Chelsea 4-2 Brighton
Chelsea extended their perfect start with a ninth from nine Women's Super League games, but their efforts were not made easy by a challenging Brighton, who despite a 4-2 defeat pushed the Champions all the way to the front at a windy Kingsmeadow.
A win for Sonia Bompastor's side left them at the top, 27 points ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal, who both cruised to victory.
The testing conditions made the urge to play at the back all the more interesting. Hair stood on end for more than one reason when Jelena Cankovic was caught in possession on the edge of her own area, leading to Sjoeke Nusken's opener.
Aggie Beever-Jones benefited from bolder play from the back as Sophie Baggaley was dispossessed by the Lioness to double Chelsea's lead. Brighton fired back as Cankovic atoned for her earlier carelessness in scoring against her former side, but Johanna Rytting Kaneryd scored after the break to restore the two-goal cushion.
It was Hannah Hampton's turn to make a mistake as she gave Brighton a lifeline and set up Kiko Seike for a goal. Seike came close to a later equalizer, but Chelsea secured the three points with a goal from an injury time corner.
Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa
Arsenal moved to third place in the Women's Super League as they extended their winning run to five after beating Aston Villa 4-0 at the Emirates.
The first signs of Arsenal's intentions emerged when Beth Mead's opening goal was ruled out for offside. Shortly afterwards, Alessia Russo headed in the opening goal. Mead finally got on the scoresheet as she tapped home Arsenal's second before half-time.
Stina Blackstenius came off the bench to score Arsenal's third goal before Russo bagged her brace with an injury-time goal.
Manchester City 4-0 Leicester
Manchester City itself scored four goals without reply to secure victory against Leicester.
Clinical was the word at the Joie Stadium, with Bunny Shaw scoring twice and Jess Park finding the back of the net in what was City's only three attempts on target at the time.
Mary Fowler struck for City on the fourth afternoon to crush the hearts of Leicester, who had attempted to launch a number of attacks of their own.
A win for Gareth Taylor's side took him to 72 wins in the league, equaling former City boss Nick Cushing's total. The victory also leaves City second with 22 points, five points behind leaders Chelsea.
Tottenham 2-1 Everton
Beth England was the star for Spurs as they returned to winning ways with a 2-1 win against Everton at Brisbane Road.
A goal either side of the half-time whistle saw her side move up to sixth in the standings with a four-point lead over the bottom four.
England opened the scoring in the first half before being pushed back by Sara Holmgaard's equalizer. But England restored her team's lead from the spot.
Everton, who secured their first league win of the season with victory in the Merseyside Derby, remain in 10th place, one point ahead of both Crystal Palace and Leicester in the bottom two.
West Ham 5-2 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace conceded a two-goal lead in the first half, leaving them firmly entrenched in the league's bottom tier, as they lost 5–2 to West Ham at the Barking and Dagenham Stadium.
The Eagles were already two goals ahead after eleven minutes thanks to goals from Mille Gejl and Indiah-Paige Riley. Vivianne Asseyi scored moments later to halve the deficit and score her 14th WSL goal in burgundy and blue.
Palace were then presented with a gaping opportunity to restore their two-goal lead, but Eagles top scorer Annabel Blanchard failed to control her effort in a missed opportunity she would learn to rue.
Goals from Seraina Piubel and Manuela Pavi completed the comeback before half-time and two late strikes from Anouk Denton and Katrina Gorry secured all three points for the Hammers. A win for West Ham opens a three-point lead over the bottom two.
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