Khadija Shaw scored four times for Manchester City as the Women’s Super League leaders thrashed Aston Villa 6-1 at the Joie Stadium.
Jamaica forward Shaw’s first of the afternoon was her 100th goal for the club – and she became Manchester City’s first female player to reach that milestone in their professional era.
Shaw added another before the break and Aoba Fujino made it three just after the hour before Lucy Parker pulled one back for Villa.
Vivianne Miedema tapped in a fourth before Shaw completed her treble on the counter-attack with six minutes left and deflected in a close-range effort in stoppage time.
City head into the WSL winter break six points clear of Chelsea, who won 3-0 at Brighton.
The Blues – who saw their 34-game unbeaten league run end last week with a 1-0 defeat against Everton – went ahead through a fine finish from Sandy Baltimore just before half-time.
An own goal from Brighton defender Caitlin Hayes doubled the lead early in the second half, with Alyssa Thompson sweeping in a late third as Sonia Bompastor’s side put themselves back two points above Arsenal.
At the other end of the table, 10-player Liverpool scored a late equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers West Ham.
The Reds had seen defender Gemma Bonner shown a red card after 19 minutes for fouling West Ham striker Riko Ueki as she chased a through ball.
Ueki gave West Ham the lead just before the hour from a corner, but Mia Enderby soon equalised.
West Ham went in front again in the 68th minute through Anna Csiki, but Beata Olsson rescued a point for Liverpool when she slotted in after a defensive mix-up to leave them just two points adrift.
Janina Leitzig saved a penalty in stoppage time to help secure Leicester a valuable 1-0 victory over London City Lionesses at the King Power Stadium.
The Foxes were leading through Shannon O’Brien’s second-half goal, but the Lionesses had a golden opportunity to snatch a point when Janice Cayman felled Grace Geyoro.
Kosovare Asllani’s spot-kick, though, was weak and comfortably stopped by Leitzig.
Leicester overtake Everton to climb into ninth place in the table, moving six points clear of Liverpool.
PA
