Khadija Shaw becomes first woman to score 100 goals for City while United battle back to draw against Spurs

Leah Williamson returned to competitive action for the first time in 139 days on Saturday as she made a return from a knee injury late in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory against Everton. The England captain was brought on to replace Steph Catley as an 82nd-minute substitute at Goodison Park, drawing a roaring reception from the 1,200 travelling supporters. It was the 28-year-old’s first match since July’s Euros final against Spain in Basel. Arsenal are managing Williamson’s return carefully but she could feature again against the Belgian side Leuven in the Champions League on Wednesday. TG

• Man City 6-1 Aston Villa, Man Utd 3-3 Tottenham

• Chelsea 3-0 Brighton, West Ham 2-2 Liverpool

Khadija Shaw’s phenomenal scoring record for Manchester City was extended to 103 goals in all competitions, with a stunning four goals in the league leaders’ 6-1 defeat of Aston Villa.

It was Shaw’s 120th appearance for City in all competitions and the Jamaica forward struck twice in the first half at the Joie Stadium to give City a commanding lead before Aoba Fujino and Vivianne Miedema scored either side of Lucy Parker’s goal for Villa. Shaw completed her hat‑trick in the 84th minute and got a touch on Grace Clinton’s effort for her fourth. She moves into third on the list of Women’s Super League all‑time top scorers.

Women’s Super League’s support for clubs outside top flight paying dividends for players and for commercial growth

The rebranding of the Championship to WSL2 was long overdue for a division that needed “a bit more love”, and along with a host of upgrades the arrival of one of the game’s fondly followed traditions has provided a further uplift.

For the first time WSL2 players feature in the WSL Panini sticker album, which was released this week. It features 64 WSL2 collectibles in its third edition, with 48 players and each club represented.

Crowds at women’s football in England are the envy of the world but there is a curious gap between number of tickets sold and attendances

When the stadium announcer reads out the attendance during England home games, the immediate question that follows relates to the drop-off between the number of tickets sold and the number of fans through the doors.

In 2025, on either side of a phenomenal European title defence in Switzerland, the Lionesses played eight home games, including three at Wembley. Across those fixtures, almost 48,000 bought tickets but stayed away.

The Chelsea captain, Millie Bright, had dismissed any suggestions that the team were in crisis after a first league defeat in 34 games, and six goals in a comprehensive victory against Roma in their penultimate game of the Champions League group phase put those thoughts to bed.

An own goal broke the fight of Roma early on, with further goals from Wieke Kaptein, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Sjoeke Nüsken, Maika Hamano and Lucy Bronze.