The title race in the WSL is truly heating up right now. Once again, all three sides at the top of the table earned themselves wins.
The weekend started with Manchester City comfortably sweeping aside Everton in what turned into a very tense round of fixtures for the title race.
Saturday
Manchester City 3-1 Everton
Pauline Bremer was the star of the show against Everton. The German international scored her second brace in two games.
READ MORE: Nick Cushing on Everton win, New York City move and Ellie Roebuck
Her first was a well-taken effort after stealing the ball from 20-year-old Taylor Hinds. Bremer’s second was even better. Lauren Hemp nicked the ball and played Bremer in on the edge of the area.
Embed from Getty ImagesSome fancy footwork and a slick turn later the ball was in the top right corner.
Gemma Bonner got City’s third — her third goal in City’s last two games against Everton.
READ MORE: Willie Kirk: ‘That was preventable’
Everton’s late consolation came in the form of a Georgia Stanway own-goal as the ball bounced mercilessly off her into the net.
Embed from Getty ImagesCity could have temporarily gone top of the WSL with the 3-0 victory but the late goal ensured that it was still Arsenal leading the title race heading into Sunday.
Sunday
Liverpool vs Manchester United [POSTPONED]
A waterlogged pitch at Prenton Park forced Liverpool to postpone the north-west derby against Manchester United.
A new date will be announced in the near future.
Brighton 0-4 Arsenal
Arsenal saw what Manchester City did and raised the bar even higher. The Gunners dominated proceedings at the People’s Pension Stadium, with Brighton not troubling them at all.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Seagulls had a decent spell before half-time but that was the limit of what they could do against an unconventional Arsenal lineup.
Leah Williamson got herself a couple of assists from a position that ended up being an amalgamation of right-back, right-midfield and right-wing.
She provided a beautiful cross-field ball for Danielle van de Donk to open up the scoring less than four minutes in.
Jill Roord, Jordan Nobbs and Beth Mead added goals to see Arsenal to a comfortable win.
Embed from Getty ImagesArsenal now have a massive game in the title race against Chelsea to look forward to next weekend.
Brighton don’t slip in the table with the Bristol City losing and Liverpool not playing.
Spurs 2-1 West Ham
This game waited until the last seconds to give us the drama that the London derby promised.
Spurs took the lead in the first half when new signing Emma Mitchell scored her first goal for the North London side — on her first start no less.
Embed from Getty ImagesHer goal was a beautiful knuckle-ball effort that was hit true and hard down to Courtney Brosnan’s right.
The game died out a bit afterwards and it wasn’t until the 90th minute that it was sprung back into life by a shock Kenza Dali equaliser.
Kenza scored her second goal of the season and the Hammers thought that her strike had won them a point.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen, six minutes deep into injury time, Rianna Dean popped up to score a last-gasp winner.
Angela Addison’s cross was slightly behind Dean but she managed to contort her body to get contact on the ball. It hit the back of the net to the reception of massive cheers from the Tottenham faithful at the Hive.
Chelsea 6-1 Bristol City
It looked to be going so well for Bristol City when Ebony Salmon scored her second goal in as many games to give the Vixens the lead at Kingsmeadow.
Chelsea came roaring back into the game, putting four past Sophie Baggaley before half-time.
Embed from Getty ImagesThose four included Jess Carter’s first for the club and a sumptuous finish from Ji So-yun, who comfortable swung the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the area.
It went from bad to worse for City in the second half as Beth England completed her brace with Ji getting a second too.
Sam Kerr came on at half-time and looked certain to get herself on the scoresheet if it wasn’t for some heroic defending from Jasmine Matthews.
Embed from Getty ImagesChelsea keep title pace with Arsenal and Manchester City with the win, making next Sunday’s clash between the Blues and the Gunners all the more tantalising.
Reading 1-0 Birmingham
Reading broke a seven match losing run against Birmingham with the victory at Adams Park on the weekend.
Amalie Eikeland scored the only goal of the game as the two sides went through another tight encounter.
Eikeland’s goal was good enough to win any game. She lofted the ball over Hannah Hampton from just outside the box and it sailed over the keeper and into the net.
The win moves Reading up to fourth in the league but both Everton, who they play next weekend, and Manchester United have games in hand.
