Man City Beat Liverpool 4-2 to Maintain Perfect WSL Start

Manchester City's perfect Women's Super League season is still intact, but Liverpool made them work for every bit of it on Friday night, pushing the champions to a 4-2 finish that wasn't settled until stoppage time.

Lauren Hemp got things moving early, latching onto a Carlotta Wamser pass to beat Khiara Keating inside 13 minutes. It didn't take Liverpool long to answer though. City switched off in possession and Alice Bergstrom punished them, then a scrappy moment from a City cross let Vivien Endemann nip in and put the visitors ahead by the half-hour mark.

City needed a slice of luck to get level before the break. Keating could only push Hemp's shot into danger, and Khadija Shaw was on hand to finish it off, her fourth of the season and enough to send the sides in level at 2-2.

The second half was cagey, with both teams creating half-chances but neither able to find a breakthrough, until the last few minutes turned the game on its head. Liverpool captain Grace Fisk turned a Grace Clinton cross into her own net in the 90th minute, and then Hemp, sensing Liverpool had pushed too many players forward chasing an equaliser, broke away and slotted home her second of the game deep into stoppage time.

The win takes City level with Chelsea's old record of 14 consecutive home wins in the WSL, set between 2019 and 2021. Beat Arsenal at home on October 4 and they'll have a new record all to themselves.

Shaw's goal carried some history too. It made her the WSL's all-time top scorer for home goals, 52 now, moving past Bethany England, and she's also the first City player to score in each of the club's first three league games in a season.

It wasn't the cleanest performance from City defensively. Liverpool's press caused real problems in midfield, and the absence of injured centre-back Rebecca Knaak was obvious in how easily City were opened up for the second goal. But their response, fighting back twice against a Liverpool side that matched them for long spells, said a lot about the squad's mentality under Andree Jeglertz.

City now sit five points clear at the top of the table. Liverpool stay third, still searching for their first away win against City in the WSL.