight league win sees the Foxes move off the foot of the table and into 10th, two points clear of Reading who now drop into the relegation zone.
Leicester went in front in the 15th minute when Josie Green’s effort from just inside the area took a deflection into the bottom left of the net.
They benefitted from another deflection just six minutes later as Carrie Jones picked the ball up outside the box and her audacious effort hit a defender to loop over goalkeeper Rachel Laws.
Ashleigh Plumptre extended Leicester’s lead just three minutes into the second half with a strong header from a corner before Missy Goodwin wrapped the game up with a stoppage-time header.
Millie Turner scored a last-gasp header to boost Manchester United’s title charge as they came from behind to claim a narrow 3-2 Super League victory at Aston Villa.
Rachel Daly’s double was cancelled out by Leah Galton and Nikita Parris before Turner sealed three points for the table-topping visitors with a late goal in stoppage-time.
The win hands United a huge boost in the title race and they are now six points clear at the summit.
Alessia Russo and Katie Zelem both tested Hannah Hampton, but despite United’s early pressure, Villa took the lead in the ninth minute from a corner after Daly made a good run across the box to nod a brilliant looping header into the top-left corner.
Their lead was short-lived as six minutes later Ona Batlle hit a fantastic cross to pick out Galton at the back post and the forward stuck her leg out to turn the ball home for the equaliser.
Anna Patten nearly restored Villa’s lead but her header smashed off the crossbar before Hampton made a great save to deny Galton.
Mayumi Pacheco teed up Daly in the 37th minute as the England international completed her brace with a first-time effort from Pacheco’s cross, finding the far corner for the hosts to retake the lead going into the break.
Russo had a couple of chances for United at the start of the second half but a great move from Villa came incredibly close to extending their lead as Daly almost earned her hat-trick smashing the ball off the crossbar.
The visitors then capitalised to level in the 62nd minute when Hannah Blundell picked out Parris at the far post and she was able to head home from close range.
United kept pressing as Martha Thomas’ effort went well wide of the post before Hampton made an excellent dive to hold onto Ella Toone’s cross, but Turner then found a dramatic winner three minutes into stoppage-time with a great header into the bottom-right corner from a free-kick.
Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw has been named Barclays Women’s Super League Player of the Month for March.
The Jamaican grabbed five goals in three appearances as Manchester City finished the month with a 100% record in the league.
The WSL top scorer with 16 goals, Shaw grabbed a hat-trick in City’s 3-1 comeback win over Tottenham and followed that up with a brace in a 2-1 triumph away to Brighton the following week.
It is the second time she has claimed the prize, having also been named Player of the Month for November.
Her goals in that victory over Brighton brought about another impressive milestone for the forward, as she became Manchester City’s highest-scoring women’s player across a single campaign, surpassing the record previously held by Nikita Parris.
Liverpool defender and Women's Super League (WSL) record appearance maker Gilly Flaherty has announced her retirement from playing at the age of 31 for family reasons.
Flaherty made 177 WSL appearances with Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool, whom she joined last July.
She brings down the curtain on a career that saw her win four WSL titles, seven Women's FA Cups and the Women's Champions League in 2007.
London-born Flaherty, who also won nine caps for England, took the decision to hang up her boots following the recent death of her father.
"It isn't a decision I've taken lightly but one I've reached after speaking with those closest to me," she said in a statement published on Liverpool's official website on Thursday.
"Losing my dad just before Christmas has left me heartbroken – for 22 years we shared our love of football and playing-wise I don't want to carry on without him by my side.
"Playing-wise, I know the right decision is for me to call it a day. The time is right for me to be around my family and to be nearest to those closest to me."
Former West Ham captain Flaherty's final WSL appearance came against the Hammers in a 2-0 win for Liverpool last month.
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) released a statement on Saturday congratulating Khadija Shaw on her stellar year for Manchester City in the FA Women’s Super League (WSL) season.
Shaw scored 15 goals for City in the calendar year and is currently joint top of the goal-scoring charts for the 2022-23 season with eight.
“The JFF heartily congratulates national captain Khadija Shaw for ending the calendar year 2022 as the second highest scorer in the Barclays Women's Premier League with 15 goals. You are indeed fabulous! Our hope is that you will remain healthy and be even more lethal in the new year. We wish you all the success in your endeavors in 2023!”
Shaw’s season will resume on January 15 when Manchester City takes on West Ham United.
England's Euro 2022-winning striker Ellen White has revealed she is expecting her first child.
White retired from football on a high note in August after featuring for the first England women's team to lift a major trophy during this year's home European Championships.
White scored 52 goals in 113 international caps, a record for a Lionesses player and a tally only bettered by Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane (both 53) across England's men's and women's teams.
On Wednesday, the former Manchester City striker posted an image of herself and husband Callum Convery on Twitter alongside the caption "Mum and Dad", revealing their child is due next April.
With eight goals in seven matches so far this season Khadijah ‘Bunny’ Shaw is the 2022/2023 Women’s Super League leading scorer. She is tied with Aston Villa striker Rachel Daley, who also has a similar shot to goal conversion rate of 30 per cent with the Jamaican.
What is impressive is that Shaw’s eight goals is one less than the nine she scored in all of last season, her first in the WSL after she transferred from Bordeaux in the French league where her 22 goals in her final season won her the Golden Boot. Those eight goals have lifted Manchester City Women to fourth with 15 points from seven games, after losing their first two matches of the season.
So what has made the difference this season that has seen the Jamaican regain the form that has defined her international and club careers to date?
The 25-year-old Shaw has scored 56 goals in just 38 matches for Jamaica, which makes the Jamaica's most prolific striker, male or female. In college, she scored 27 goals in 35 matches for the Tennessee Volunteers while At Bordeaux, she scored 32 times in 35 appearances for the club over two seasons.
She explained that her dip in form last season was caused by her adjusting to a new style of play.
“I have always been consistent,” she said. “In the beginning, City plays a certain way; they have a structure, a culture and the style of play in France was completely different from what I was used to so when I went to City it was like an eye-opener.”
She said the way City wanted to play was difficult for her to adjust to because even as Gareth Taylor is the head coach, Pep Guardiola’s philosophy is what holds sway.
“Pep plays a massive role in the club and to adjust to the way they wanted to play was very difficult and I was playing for minutes as well,” she explained, having to temporarily play second fiddle to Ellen White, who has since retired.
“After the first year, I looked back and reflected to see where I can get better, how I could improve. I watched a lot of film and when I came in (back from the off-season) I spoke with my video analysis guy and we spent a lot of time together so as the games go on I have tried to improve upon the areas in which I was lacking last season.”
Shaw will have a chance to improve her goal tally when Manchester City Women take on Brighton Hove Albion on Sunday, December 4.
Brighton lie ninth in the WSL with seven points from their seven games to date. They have conceded 26 goals in those seven games, the most by any team in the league this season. They seem ripe for the picking for the goal-hungry Jamaican.
Reggae Girls striker Khadija "Bunny" Shaw scored her eighth goal in seven games in the 2022-23 FA Women’s Super League to help Manchester City beat Everton 2-1 at Walton Hall Park in Liverpool on Saturday.
City took the lead in the 32nd minute through Julie Blakstad before the hosts equalized in the 40th minute through Rikke Sevecke.
Shaw then extended her lead atop the goal-scoring charts this season to three with a match-winning strike in the 49th minute.
City remain fourth in the WSL table with 15 points from seven games.
Khadijah Shaw has expressed her delight at winning the Women’s Super League Player of the Month Award for the very first time.
The 24-year-old Manchester City and Jamaica striker was named Barclays WSL player for October after leading her team to victories over Leicester City, Tottenham and Liverpool, scoring five goals in those three matches.
Shaw’s seven goals this season make her the leading scorer in the WSL and has helped City climb to fourth in the league on 12 points after losing their first two games of the season.
“I am delighted to win this award for the first time. It has been a very successful month for us as a team and I am grateful to everyone who voted for me in a very talented shortlist of players,” said Shaw who played for Jamaica in their 1-0 win over Paraguay in an international friendly in Jamaica on Thursday.
“We are feeling so confident after these recent wins and I am enjoying my football right now personally, but the most important thing is results and helping the team to have as much success as possible.”
Shaw is in her second season with Manchester City after joining in 2021 from Bordeaux in France where she was the Golden Boot winner with 22 goals and seven assists.
Shaw will suit up for Jamaica again on Sunday when Jamaica plays Paraguay at the National Stadium in Kingston in the second of two international friendlies.
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