Page 4 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.23 2022-23

Whilst most of the attention was focused on the Continental Cup Final on
Sunday, Manchester Utd were busy stepping up their title challenge
with a 5-1 victory over Leicester City which, at the time, took them three
points clear. Alessia Russo netted a first half double and, after Remy
Siemsen pulled one back after the break, Russo completed her hat-trick
five minutes later. Leah Galton and Lucia Garcia added further goals to
ensure Marc Skinner’s side continued to set the pace.
Manchester City meanwhile extended their unbeaten league run
to twelve games and went up to second, their highest position of the season, by beating
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1. Khadija Shaw continues to have an excellent season in front of
goal and she hit a hat-trick to spearhead the win, after Celin Bizet Ildhusoy had given Spurs
a first half lead.
Aston Villa maintained their good campaign and consolidatd themselves in fifth place,
increasing the gap between themselves and Everton to four points after winning their
meeting 2-0. Kenza Dali gave Villa the lead with five minutes on the clock and the points were
sealed midway through the second half via a Megan Finnigan own goal.
Reading FC Women picked up three valuable points with their third win of the
season, 2-1 against West Ham Utd. Charlie Wellings gave Reading the lead at the midpoint
of the second half and after Viviane Asseyi had equalised ten minutes later, Rachel Rowe
grabbed a late winner which takes the Royals out of the bottom two.
The two Continental Cup finalists returned to league action on Wednesday night and
Chelsea made sure of restoring the one point gap between themselves and Manchester Utd,
with the two teams set to meet on Sunday, thanks
to a 3-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion. Manchester Utd 5 (Russo 15,36,53, Galton 64, Garcia
Guro Reiten gave Chelsea an early lead from the 84)
Leicester City 1 (Siemsen 48)
penalty spot, which was doubled nine minutes -
later by Jess Carter, before Johanna Rytting Everton 0
Kaneryd netted in the second half. Danielle Aston Villa 2 (Dali 5, Finnigan og 67)
Carter scored a consolation goal for the Seagulls - Manchester City 3 (Shaw 4,47,83)
late on. Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Ildhusoy 31)
Arsenal got their challenge for a -
Champions League place back on track when they Reading FC Women 2 (Wellings 66, Rowe 85)
won 2-0 against Liverpool. Both goals were West Ham Utd 1 (Asseyi 76)
-
scored in six minutes as Arsenal built on winning Arsenal 2 (Blackstenius 28, Foord 34)
the first major trophy of the season, Stina Liverpool 0
Blackstenius giving them the lead just before the -
half hour mark and Caitlin Foord adding the Chelsea 3 (Reiten pen 12, Carter 21, Kaneryd 71)
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Carter 88)
second shortly afterwards.
BARCLAYS WSL P W D L F A Pts GD
MANCHESTER UTD 14 11 2 1 38 8 35 30
CHELSEA 13 11 1 1 38 12 34 26 LEADING SCORERS
MANCHESTER CITY 14 10 2 2 30 13 32 Khadija SHAW Manchester City 13
17
ARSENAL 13 9 2 2 29 8 29 Rachel DALY Aston Villa 10
21
ASTON VILLA 14 7 2 5 25 24 23 Alessia RUSSO Manchester Utd 8
1
EVERTON 13 6 1 6 16 14 19 Leah GALTON Manchester Utd 6
2
WEST HAM UTD 14 5 1 8 16 24 16 -8
Sam KERR Chelsea 6
LIVERPOOL 13 3 2 8 13 25 11 -12
Fran KIRBY Chelsea 6
READING FC WOMEN 14 3 1 10 16 30 10 -14
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 13 3 0 10 16 27 9 -11
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 12 2 2 8 15 42 8 -27
LEICESTER CITY 13 2 0 11 7 32 6 -25
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