Arsenal and Manchester United maintain perfect starts in Women's Super League with wins at Liverpool and Leicester
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Updated 23/10/2022 at 19:59 GMT
Arsenal continued their perfect start to their Women's Super League campaign with a 2-0 win over Liverpool, equalling Manchester City's record of 12 consecutive victories in the division. Meanwhile, Manchester United kept pace with their fourth win from four as Nikita Parris scored her first goal for the club in a 1-0 win at Leicester, while West Ham edged a five-goal thriller against Reading.
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Arsenal and Manchester United kept up their 100% records in the Women's Super League, beating Liverpool and Leicester City respectively.
Chelsea also picked up three points to keep the pressure on the top two with a hard-fought win over Brighton.
Elsewhere, West Ham beat Reading 3-2 to claim back-to-back wins and climb up to fifth place.
The Gunners re-took top spot with their victory and equalled Manchester City's record of 12 consecutive WSL victories. They also extended their streak of clean sheets to 10, a remarkable run of dominance from Jonas Eidevall's side.
Swiss midfielder Lia Walti scored early for Arsenal, thrashing home after Liverpool failed to properly clear an early corner.
The visitors were without Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema, who was watching on from the bench, but her replacement - Frida Maanum - filled her boots ably.
It was Maanum who doubled their lead in the 22nd minute after gliding effortlessly through the Liverpool defence.
The Norwegian had also scored in Arsenal's stunning midweek Champions League 5-1 win over Lyon and is proving difficult for Miedema to dislodge.
Luck ran against Liverpool just before the break when Caitlin Foord appeared to commit handball in the area, but the appeals were waved away.
After the break, Rachael Laws was called upon to make a big save as Arsenal continued to pour forward in numbers.
The fact that Arsenal had scored with their first two shots on target meant that they could conserve energy and play without taking risks, something that had to have helped in the context of their midweek exertions.
Niamh Fahey and Katie Stengel had good chances to drag Liverpool back into the match but neither could get their attempts on target.
At full-time, Foord told the BBC that her teammates had shown their toughness to grind out the win.
She said: "It was difficult. We had a short turnaround and a bit of travel. We definitely felt it towards the end and it was a grind to see the game out. But in saying that, we had plenty of chances as well and could have gone a bit ahead and took the pressure off us.
"All of us, the style of play we’re playing, keep clean sheets and creating chances, that’s showing and we want to keep building on that. Today was another huge team performance. Just a massive grind for us."
The Guardian reported Miedema looking quite unhappy in a post-match discussion with Eidevall, with the gaffer reported elsewhere as saying the matter remained "internal", when quizzed afterwards.
In Leicester, a first-half strike from Nikita Parris – her first as a Manchester United player – was enough to claim a fourth victory in four for the joint-league leaders.
England international goalkeeper Mary Earps was called on in the second half to keep United in front, as she superbly saved a Kayleigh Green volley.
The only goal of the game came after 34 minutes, when Parris rose to nod in a Katie Zelem free-kick.
United are yet to let in a goal this season and have an identical record to Arsenal, with four wins, 11 goals scored and zero conceded.
With the gauntlet laid down, champions Chelsea went into the late game knowing they could ill-afford to drop points away at Brighton.
Despite dominating the first half, the Blues were unable to find a breakthrough but finally broke the Seagulls' resolve just before the hour mark as Bethany England tapped home after Niamh Charles' header came back off the crossbar.
Pernille Harder wrapped up the points with five minutes to play, lashing home a fierce strike from close range.
Three goals in 29 minutes sent West Ham on their way to a second win on the trot, but a spirited second-half comeback from Reading resulted in a nervy ending.
The Hammers looked set to cruise to victory after a Dagny Brynjarsdottir header and Viviane Asseyi double put them three goals to the good with less than half an hour played.
But Reading, who are yet to pick up their first point of the campaign, rallied after the break and threatened a remarkable comeback.
Charlie Wellings pulled one back after 75 minutes before a Sane Troelsgaard penalty gave the visitors hope of a result with eight minutes left on the clock.
However, they couldn’t find the decisive blow late on to equalise despite putting pressure on a West Ham side who are now fifth, three points off top.
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