Manchester City Beats Liverpool 4-2 in Thrilling WSL Clash

Lauren Hemp struck in the opening minutes and again deep into stoppage time as Manchester City clung on, then roared back, to beat Liverpool 4-2 and keep their WSL title defence perfect at the Joie Stadium.

For 90 fraught minutes, that record looked ready to crack.

City’s 13-match winning run at home was under real threat, Liverpool twice overturning deficits and then holding the champions in a vice-like grip. Errors decided this game. City made theirs early. Liverpool’s arrived when it mattered most.

Hemp lights the fuse, Liverpool hit back

City started like champions. On 13 minutes, they sliced Liverpool apart with a slick team move, Hemp finishing it off for her first goal since November. The England winger had already gone close once; this time she kept her head and buried it. Perfect start. Or so it seemed.

Liverpool refused to fold. They hunted in packs, pressed high and forced panic at the back. Six minutes after falling behind, they were level. A defensive mix-up from City opened the door and Alice Bergstrom walked straight through it, drilling past Ayaka Yamashita.

The momentum swung. Liverpool sensed weakness and went after it. On 28 minutes, the pressure told again. Vivien Endemann, who had already created the first goal, pounced from close range, catching her volley sweetly. The ball fizzed through Yamashita’s outstretched hand and into the net. 2-1 Liverpool, fully deserved.

City, rattled, needed a response. Khadija “Bunny” Shaw almost found it before the break, crashing a shot against the post on 39 minutes. The warning was there. Liverpool didn’t heed it.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Hemp cut inside and let fly. Khiara Keating, facing her former club, spilled the effort and Shaw did what Golden Boot winners do – reacted first, stabbing home from close range for her fourth WSL goal of the season. City were level, rescued by the striker they fought so hard to keep this summer.

A game decided by mistakes

The second half turned into a scrap. Liverpool’s press stayed aggressive, their decision-making sharper for long spells. Keating had to bail them out on the hour, tipping another Shaw effort over the bar as City pushed for daylight.

But as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, it was Liverpool who blinked.

Grace Fisk, usually so reliable, turned into the unfortunate villain. A scrambled passage in the box ended with the Liverpool captain diverting the ball into her own net. A horrible moment, a brutal way to fall behind again. City, suddenly, were 3-2 up as the board showed five added minutes.

Liverpool threw everything forward. Too much. Chasing an equaliser, they left the back door wide open. City didn’t need a second invitation.

Hemp picked up the ball and simply took off. Green grass in front of her, defenders stranded upfield, only Keating to beat. She sprinted clear and, with time to think – too much time by her own admission – slid the ball past her former team-mate to seal it at 4-2.

“I don’t usually score goals,” she told Sky Sports afterwards, half-laughing at the idea of a brace. Faced with that final chance, she admitted she briefly froze – “Oh no, where am I going to put this?” – but the finish was calm, clinical, and ruthless.

Champions dig deep, Liverpool show their evolution

This was not a flawless City display. They “gave them two goals almost,” as Andree Jeglertz put it, frustrated by the first-half sloppiness but delighted by his team’s refusal to fold.

“They never stop believing, they keep on going and in the end, we are winners,” the City boss said, praising Hemp as “a game changer” whose energy never dips.

The win stretches City’s lead at the top of the table to five points ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. Three games, three wins, the champions already setting a fierce pace.

Yet the night also told a powerful story about Liverpool’s rise.

Twelve months ago, this club were reeling. The women’s side had lost two beloved figures in quick succession – former boss Matt Beard and kitman Jon Humble – and injuries shredded continuity under Gareth Taylor. Progress stalled, confidence drained.

Now? They went to the champions’ home, where almost nobody leaves with anything, and pushed them to the brink.

Endemann, a summer arrival from Wolfsburg, looked nothing like a player with only a handful of WSL games behind her. She played like a seasoned pro, combining with Beta Olsson and Bergstrom to cause City real problems. Liverpool’s press, for long stretches, was sharper. Their decision-making, braver. Their belief, obvious.

“It’s disappointing, we’ve just come up a bit shy,” Taylor admitted. But he stressed one key point: “We were us.” This, he argued, is the version of Liverpool that can win a lot of games this season.

They finished 11th last term. It took them 12 games to reach four points. They have already hit that mark now, after just three outings, and did it while going toe-to-toe with the champions on their own patch.

Taylor knows the gap in depth remains – he pointed to City’s options off the bench compared with his two 16-year-olds among the substitutes – but he also knows something more important: Liverpool look like a different side.

For 90 minutes at the Joie Stadium, they proved it. City walked away with the points, their winning run intact, their title defence intact. Liverpool walked away with nothing on the night – and yet with growing evidence that this season, the ceiling might be far higher than mere survival.