Manchester City hammers Aston Villa to go top of WSL

Manchester City defeated Aston Villa 4-1 in an away fixture of the Women’s Super League. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Reigning champion Manchester City thumped Aston Villa 4-1 away ​on Sunday to go top of ‌the Women’s Super League as the only ​team with two wins from its opening two games of the season.

Defender Jade Rose opened the scoring in the 14th ‌minute and Mary Fowler added a second 15 minutes later to put ‌City 2-0 up and cruising, but ‌an ⁠Amalie Vangsgaard goal sent the ⁠home side into the break 2-1 down.

Villa battled to hang on but Bunny Shaw netted in the ​74th minute to ‌break their resistance, and a stoppage-time own goal completed the rout as City continued their perfect start to the season.

Earlier ‌in the afternoon, Birmingham City and ​Brighton & Hove Albion drew 2-2 to give each side its first point ⁠of the season, while a Leighanne Robe own goal gave Everton a 1-0 win ‌over Charlton Athletic at home.

Everton’s Merseyside rival Liverpool was also at home, where it came back from a goal down to grab a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, Aurelie Csillag coming off the ‌bench to cancel out a Sam Kerr own ​goal.

Crystal Palace followed up its victory last week against Everton with ⁠a scoreless draw away to Arsenal, while on ⁠Saturday, big-spending London City Lionesses were brought back down to earth after ‌their opening-day win over Manchester United when they were beaten 2-1 away ​to West Ham United.