Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Women’s Super League to 11 points in great style with a 6-0 victory over bottom club Leicester City.
A showdown between top and bottom is unlikely to bring any surprises, and that was the case, with City leading by four points at half-time. However, the league leaders were given a scare when Alisha Lehmann rattled a post towards the visitors early in the game.
But that chance only woke up City, who were dominated by Lauren Hemp’s direct running, creating two assists and six chances. She set up Bunny Shaw’s opening goal, heading a cross at the near post before Vivian Miedema scored a double.
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Bunny Shaw and Vivian Miedema score home as Manchester City take a first-half lead against Leicester
The Dutch forward scored the opening goal from the edge of the box after Ashley Neville failed to clear his line, then headed in Hemp’s cross to make it 3-0. City easily scored their fourth goal within 38 minutes, with Kerorin scoring Yu Hasegawa.
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Man City were 4-0 up before half-time against Leicester.
Leicester were hoping the floodgates would close, but they conceded their fifth goal three minutes into the first half. The Brazilian scored the goal of the night as Kerorin curled a beauty into the top corner from distance.
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Manchester City’s dominance continued as Kerorin curled the ball into the top corner to earn their fifth goal against WSL leaders Leicester.
City then made changes and started scoring more. Leicester found themselves in trouble when Chantelle Swaby lost the ball in the box, allowing Aoba Fujino to slot home the ball past the keeper.
Incredibly, things could have been worse for Leicester with Shaw, Hemp and Leila Ouahavi missing close-range shots, before Noemi Moushon pounced on a City mistake and fired wide, missing an even bigger shot.
It’s the end of a bad Friday the 13th for Leicester – City are counting down the days to win the WSL title.
Jeglertz: We know where we are – but we are never satisfied!
Man City head coach Andriy Jegrats told Sky Sports:
“Even if we score three or four goals, our ability to keep going forward, the attitude of our players, the way we keep making substitutions allows us to keep raising the level and keep chasing more goals. That’s what I’m most satisfied with.”
“I don’t have to motivate the players. Last weekend’s game wasn’t what we wanted, but they’re very aware of where we are in the league and what we’ve been doing. They’re working really hard every day and every week.”
“You can see the smiles on the faces of the players during and before the game. We are in a good position. They don’t need any extra motivation.
“There’s always going to be debate[because it’s City’s year]and it’s important for the players to deal with it. We’re a group that’s trying to get a little bit better every day and make things a little bit better.”
“We are never complacent. We have to be happy and proud of what we have done, but at the same time we have to be humble.
“We still have a long way to go. If we play like we did today, I’m confident we can go pretty far this season. We still know we can do better in some parts of the game.”
Passmoor: There was a rift between the teams.
Leicester head coach Rick Passmoor told Sky Sports:
“Obviously, we’re really disappointed. You have to look at the coaches, not the players. Did they give enough information heading into the game? Did they prepare enough? Did the players have enough belief in what they did? We need to look at that.
“It’s really raw right now. It’s really raw. They’ve scored a lot of goals this season. They beat Chelsea by five points, they’re a really good team. We just have to check our feelings now because we have big stages coming up in our league program from March onwards. We have to make sure we’re in the right position for the battles ahead.”
“We have made a lot of progress but today we have to look at the facts. There was a gap between the team and our performance. So let’s look at ourselves and see if we are in a better position for the next league game.”
Analysis: Blip? What blip?
If Man City are like this a week after losing, what are they going to do to the rest of the league after another winning streak?
After a goalless spell against Arsenal in midweek, there was some tension in the air for City at the start of this game. The loss to the Gunners set them back or held them back. It’s worth remembering that in tonight’s six-goal flurry, they almost fell behind for the second straight game when Alisha Lehmann hit a woodwork shot.
But City woke up and pulled Leicester within 16 minutes of the first half. It was a brutal display.
Lauren Hemp was definitely the player of the match. Her 93 minutes were amazing. Eleven chances were created, 11 attempted dribbles, 14 successful crosses, two assists and one more disallowed in stoppage time, resulting in Bunny Shaw’s goal.
Lauren Hemp’s sensational performance against Leicester
City reminded everyone why they deserve to be crowned champions.
