Man City go top of the table! Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp on fire as dominant hosts beat Everton to leapfrog Chelsea into pole position in WSL

Manchester City moved ahead of Chelsea and into first place in the Women's Super League after beating Everton 2-1 to make it 12 straight wins.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Shaw & Hemp on target for City
• Home team dominant throughout match
• Go ahead of Chelsea at top of WSL

• Getty
  

  Table of Contents

  Toggle

  TELL ME MORE

  City, who have won all 16 of their league games against the Merseyside team, were behind Chelsea only on goals scored at the top of the table heading into the clash at the Joie Stadium. They were well fired up for this game, too, dominating from beginning to end against Brian Sorensen's team.

  City enjoyed the majority of early possession but had a hard time getting time and space in dangerous areas. After a few tame efforts, Everton made it easy for the home team when Justine Vanhaevermaet crumbled under pressure and played a short pass inside the box that went directly to Bunny Shaw, who suddenly had an abundance of time and space to smash in the opener.

  The goal gave the in-form hosts a massive boost as they looked even more dangerous from then on, with Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp sending dangerous balls into the box that Shaw was unable to connect with. By half-time, 1-0 seemed a low score considering City had 13 shots throughout the first 45 minutes. Everton, meanwhile, were gifted one chance late in the half when goalkeeper Khiara Keating played the ball straight to Rikke Madsen, but her weak shot was straight back at the youngster.

  After Shaw missed a great opportunity by heading over the bar, it was Hemp who doubled City's lead, combining with Coombs in the middle of the pitch before driving forward and sending a long-range effort rolling into the bottom corner. Everton were not down and out, though, as City suddenly looked flustered at the back and gave the ball away, resulting in Hanna Bennison smashing in a beauty of a goal from outside the box. Both teams pushed on for another goal, but neither could find a way past their opponents' goalkeeper.

Advertisement

• THE MVP

  While it was Shaw who opened the scoring and had a whopping six attempts, Hemp must get the nod for the hero of the occasion. Not only did she fire in a lovely second goal for her team, the England international linked up expertly with her team-mates, had four shots in total and put in great effort to win the ball as City pressed high up.

• THE BIG LOSER

  Everton were always on the backfoot but they did a great job of limiting City to weak attempts for the first 15 minutes. That all changed, though, when Vanhaevermaet's awful pass went straight to Shaw and teed her up for an easy goal. City were on top from then on but Everton were able to threaten and grab a wonderful goal. Unfortunately for them, the damage had already been done.

• Getty
  

  WHAT COMES NEXT?

  Now top of the table – temporarily at least – City will be watching on as Chelsea look to draw level once again when they face Leicester on Sunday. Gareth Taylor's team come up against the Blues once again when they meet in the FA Women's League Cup on Thursday, followed by a match against Tottenham in the Women's FA Cup next Sunday.