Manchester City Thrashed Leicester 6-0
Manchester City moved closer to securing the Barclays Women’s Super League title by defeating Leicester City 6-0, increasing their lead to 11 points.
Khadija Shaw and Yui Hasegawa scored either side of Vivianne Miedema’s brace in the first half before Kerolin and Aoba Fujino wrapped up the victory at Joie Stadium to see City move 11 points clear at the WSL summit.
Kerolin made it five soon after the restart from range before substitute Aoba Fujino got in on the act after the hour mark. It was a performance of attacking superlatives from the WSL leaders, who’ve won all eight matches on home soil this season.
Leicester almost took a surprise lead when Alisha Lehmann struck the inside of the right post, while Miedema hit the woodwork at the other end before Shaw eventually opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a diving header from Lauren Hemp’s cross.
Miedema got her first soon when firing in from the edge of the box after Kerstin Casparij regained possession, and the Netherlands international doubled her tally with a clinical header from another Hemp cross.
Hasegawa converted from Kerolin’s cutback before the Brazilian thundered a strike past Olivia Clark from outside the box just three minutes into the second half.
The Foxes were then punished shortly after the hour mark when they tried to play out from the back as Hasegawa won the ball before Fujino rounded the goalkeeper and added a sixth, while Julie Thibaud prevented a seventh when she blocked a shot from Shaw on the line.
It was a ruthless performance from Andree Jeglertz’s side, who produced 4.58 expected goals from 31 shots to Leicester’s 1.43 from seven attempts.
Miedema was substituted off after 58 minutes, but she had more than made her mark for City. She recorded a match-high 11 shots and 18 touches in the box, while also completing four of her six dribbles and winning nine of her 13 duels.
It was also an incredible performance from Hemp, who created 11 chances. Six of those came in the first half, with only Fran Kirby in September 2021 (for Chelsea versus Everton) creating more in the opening 45 minutes of a WSL game.
The WSL’s record goalscorer, Miedema, is rapidly approaching 100 in the top flight and is now only behind Shaw in the rankings for 2025/26.
Leila Ouahabi’s introduction just before the hour mark saw her become the latest City player to make 100 appearances for the Club.
The Spain defender is only the 22nd player in our professional history to hit the landmark, and the seventh member of our current squad.
