Women’s Super League: talking points from the weekend’s action

City suffer power outage

Manchester City’s second-half collapse against Arsenal seemed unthinkable at half time. City’s pressing had been relentless, forcing errors from their opponents and denying them room to breathe, let alone move. That pressure dissipated after the interval, however, with City manager Gareth Taylor blaming “a mixture of energy [levels dipping] and a dropping off to protect what you have got”. Maintaining that intensity for 90 minutes against a top rival is never going to be easy, but the issue City had was that they had not put the game to bed when they were on top in the first half and they had no plan B for when their intensity dipped. Suzanne Wrack

• Match report: Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal

Reiten renews Chelsea’s title hope

Guro Reiten stepped up when Chelsea needed her most in their 8-0 demolition of Bristol City. The Norway international is one of Chelsea’s most consistent players and her performance at Kingsmeadow on Sunday was one of her best and helped earn Chelsea a fighting chance in the title race. The champions needed a big result and Reiten held the key to achieving it. Her penalty opened the scoring and she went on to score a further three, alongside Aggie Beever-Jones’ double and strikes by Sjoeke Nüsken and Niamh Charles. “We are never going to give up, from the first kick to the last we fought for every goal,” said Reiten afterwards. “It [the title race] is going to be fun.” Sarah Rendell

• WSL roundup: Chelsea thrash Bristol City 8-0

Höbinger delivers again for Reds

It didn’t provide the adrenaline hit of that madcap 4-3 victory over Chelsea, but the end was the same: another three points for Liverpool at Prenton Park. Manchester United must have noted how Matt Beard’s side succeeded on Wednesday night, with three goals from corners delivered by the probing right foot of Marie Höbinger. Yet Höbinger managed to repeat the trick at the end of a stale first half, playing a corner short before receiving again to deliver a teasing ball towards the far post. Jenna Clark was present for a simple header, her first Liverpool goal likely to be her easiest. The 1-0 win saw Liverpool leapfrog United into fourth and also marked the end of a perfect week-long farewell to their six-year stay at Tranmere Rovers’ ground. Taha Hashim

• As it happened: Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United

Spurs take positives into cup final

For those who love the defensive side of the game, Walton Hall Park was not the place to be on Saturday afternoon. The art of defending was distinctly absent at times as Tottenham recovered from a two-goal deficit against Everton to head back to London with a point. All four goals could be put down to errors or slow reactions and will be equally frustrating for Brian Sorensen and Robert Vilahamn. Tottenham will be buoyed by the character they showed to dig out a result from a losing position and they created more than enough in the second half to win the game. Before their first Women’s FA Cup final next Sunday, Spurs will draw on those positives, with an added bonus being the form of captain Bethany England. Her equaliser was her fourth goal in her last four WSL matches. Sophie Downey

Outgoing Ward hails Villa victory

Aston Villa clinched a 1-0 win over Brighton in Carla Ward’s penultimate game as manager on Saturday. Alisha Lehmann’s 64th-minute strike was all that separated the two teams in a dead rubber at the Broadfield Stadium. Twenty-four hours earlier it was announced that Ward will step down at the end of the season in order to prioritise her family, and on Villa’s final away day of the campaign, the manager said she was delighted with her team’s performance. “I was pleased with the game management in the last eight, nine minutes,” Ward added. . “ “I’m delighted for the girls, they deserved that today.” Emillia Hawkins

FA Player fails watching fans

Leicester’s winless streak extended to seven as they failed to take their chances against West Ham … is what I would have written, had I been able to watch the equaliser live in their 1-1 draw with West Ham. The FA Player was down, meaning West Ham and Leicester fans not at the Chigwell Construction Stadium could not watch the full 90 minutes. “We are aware of issues surrounding the FA Player,” the Barclays Women’s Super League tweeted. “We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to get this resolved quickly.” Unfortunately, these issues were not resolved until the second half, by which time both goals, by Riko Ueki and Sophie Howard had been scored. While all broadcasters can experience technical difficulties, the FA Player’s track record isn’t encouraging. Xaymaca Awoyungbo