LEICESTER, England(Reuters) – Chelsea and Arsenal both enjoyed resounding 5-0 wins in the Women’s Super League on Sunday as the Blues regained their two-point lead at the top of the table by thrashing Reading after Arsenal hammered Leicester City earlier in the day.
Sam Kerr and Bethany England both struck twice as Chelsea roasted Reading, with Norwegian winger Guro Reiten providing an assist for both strikers after Jessie Fleming broke the deadlock five minutes before the break.
Earlier on Sunday Arsenal briefly went top of the league as Vivianne Miedema struck twice in the second half as the Gunners beat Leicester.
Beth Mead gave Arsenal an early lead but second-from-bottom Leicester put up stiff resistance until midway through the second half, when Dutch striker Miedema netted a brace in eight minutes.
An own goal and an opportunist strike from Tobin Heath rounded out the scoring to keep Arsenal in the hunt for the title with four league games left to play.
Earlier in the afternoon, Leah Galton got the only goal of the game as Manchester United beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 to re-open a three-point cushion over fourth-placed Manchester City, who beat West Ham United 2-0 on Saturday.
Ramona Petzelberger struck three minutes from fulltime to give Aston Villa a surprise 1-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur and move them up to ninth place in the 12-team league.
On Friday, bottom side Birmingham City battled to a scoreless draw with Everton, who are now in 10th spot. Trailing Leicester by seven points, Birmingham look almost certain to be relegated.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Toby Davis)
