Chelsea thrashed Everton to go second in the Barclays Women’s Super League while Manchester City suffered a damaging defeat to Liverpool.
Manchester United 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 West Ham United
Liverpool 2-1 Manchester City
Reading 0-5 Aston Villa
Chelsea 7-0 Everton
Manchester City’s title hopes are all but over after defeat to Liverpool. Natasha Dowie fired the Reds ahead, Lauren Hemp levelled with a header from Chloe Kelly’s cross. Missy Bo Kearns restored the advantage after the interval. Hemp hit the underside of the bar late on but the ball was deemed to have stayed out.
Manchester United made sure of staying top with victory in the early game and ended up all but assured a UWCL place. Leah Galton gave the them the lead after the half-hour mark, picking up Amy Turner’s short back pass. Alessia Russo soon volleyed in the second, Celin Bizet Ildhusøy hit the post for Spurs at the other end. Nikita Parris made it 3-0 from close range after the break.
Chelsea went second, four points behind the leaders with two games in hand. They stormed into a 5-0 half-time lead over Everton, Guro Reiten firing in the first, Sam Kerr heading in a Niamh Charles cross but landing awkwardly after which she was substituted. Pernille Harder replaced her and scored with her first touch, Sophie Ingle and Jessie Fleming then ending the game as a contest. Harder later got her and second, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd hit the far post before Erin Cuthbert completed the scoring.
Brighton are almost safe following victory over West Ham. They made a crucial breakthrough before the hour mark, Kayleigh Green with the header from a Katie Robinson delivery to take all three points.
Reading remain in last place and suffered a big home defeat. Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly scored from a Kirsty Hanson cross, the favour was returned as Villa went in three up at half-time, Alisha Lehmann netting in-between. Daly got her second and the visitors’ fourth, to pile problems on the bottom club and didn’t let up there as she completed her hat-trick.
Fixtures for Wednesday 10 May
Chelsea v Leicester City (Kingsmeadow, 7pm) – live on The FA Player
Brighton & Hove Albion v Arsenal (Crawley Town FC, 7.30pm) – live on Sky Sports