Manchester City moved three points clear at the Women's Super League summit following a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Jess Park, Jill Roord and Khadija Shaw were all on target as Gareth Taylor's side extended their unbeaten start to the season, moving onto 16 points after their opening six games.

City quickly established authority in their 200th WSL match, and took the lead five minutes before half-time through Park's long-range strike.

The visitors doubled their advantage within five minutes of the restart, as Roord pounced on a loose ball and calmly slotted home.

Katie Stengel struck the post for the hosts before City put the contest to bed 17 minutes from time, with Shaw heading home Park's cross for her fourth goal of the season.

Taylor's side are three points clear of Brighton and Hove Albion, who leapfrogged Chelsea to second place after Nikita Parris scored the only goal as they edged out Leicester City.

West Ham remain rooted to the foot of the WSL table after Camila Saez's bizarre late own-goal condemned them to a 2-1 defeat against Tottenham.

Riko Ueki's opener was cancelled out by Beth England early in the second half, before Saez unwittingly lobbed her own goalkeeper from 18 yards to hand Spurs the points in stoppage time.

The winless Hammers remain on two points with an inferior goal difference keeping them below Aston Villa, who are also still seeking their first win of the campaign after losing 2-1 to Liverpool.

Taylor Hinds' first-half brace did the damage for the Reds at Villa Park, where Gabi Nunes' strike soon after the restart proved a mere consolation for the hosts.

Manchester City moved three points clear at the Women's Super League summit following a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Jess Park, Jill Roord and Khadija Shaw were all on target as Gareth Taylor's side extended their unbeaten start to the season, moving onto 16 points after their opening six games.

City quickly established authority in their 200th WSL match, and took the lead five minutes before half-time through Park's long-range strike.

The visitors doubled their advantage within five minutes of the restart, as Roord pounced on a loose ball and calmly slotted home.

Katie Stengel struck the post for the hosts before City put the contest to bed 17 minutes from time, with Shaw heading home Park's cross for her fourth goal of the season.

Taylor's side are three points clear of Brighton and Hove Albion, who leapfrogged Chelsea to second place after Nikita Parris scored the only goal as they edged out Leicester City.

West Ham remain rooted to the foot of the WSL table after Camila Saez's bizarre late own-goal condemned them to a 2-1 defeat against Tottenham.

Riko Ueki's opener was cancelled out by Beth England early in the second half, before Saez unwittingly lobbed her own goalkeeper from 18 yards to hand Spurs the points in stoppage time.

The winless Hammers remain on two points with an inferior goal difference keeping them below Aston Villa, who are also still seeking their first win of the campaign after losing 2-1 to Liverpool.

Taylor Hinds' first-half brace did the damage for the Reds at Villa Park, where Gabi Nunes' strike soon after the restart proved a mere consolation for the hosts.

In just five weeks, there have already been unexpected major twists and turns in the Women's Super League.

Arsenal, tipped to be title contenders, are in search of a new manager following Jonas Eidevall's departure and sit in fifth, while Chelsea are breathing down Manchester City's neck at the top.

Manchester United and, perhaps unexpectedly, Brighton are pushing them, while it is also tight at the bottom, with three sides yet to earn their first win.

But what, or who, have been the biggest stories so far? We take a look at the Opta data to find out.

The surprise package

Before the season began, Brighton, under new manager Dario Vidosic, were the favourites to be relegated, with the Opta supercomputer giving them a 26.4% chance of finishing bottom of the table.

Instead, the Seagulls have blown away the competition, occupying fourth spot heading into the international break. They are unbeaten in three, with Nikita Parris haunting her old club to earn a 1-1 draw with Man United before the break.

Brighton have scored the second-most goals in the WSL (10, level with Tottenham), but from the fifth-fewest shots (48), proving just how clinical they have been by outperforming their 8.48 expected goals (xG).

Only Manchester City (3,273) and Arsenal (2,792) have completed more passes in the WSL this season than Brighton’s total of 2,467. This average of 493 passes completed per game is comfortably their most in a single campaign (their previous best was 296 per game last season).

Unsurprisingly, their chances of being relegated have now dropped to just 0.7%, and Vidosic will be eager to kick on.

Revitalised United not missing Earps

Lots of talk in pre-season centred around United's high-profile departures, including club captain Katie Zelem, Lucia Garcia, Parris and, perhaps most importantly, goalkeeper Mary Earps.

After a disappointing 2023-24, in which they finished fifth and conceded 20 goals more than in the season prior, it looked like the Red Devils might endure another campaign without a title fight.

However, those worries may have been for nought, with United making an unbeaten start and only dropping their first points in last weekend's draw with Brighton.

Parris' goal was the first they had conceded this season, as Phallon Tullis-Joyce has seamlessly filled Earps’ place between the sticks. She has faced 15 shots on target and has prevented 2.7 goals, according to Opta's expected goals on target model (xGoT).

With Maya Le Tissier and Millie Turner forming a strong partnership in front of her, they have conceded the second-fewest shots in the WSL (41) and with Grace Clinton firing up top, Marc Skinner looks to have found a solid balance in his team.

Rytting Kaneryd propels Chelsea forward

Sonia Bompastor has picked up where Emma Hayes left off with Chelsea, but she already knows she is in a title battle, even after Arsenal's surprisingly slow start.

With the likes of Khadija Shaw and Vivianne Miedema in strong form, City currently have the advantage, sitting top of the pile, though they have played a game more.

But the Blues have a driving force of their own in Johanna Rytting Kaneryd – she scored the first goal of the Bompastor era and was also the star of the show in their 5-2 win over Tottenham last time out. 

She has already racked up a league-high five goal contributions, half of what she managed across the whole of last season. Her six chances created are the second-most in the Chelsea team, making 1.7 per 90 minutes, and she will be key to their title hopes if she can maintain this level.

Lower table struggles

There is also an intriguing look to the foot of the table, with West Ham, Aston Villa and Everton all sitting level on two points.

The Hammers have not been able to put last season's struggles behind them yet and have netted just twice, underperforming their 3.51 xG – the lowest total accumulated by any team so far.

Villa will feel the most hopeful of the group, with Rachel Daly seemingly back to her best with three goals so far, but they need to start seeing out wins – they have dropped eight points from winning positions after being pegged back by City last time out, more than any team.

Everton's season, meanwhile, has been hampered by fitness woes, with Inma Gabarro and Aurora Galli suffering anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in the first two games.

They have scored just once, an own goal by Camila Saez against West Ham, meaning they have the biggest xG underperformance, having created 4.42.

Can Liverpool or Spurs put themselves in the fight?

At the moment, the middle of the table is tight, with Leicester City and Crystal Palace recording one win apiece, with the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham unable to make a statement start despite promising ends to last season.

The Reds did beat Spurs, only to drop points against West Ham and Palace to make life tricky. They have also conceded as many goals as they have scored (seven), leaving Matt Beard with questions to ponder over the break.

Spurs have a similar problem, having conceded 11 times in their last three outings alone.

They are scoring goals though, outperforming their xG of 7.74 with 10 goals, but Robert Vilahamn knows they need to shore up their defence if they want to challenge the sides above them.

Arsenal left it late but secured a 2-0 victory over West Ham in their first Women's Super League match since Jonas Eidevall resigned.

Interim boss Renee Slegers made it two wins from two in charge thanks to goals from Mariona Caldentey and Rosa Kafaji, despite the Gunners underwhelming for large parts of the game.

They eventually found a breakthrough with 20 minutes to play as Amber Tysiak brought down Stina Blackstenius in the box.

Caldentey neatly tucked away the spot-kick before Blackstenius created their second in the 89th minute as she picked out Kafaji, who finished first-time.

Slegers' first three points sees Arsenal go back to fifth, but West Ham are one of three teams still yet to win in the WSL so far this season as they prop up the table.

Elsewhere, Crystal Palace nearly pulled off another big shock but were instead held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool.

The Eagles impressed at St Helen's Stadium as former Reds striker Katie Stengel opened the scoring after 14 minutes, prodding home from close range.

Cornelia Kapocs pulled the hosts level shortly before half-time, but they had to settle for a share of the points as both sides missed big chances for a winner in the second half.

Leicester City, meanwhile, claimed their first win of the season, edging past struggling Everton 1-0 thanks to Nicole Momiki's superb solo strike after just eight minutes.

It is the first victory for Amandine Miquel since joining the Foxes, while Everton sit 11th in the table, still searching for their first three points of the campaign. 

Manchester City comfortably saw off West Ham 2-0 to move top of the Women's Super League, with Lauren Hemp making history in the process.

With Chelsea's fixture against Manchester United having been postponed, City took the chance to, at least temporarily, move into top spot.

Gareth Taylor's team were well in control throughout Sunday's contest at Joie Stadium, where England international Hemp put City ahead in the 10th minute.

Hemp raced onto Mary Fowler's pass before calmly creating space to plant a neat finish low into the left-hand corner, bringing up her 50th WSL goal.

She should have doubled her tally early in the second half, only to slice over a gaping goal from point-blank range.

Fowler made no such mistake as she headed home in the 71st minute, with the Australian latching onto a brilliant cross from Khadija Shaw, who had capitalised on a slack backpass having just come on as a substitute.

Camila Saez sent a tame free-kick into the hands of Ayaka Yamashita late on, with West Ham unable to truly test the hosts, who also had Jill Roord back in action after her long-awaited return from a knee injury.

Data Debrief: Half-century up for Hemp

While Hemp will be frustrated with her second-half miss, she has a slice of WSL history to her name. At the age of 24 years and 60 days, she became the youngest player to hit the 50-goal mark in the competition.

Kinga Szemik, the West Ham goalkeeper, also made two fine saves to deny Hemp later on.

Hemp finished with 1.18 expected goals (xG) from a game-leading six shots, as City finished with 2.43 xG to West Ham's 0.49.

Khadija Shaw opened her account for the Women's Super League season as Manchester City beat Brighton 1-0 to get their first win on the board.

Shaw was the runaway top scorer in the WSL last season, and she got up and running for the 2024-25 campaign with a neat close-range finish from Kerstin Casparij's low cross late in the first half of Sunday's clash at Joie Stadium.

Her goal was one of seven shots the Jamaican had throughout the contest, with Shaw having gone close on three occasions prior to breaking the deadlock.

Mary Fowler and Jessica Park both went close to extending City's lead after the break, while Lauren Hemp stung the palms of Sophie Baggaley.

The only disappointment for Gareth Taylor will have been that his side failed to make their dominance count for a second goal, with City mustering 3.03 expected goals (xG) to Brighton's 0.76.

"We got the job done," defender Alex Greenwood told BBC Sport.

"Sometimes in this league, you have to win ugly. I thought off the ball today we were better. Against Arsenal, we struggled with that at times, but we have worked really hard on that, and I thought we saw an improvement in that.

"This league is getting tougher and tougher every year, and we saw that with Brighton, it was a tough game. We take the win and the clean sheet all day."

Arsenal, who drew 2-2 with City last week, also got their first win on the board, with Frida Maanum's second-half strike proving decisive in a 1-0 defeat of Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.

Alessia Russo capitalised on an error from Catherine Bott, with the former Manchester United forward keeping her cool to set up Maanum for a simple finish, as Arsenal claimed a seventh straight WSL win over Leicester.

There was a thrilling finale in Aston Villa's clash with Tottenham, as three goals in 20 minutes saw the points shared in a 2-2 draw.

Spurs led through Eveliina Summanen's 23rd-minute penalty at Villa Park, but Adriana Leon and Rachel Daly flipped the match on its head.

However, Villa's hopes of claiming a memorable victory were dashed when Bethany England netted deep in second-half stoppage time.

Manchester United made it two wins from two as Grace Clinton's fourth-minute goal downed her former club Everton 1-0.

United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce made good stops to deny Karoline Olesen and Inma Gabarro before the latter had to be taken off following a lengthy treatment for an injury.

West Ham, meanwhile, hit back late on to frustrate Liverpool in a 1-1 draw.

Liverpool's club-record signing Olivia Smith had put the Reds ahead early on, but a fine header from Riko Ueki ensured the spoils were shared.

Jamaica’s Khadija “Bunny” Shaw could cop March's Barclays Women's Super League Goal-of-the-Month award, as well as Manchester City Women’s Player-of-the-Month award after being shortlisted for both following her exploits throughout last month.

Shaw registered the historic achievement of being the club’s all-time leading goal-scorer when she overtook Georgia Stanway’s mark of 67. During that period, the prolific Jamaican had goals against Everton, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester United and Liverpool.

The towering 27-year-old striker now has 70 career goals for the north England powerhouse, which she joined three years ago, and 19 so far this season.

City’s manager Gareth Taylor in a recent interview, heaped praises on Shaw for her record-breaking feat.

“She’s a unique player, not only does she give us the goals, but she’s also a big focal point,” he said.

Shaw, City’s Player-of-the-Year for last season, faces stiff competition for the March award from midfielder Jess Park, who has also been shortlisted for the Barclays Women's Super League Goal-of-the-Month award.

Both players were nominated for finishes in the 4-1 victory at Liverpool last weekend.

Park’s goal, City’s second, came as she danced through a compact Liverpool defence and tucked calmly into the corner.

Shaw’s unstoppable strike from range came just two minutes later and had City 3-0 up in 24 minutes.

After four wins from four across the month, City are top of the table on 46 points having played a game more than defending champions Chelsea, who are on 43 points.

To win the award, Park or Shaw will have to see off six other strikes.

On the list are Hanna Bennison of Everton, Bristol City’s Megan Connolly, West Ham’s Viviane Asseyi, Lee Geum-min and Elisabeth Terland of Brighton and Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert.

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.