Manchester City Defeats Liverpool 4-2 in Thrilling WSL Clash
Lauren Hemp struck in the first minute and the fifth of stoppage time as Manchester City clung on, then roared away, to beat Liverpool 4-2 and keep their perfect WSL title defence alive at the Joie Stadium.
For 90 minutes, that record was hanging by a thread.
City trailed, were rattled, and only pulled clear when Liverpool finally cracked under the strain of chasing a point they fully believed they deserved.
Hemp opens, Liverpool bite back
The champions started like champions. On 13 minutes, City stitched together a slick, sweeping move and Hemp arrived to finish it off for her first goal since November. A clean strike, a clean statement. The Joie settled into the familiar rhythm of another home win.
Liverpool tore that script up.
Six minutes later, a defensive mix-up in the City back line gifted Alice Bergstrom the chance to level. She didn’t hesitate, drilling home to stun the hosts and spark belief in the away end.
The pressure didn’t stop there. On 28 minutes, Vivien Endemann, already heavily involved, stepped up with a moment of real quality. From close range, she caught her volley perfectly, the ball fizzing through Ayaka Yamashita’s outstretched hand and into the net. 2-1 Liverpool, and fully deserved.
City wobbled. Liverpool hunted in packs, pressed with conviction, and played with a confidence that showed just how far they’ve travelled in a year.
Shaw drags City back
Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, though, has made a habit of bending games back City’s way.
She clipped the post on 39 minutes as City scrambled for a response, a warning Liverpool just about survived. But deep into first-half stoppage time, the Golden Boot favourite pounced.
Hemp’s initial effort forced a save from Khiara Keating, but the former City goalkeeper spilled it. Shaw was there, as she so often is, to stab home from close range for her fourth WSL goal of the season. 2-2 at the break, and City were out of jail.
It was another reminder why keeping Shaw this summer might prove City’s smartest bit of business.
Keating, facing her old club, did her best to tilt things Liverpool’s way again on the hour. Shaw rose once more, and this time Keating reacted superbly, tipping the effort over the bar to keep the game on a knife edge.
Liverpool’s late collapse
The longer it stayed level, the more Liverpool grew. They pressed smarter, made cleaner decisions in midfield and, for long spells, looked the sharper side. City’s 13-match winning run at the Joie suddenly looked fragile.
Then came the chaos.
With the clock ticking into the 90th minute and five added on, disaster struck for the visitors. A hopeful City attack turned ugly for Liverpool as captain Grace Fisk diverted the ball into her own net. A horrible moment, 3-2 City, and the champions could almost feel the escape.
Liverpool refused to die wondering. Chasing an equaliser, they poured bodies forward, sensing at least a point against the reigning champions on their own patch.
They went too far.
Space opened, Hemp saw green grass and went. From deep inside her own half she surged away, electric in full flight, and bore down on Keating. One touch to steady, one glance, then a calm finish past her former team-mate in the 95th minute. 4-2. Game over. Statement made.
“I don’t usually score goals,” Hemp told Sky Sports afterwards, half-joking, half-relieved. Faced with all that time for the second, she admitted she was wondering where to put it. She chose well.
Her brace, wrapped around Shaw’s poacher’s finish and Fisk’s own goal, stretched City’s lead at the top of the table to five points ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. Liverpool stay third on four points, but the performance hinted at far more than the league table currently shows.
A very different Liverpool
This time last year, Liverpool were reeling. The club was dealing with profound loss off the pitch, and the women’s side had lost two hugely important figures in quick succession in former boss Matt Beard and long-serving kitman Jon Humble. Injuries piled up, progress stalled, and the season lurched.
Now, the picture is transformed.
Under Gareth Taylor, Liverpool have built steadily, and their start to this campaign feels like the continuation of a turnaround that really began in the new year. It took them 12 games to reach four points last season. They have that total already.
Endemann, a summer arrival from Wolfsburg, played like she’d been in the WSL for years, not a handful of games. Her combination play with Bergstrom and Beta Olsson repeatedly unsettled City’s defence and offered a clear glimpse of Liverpool’s new attacking edge.
For large stretches of the 90 minutes, Liverpool pressed better, used the ball with more clarity, and looked the more determined side. Their late mistakes cut against that narrative, but not enough to erase it.
Taylor pointed to fine margins and final actions. He praised his players’ attitude and made no secret of the gap in depth when City could turn to seasoned game-changers while he had two 16-year-olds on the bench. The difference told in the closing stages.
Yet Liverpool’s identity was clear. Brave on the ball. Aggressive without it. Unafraid of the champions.
City, for their part, showed something else. Resilience. Depth. And a ruthless streak when the game turned wild.
They never stopped believing, as Andree Jeglertz put it. They kept going until the final whistle – and in Hemp, Shaw and a relentless supporting cast, they had the quality to make Liverpool’s slips count.
The champions march on. Liverpool, beaten but emboldened, leave Manchester knowing they went toe-to-toe with the best. If this is their new baseline, how high can they climb from here?
