article-image

Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester City: WSL leaders held in goalless draw

2
0
Clock Icon4 hoursFootball

Women's Super League leaders Manchester City were frustrated as Aston Villa claimed a hard-fought 0-0 draw.

With Manchester United and Chelsea in Women's League Cup final action on Sunday, a win for Man City would have taken them 11 points clear.

Instead, they had to settle for a nine-point gap as they were frustrated at Villa Park.

City were fortunate not to go behind as Villa dominated the first half, with Chasity Grant hitting the woodwork.

Laura Blindkilde Brown felt she should have had a penalty for the visitors, having seemingly been felled by Lucy Parker.

Arsenal, meanwhile, did take the chance to apply the pressure to Chelsea and Man Utd, with the Gunners beating London City Lionesses 2-0.

Olivia Smith and Stina Blackstenius were on target for the European champions, who sit fourth, three points ahead of Tottenham, who lost 2-1 to Everton.

Kelly Gago's late goal saw the Toffees pick up a fourth straight league win, and the Toffees are now sixth.

Liverpool, meanwhile, beat Leicester City 2-0 to put a four-point gap between themselves and the Foxes, who prop up the table.

Data Debrief: Defences come out on top

Man City and Villa have both kept six WSL clean sheets this season, with only Arsenal (seven) and Chelsea (eight) keeping more shutouts.

And the defences were on top at Villa Park. The teams combined for 26 shots (10 for Villa, 16 for City) but only managed four each on target.

Villa edged the expected goals battle, with 1.57 xG to City's 1.03.

City star Khadija Shaw, meanwhile, was unusually profligate, as she only got one of her five attempts on target.