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.

Chelsea broke the Women’s Super League transfer record even as their men’s team sat out the January window.

While Premier League spending was down across the board to a combined £100m over the month, compared to last year’s record £815m as estimated by finance company Deloitte, an increasingly active WSL market peaked with the Blues’ move for Colombia forward Mayra Ramirez.

An initial 450,000 euros (£384,000), as stated by selling club Levante, is the English top flight’s highest ever fee – with add-ons worth 50,000 euros (£42,600) making it a potential world record in the women’s game.

Ramirez was recruited to cover for Sam Kerr’s expected season-long ACL absence while Manchester City replaced the similarly injured Jill Roord with Aston Villa’s Laura Blindkilde Brown.

With WSL sides increasingly following the lead of the men’s game in turning to the transfer market in response to injuries, Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, told the PA news agency: “Player trading is a key part of any club’s business model, whether that’s in the women’s game or the men’s game.

“Obviously at the moment the values that we’re looking at are a lot more modest in the women’s game but we’d expect to see that growing in line with revenue.

“They’re all positive changes for the women’s game and it’s exciting to see that, and hopefully it does deliver the growth that it really deserves and is capable of.”

After lavish spending in recent windows, Chelsea were one of five men’s Premier League sides not to make a single January addition along with Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United.

The slowdown has been attributed to the threat of sanctions under the league’s profit and sustainability rules, with the Toffees already docked 10 points this season – though spending over the full season still hit £2.4bn, second only to last season’s £2.7bn.

Ross said: “I think compliance with financial regulations is a key part of it.

“We’ve obviously seen the Premier League’s response to breaches of their regulations, which is heightening clubs’ awareness to comply, and it’s the first year of UEFA’s new squad cost rules for clubs participating in UEFA competitions.

“There’s other reasons as well. In the summer we saw transfers like (Jude) Bellingham, (Declan) Rice, (Harry) Kane, which then create that domino effect across the market. We’re probably seeing a moment to pause and reset after they’ve done a lot of that business in the summer.”

Only £30m was spent on deadline day on permanent moves into the Premier League, the majority of that money heading into the Sky Bet Championship as Crystal Palace signed Adam Wharton from Blackburn and Aston Villa brought in Middlesbrough’s Morgan Rogers. Radu Dragusin’s move to Tottenham for a reported £26.7m on January 11 remained the biggest of the month.

For the first time since the Chinese Super League boom of 2019, the Premier League was not the biggest global spender as Ligue 1 clubs in France splashed out 190m euros (£162m) and Brazil’s Serie A over £123m.

The Saudi Pro League was not in that bracket, spending barely £20m after its headline-making summer splurge had echoed that previously seen in China.

Jordan Henderson returned to Europe with Ajax after six months at Al-Ettifaq and other high-profile signings expressed discontent, but Ross said: “I don’t think the bubble’s starting to burst. I think it’s a similar story (to the Premier League) – they’ve invested heavily in the summer and there’s an opportunity in this window to reflect and reset.

“I certainly expect to see them back in the market in the summer, whether that’s to the same levels that we saw this summer is to be seen. It does seem there are strong business plans behind the Saudi Pro League but there obviously is a need for them to prioritise financial sustainability over the long term.”

Netherlands midfielder Jill Roord has returned to the Women’s Super League with a move to Manchester City, the club have announced.

The 26-year-old, who was with Arsenal from 2019 to 2021, joins City from Champions League runners-up Wolfsburg on a three-year deal.

The PA news agency understands City have paid a club-record fee in excess of £300,000 to sign Roord, scorer of 31 goals in 69 appearances across all competitions for Wolfsburg.

She has played 86 times for her country, helping them win Euro 2017 on home soil and finish as runners-up at the 2019 World Cup in France.

Roord, part of the Netherlands squad for this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement from City: “I’m very happy and it’s a very proud feeling for me to sign for Manchester City.

“I have always thought that this was a fantastic club with lots of quality, and I’m super excited to start here.

“I really like the way that they play, and I feel that it suits me perfectly. There’s a lot of quality in the team, and it’s a young side with plenty of potential which is very important to me.

“I’ve always thought that the Women’s Super League is very competitive, so playing in England again is like a dream – I feel like I have developed a lot as a player during my time in Germany.

“In my conversations with Gareth (Taylor, the City manager), I heard everything that I wanted to hear – we think the same way about football which is important, and where he sees me in the team was ideal – it is the perfect fit.

“If you play for City, you compete for everything you are involved in and that is what we will be aiming to do – with the quality we have here, anything is possible so I hope that we will be very successful together.”

Taylor said: “We’re really pleased to have been able to secure Jill’s signature and bring her to the club.

“She has proven her worth in both England and Europe during her career so far, alongside on the international stage with the Netherlands – she is no stranger to success.

“She is a player whose calibre speaks for itself with what she has achieved, and we believe she will be a fantastic addition to our squad here at City.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming her aboard and working with her over the next three years.”