London City thrash Tottenham at BetWright Stadium
Alexia Putellas with first-half double
Kadidiatou Diani also on target twice
Nicole Anyomi and Delphine Cascarino round off scoring in statement
Victoria Pelova gets consolation for Spurs
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Etihad Stadium
A Manchester City fan in front of us keeps singing "Champions of Europe, you'll never say that" towards the Arsenal fans. Who is going to tell him?
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
It's very comfortable for Arsenal at the moment. Think it might be time for some City changes very soon.
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
The City press is almost non-existent so far. It's been far too easy for Arsenal to play themselves out of danger.
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
Arsenal look a completely different side today and you wouldn't bet against them scoring more.
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A topic for conversation (probably controversial!) - Bunny Shaw is a great striker, but does she turn up enough in the biggest games? Only 2 goals against Chelsea and 3 against Arsenal (so far) in her league career.
Roberto, Hunstanton
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
That is Alessia Russo's first goal in the WLS this season.
The first of many, you would assume.
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City 1-2 Arsenal
Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Etihad Stadium
That's a huge goal from Alessia Russo, who has struggled so far this season and finally gets her moment.
It's so rare we see Yui Hasegawa give the ball away, let alone inside her own half, and she has been punished for it.
Momentum is definitely with Arsenal at the moment.
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
Sue Smith
Former Leeds and England forward on BBC Radio 5 Live
It just shows that Bunny Shaw had an opportunity just moments before. Arsenal do ever so well, it's such good pressure-rising from them. When it falls to Russo she's on the edge of the box, right footed. It's brilliant from her.
Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
It's almost a gift for Arsenal and they grab it with both hands.
What have City got now?
Alessia Russo (49 mins)
Finish!
From Bunny Shaw's miss to Alessia Russo's screamer!
Yui Hasegawa, of all people, loses the ball in her own box, Russo finds the space for a strike and whips a beauty into the far corner.
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City 1-1 Arsenal
Aoba Fujino guides a beauty of a ball through the Arsenal defence for Bunny Shaw but her second touch is too heavy and it's a huge let-off for Arsenal.
Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal
What a few days for Barbara!
Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal
Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Etihad Stadium
I spoke to Manchester City fan Barbara Joyce at half-time and she hopes there will be more action in the second half. It felt slow at times in the first half and having just spent the last two days in Paris to see Celine Dion, it was an anti-climax for her!
Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal
It's Arsenal who have the ball in these early stages but they're in no rush to get it forward just yet.
Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal
The ball is rolling once again at the Etihad.
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Arsenal are playing like they did against Chelsea. Lots of possession but nothing to show for it.
Mark, West Sussex
HT: Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal
FT: Everton 2-1 Birmingham City
Everton manager Scott Phelan: "It is a big win. There is more than one way to win a match and that was evident in the second half. I thought we were good in the first period - "Ruby managed to get a really good goal and then a quick counter-attack transition pegged us back but I thought we were the better team.
"Second half they pushed hard, we knew their threat - there's a lot of speed and running power in their front line, there's some talent in their team and that proved the case in certain moments.
"We're happy to get the win, Ruby managed to get another goal, which she more than deserved. Three points was the aim and we've managed to do that."
On Ruby Mace's goals: "Her development in terms of goalscoring maybe suffered last season from playing a lot at centre-back. She's worked really hard on her final actions, including shooting at goal from distance.
"She deserves that. We know the talent that she is, the ability that she's got and she just needs to keep performing at the level and help us win games of football."
On Zara Kramzar's injury: "She felt some discomfort in her knee. We don't know the severity of that but it was obviously too much for her to continue, which isn't a great sign."
On three wins in a row at Goodison Park: "It feels like home anyway. It's just nice to add the goals to the nice play we've had this season. Hopefully that can continue."
FT: Everton 2-1 Birmingham City
Birmingham City
Birmingham manager Amy Merricks: "We had positive moments but not enough. I actually thought we didn't compete too well today. I didn't think we looked like we have been looking.
"That's probably just such a busy period taking it our of us. I know the characteristics of this group and unfortunately we were a little loose in moments which gave them some momentum.
"We didn't compete to the levels I know we're capable of today.
"We weren't getting out enough, we weren't aggressive enough. We had a couple of good moments where we caught them and turned over the ball. Normally we'd capitalise on that quite well but we didn't.
"We had some really good opportunities that we didn't take and allowed them to grow into the game. I thought we responded to the first goal, it was the second we didn't respond to.
"For us, it's about how do we compete consistently, today we didn't quite do that. We have to review that.
"This is a great group, we've done really well over the first few weeks, it's been a tough block of games and we just need to recuperate.
"I know having this time to refresh and recover will really help us."
On another goal for Oceane Hurtre: "Another goal, which is brilliant. She's very clinical and I actually thought she should have got a penalty as well. She's done really well and we've got to credit the others that have found her successfully.
"She is o the top line and it's important we highlight some of those players."
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Justice done with that equaliser as the Arsenal goal was surely offside.
JMC, London
Clearly offside, when do we get VAR? At least semi-automated offsides.
Ed, Devon
Alexia Putellas won the Women's Ballon d'Or in 2021 and 2022
Alexia Putellas and Kadidiatou Diani both scored twice as London City Lionesses hit six goals past Tottenham to end Spurs' unbeaten start to the Women's Super League campaign.
Putellas, a two-time Women's Ballon d'Or winner and a four-time Women's Champions League winner with Barcelona, grabbed her first WSL double following her summer move from Spain.
She had registered her first WSL goal in last week's 2-0 win over Brighton and only needed three minutes to open the scoring on Sunday at the BetWright Stadium.
The early strike came after Grace Geyoro's strike had been parried by home goalkeeper Lize Kop, with Putellas firing in the rebound with her left foot.
French forward Diani grabbed her first WSL goal in the 22nd minute when she got on the end of a fine move involving Freya Godfrey and Lucia Corrales.
Putellas scored her second and London City's third in the 34th minute with a shot into the roof of the net after Danielle van de Donk did superbly to get to the byeline to the left of goal and pull the ball back.
Tottenham nearly pulled a goal back just before the break through Julie Blakstad's well-struck free-kick, a left-footed attempt from 25 yards, but goalkeeper Elene Lete made an excellent save by pushing the ball on to the crossbar.
Van de Donk deservedly got a goal in the 52nd minute to make it 4-0, converting Diani's low cross from the right at the near post.
Tottenham immediately got one back as Victoria Pelova, a summer signing from Arsenal, scored for the fifth time in the WSL this season, controlling from Blakstad's cross and finishing well.
But London City restored their four-goal advantage when Kop's clearance was charged down by Diani, who had the easy task of walking the ball into an unguarded net.
London City grabbed a sixth in injury time when substitute Delphine Cascarino netted a fine individual goal, running at the home defence and performing a stepover to make space for the shot before firing past Kop.
Kadidiatou Diani was the top scorer in the Women's Champions League in the 2023-24 season, scoring eight times for Lyon
Tottenham began the season with three wins and a draw from their opening four league matches.
A win on Sunday would have taken them top of the WSL, although that may have only been for a couple of hours with Manchester City, who won their opening four games, playing Arsenal later on.
But London City, given the huge investment they have made in their squad, look the more likely of these two to mount a title challenge.
They finished sixth in 2025-26 but made major signings in the summer, including Putellas and defender Mapi Leon from Barcelona, along with Diani from Lyon.
This was a fourth win in five WSL games, and its manner sends out a message.
Head coach Eder Maestre felt the result and performance would demonstrate to the rest of the league that his Lionesses can make a push for the title.
"The three points are the same as you can have in every game, but this kind of win can be a game changer in terms of showing everyone that we are pushing hard," said Maestre.
"But, at the same time, we need to be humble as well. The teams that are used to being there and occupying these places [at the top] are still there.
"I'm so happy we're hitting our targets. When you have these kind of players it is about trying to find chemistry and it takes time. It's a process and we're in the process of building something strong."
London City will not be in action for another two weeks because of the international break, and will hope that does not affect their momentum.
For Tottenham, the heavy defeat was a reality check.
Head coach Martin Ho said his team "looked scared with the ball" and added: "Really poor, not acceptable from us as a group. Defensively we didn't win a first ball, a second ball. Duels, we were poor. We have to move on.
"The team collectively needs to own that and we will, and that starts with me, I take responsibility for it.
"We were just not at it, but that can't be the level. Everyone will be disappointed - that was not the level we expect. We conceded six goals and you don't want to be doing that."
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 13 |
| |
| 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 12 |
| |
| 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 |
| |
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| |
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 7 |
| |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 7 |
| |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 6 |
| |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 5 |
| |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 10 | -6 | 3 |
| |
| 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 3 |
| |
| 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 2 |
| |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 15 | -13 | 0 |
|
Manager:Martin Ho
Formation:4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager:Eder Maestre
Formation:4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager:Martin Ho
Formation:4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager:Eder Maestre
Formation:4 - 2 - 3 - 1
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