Women’s Super League: Matchday 7 round-up

One hat-trick, two goals within 30 seconds, and three unbeaten teams: everything you need to know about the Women’s Super League matchday 7.

Unstoppable Chelsea [Liverpool 0-3 Chelsea]

Chelsea maintained their 100% record in style, as they put three past last season’s fourth-placed team in St Helens. Sonia Bompastor made it a record-breaking four opening away wins, while Chelsea proved once again that they don’t need a home crowd to score goals – their three this weekend make it 17 away goals scored already this season. Bompastor said: “It’s a new era, we are in a different dynamic from last season. It’s always good to focus on ourselves. We knew it would be tough and we needed to have a great performance if we wanted a good result. We controlled the game and were able to be efficient in the right moments.”

Bunny Shaw hat-trick punishes Spurs [Man City 4-0 Spurs]

Three more goals for Bunny Shaw took her total up to seven for the season in her race to win the Golden Boot for a second consecutive season, with her first goal coming after 24 seconds. Playing at the Etihad Stadium for the first time this season, City’s attack tore apart a Spurs team sat in seventh place, as they retained their spot at the top of the table. With Lauren Hemp providing all three assists, she cheekily signed Shaw’s match ball with ‘You’re Welcome ;)’ – the England international has recorded five assists already this season. On her relationship with Shaw, Hemp said: “We’ve got a great relationship. She’s a great laugh and I feel like we’ve got such a good connection. If I put a bad ball in, she will be the first to tell me. If she didn’t finish one of my crosses, I will be the first to tell her, which is what you need in this squad. We’ve got a mutual respect.”

Below-par United remain unbeaten [Man United 0-0 Aston Villa]

Winless Aston Villa faced an unbeaten Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village, and after 103 minutes of play, both sides extended their respective streaks after playing out a goalless draw. Both teams were unable to find accuracy in front of goal, with Robert de Pauw and Marc Skinner visibly frustrated on the touchline at their teams’ troubles in the final third. Phallon Tullis-Joyce made a brilliant double save in the first-half, while Gabby George’s defensive awareness kept her side in the game. De Pauw said: “I’m a little bit sick of good performances without the three points, so that frustrates me still but I’m proud of the determination and fire the team showed. In this league, you have 22 games so you don’t have a lot of time and the pressure is on because every team is so competitive.”

Revitalised Gunners dominate Seagulls [Arsenal 5-0 Brighton]

Arsenal continued their unbeaten run under Renee Slegers, as they fired five past the visitors in front of 22,467 fans under the lights at Emirates Stadium. Brighton have been the surprise package of the season, recording four wins from their opening six games in their best ever start to a league season, but they looked off the pace against a rejuvenated Gunners side. Goals from Beth Mead, Caitlin Foord and a stunning Frida Maanum strike put the home side three up at half-time, with Lina Hurtig and an Alessia Russo spot-kick adding to the tally in the second half. Having struggled to find the net at times this season, Arsenal will be delighted with their first big goal tally of the season. Slegers said: “I’m very happy we scored five goals, with five different goalscorers and happy with the clean sheet. We spoke about defending our box and being ruthless in the attacking box and we did that really well which is why we got the win.”

First win for Hammers [West Ham 1-0 Leicester]

Viviane Asseyi scored in the seventh minute of half-time stoppage time to give West Ham their first WSL win since February, as they beat Leicester City to go level with them on points. Ending their 15-game winless run will give the Hammers huge confidence as they will look to build on their season. West Ham boss Rehanne Skinner said: “For the most part our performances have been really good this season and the win has been coming. Today is a fantastic result for us and we showed the quality we’ve got from an attacking sense – we well deserved the points.”

Everton salvage a much-needed point with their first goal [Crystal Palace 1-1 Everton]

After Palace opened the scoring within 30 seconds, it needed Everton to find their first goal of the season scored by one of their players – their only previous goal had been an own goal when they faced West Ham. While their hunt for a first league win continues, the Toffees will be delighted to have rescued a crucial point away from home. Everton boss Brian Sorensen said: “Conceding that early is never ideal, but the girls showed good character to fight back into it and have chances to get more goals.”