Manchester City hammer Aston Villa to go top of WSL

Sept 13 - Reigning champions Manchester City thumped Aston Villa 4-1 away on Sunday to leave them top of the Women's Super League as the only team with two wins from their opening two games of the season.

Defender Jade Rose opened the scoring in the 14th minute and Mary Fowler added a second 15 minutes later to put City 2-0 up and cruising, but an Amalie Vangsgaard goal sent the home side into the break 2-1 down.

Villa battled to hang on but Bunny Shaw netted in the 74th minute to break their resistance, and a stoppage-time own goal completed the rout as City continued their perfect start to the season.

Earlier in the afternoon, Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion drew 2-2 to give each side their first point of the season, while a Leighanne Robe own goal gave Everton a 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic at home.

Everton's Merseyside rivals Liverpool were also at home, where they came back from a goal down to grab a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, Aurelie Csillag coming off the bench to cancel out a Sam Kerr own goal.

Crystal Palace followed up their victory last week against Everton with a scoreless draw away to Arsenal, while on Saturday, big-spending London City Lionesses were brought back down to earth after their opening-day win over Manchester United when they were beaten 2-1 away to West Ham United. REUTERS