WSL Round-Up: Liverpool stun Chelsea with Katie Stengel double, Manchester City beaten by Aston Villa
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Updated 18/09/2022 at 18:32 GMT
Liverpool stunned Chelsea 2-1 on the Women's Super League opening weekend with a Katie Stengel double, as Emma Hayes' reigning champions saw their campaign get off to the worst possible start. All three goals came from the penalty spot at Prenton Park, with Stengel's double responding to Fran Kirby's spot-kick that had opened the scoring in just the third minute.
Wreaths laid and minute silence observed before Brentford v Arsenal game
Liverpool stunned defending champions Chelsea 2-1 at Prenton Park on the opening weekend of the Women's Super League.
On their return to the WSL, Liverpool were shellshocked after Chelsea's Fran Kirby scored a penalty inside three minutes.
But they stemmed an early blue tide and Katie Stengel calmly equalised from the spot after the hour.
Then, three minutes from time, Stengel had a second with the game's third penalty as Rachel Furness was brought down inside the box.
In front of a crowd of 3,006 - a record for a Liverpool women's game - the Reds Ladies celebrated their win raucously as they took all three points away from the favourites.
Earlier in the day, Aston Villa came back to beat Manchester City in a 4-3 thriller at Villa Park.
City are among the favourites for the title this season and fought back from 2-0 down to lead the match, but Villa rallied to secure all three points as City lost on opening day for the first time since 2014.
Alisha Lehman opened the scoring against the run of play with a rifled effort past Ellie Roebuck before Rachel Daly doubled Villa’s lead on the spin inside the box.
The hosts threatened to run away with the match but Laura Coombs pulled a goal back for City on the stroke of half-time as Hannah Hampton struggled between the sticks to keep out her powerful strike.
City came out flying in the second half, with Khadija Shaw poking home after Houghton won a header from a corner.
And two minutes later, courtesy of some more shaky goalkeeping, Coombs had her second with a two-touch finish that saw City take the lead for the first time.
Their advantage lasted all of three minutes though as Kenza Dali doubled her tally with an effort that took a fortunate deflection off Alex Greenwood.
And in a finely balanced, end-to-end contest, it was Daly’s second that restored Villa’s lead and secured the win after a goalkeeping howler, pouncing on a poor parry from Roebuck.
It is the first time Villa have taken points off City in the WSL and puts them third in the table behind Arsenal and Manchester United after the opening weekend.
In London, Spurs held off a late Leicester comeback to win 2-1 in their season opener, with Ashleigh Neville and Drew Spence on the scoresheet, while Lisa Evans' first-half strike saw a resilient West Ham beat Everton despite the Hammers being on the back foot for large parts against their visitors.
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