Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-1 to go top of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League in Nick Cushing’s final game in charge.
FA WSL results – 2 February
Liverpool P-P Birmingham City
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Everton (Att: 830)
Chelsea 8-0 West Ham United (Att: 3,304)
Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal (Att: 3,664)
Reading 1-1 Manchester United (Att: 1,256)
Tottenham Hotspur P-P Bristol City
Man City win title ‘six-pointer’
Manchester City manager Nick Cushing signed off by taking his team to the top of the table as well as reversing the midweek Conti Cup defeat by Arsenal.
Man City broke the deadlock close to the interval when Arsenal couldn’t deal with a free-kick into the box and Pauline Bremer’s shot just beat Manuela Zinsberger with the aid of a deflection off Katie McCabe.
City doubled their lead just 4 minutes into the second half, Lauren Hemp heading a Keira Walsh cross in off the bar but the Gunners replied before the hour mark through Danielle van de Donk, on the follow-up from Beth Mead’s shot which was parried by Ellie Roebuck.
Van de Donk was denied a leveller by Roebuck with the help of Demi Stokes, as the Gunners enjoyed a strong spell but without finding the net again.
Chelsea hammer West Ham
Two goals in the opening quarter of an hour set up Chelsea for a convincing 8-0 win over West Ham.
Maren Mjelde and Beth England were the scorers, with Sophie Ingle effectively sealing the points with a third just before the break.
Erin Cuthbert made it 4-0 not long after the restart, with Mjelde and England each doubling their tallies for the afternoon, then one each by Ramona Bachmann and Emily Murphy adding to a difficult day for the visitors.
Williams second penalty earns Royals a point
Manchester United are a point ahead of Everton now, as well as Reading, in the battle for fourth place but they were pegged back by a second Fara Williams penalty after she missed her first.
Lauren James’s goal for United after half an hour came when Reading did not deal with Katie Zelem’s long ball.
Mary Earps saved a spot-kick to keep her side ahead but Williams buried a later attempt, given for handball by Zelem in the 80th minute.
Seagulls moving toward safety
Brighton & Hove Albion are six points from danger after getting the only goal of the game against Everton.
In the last few minutes of the first half, Amanda Nilden’s forward ball was collected by Aileen Whelan, who fired past Sandy MacIver and high into the net.
Everton pushed for an equaliser but Hannah Cain shot straight at Albion keeper Megan Walsh, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah’s effort deflected past the far post and Chloe Kelly also went close.
