Khadija Shaw scored a perfect hat-trick as Manchester City Women beat West Ham 5-0 at the Joie Stadium on Saturday, and with Chelsea held 1-1 by Everton at the same time, the champions are back on top of the Women’s Super League.
The two sides kicked off level on points, with Chelsea ahead on goal difference. By full-time Manchester City were two points clear, and the goal difference gap had been trimmed too, exactly one week before the top two meet at Chelsea.
It was a welcome lift on a grim day for the club, with Enzo Maresca’s men losing 3-1 at Nottingham Forest later in the day.
How Man City Women beat West Ham 5-0
City had to be patient for the opener, but once Shaw found the net with a composed finish, the floodgates opened. Lauren Hemp supplied another assist for her, and it was the fifth time this season the pair have combined for a WSL goal.
Shaw’s three goals came with her left foot, her head and her right foot, the full set. Aoba Fujino and Iman Beney added the other two against a West Ham side who started the day 10th in the table.
Shaw kept it simple afterwards. “We intended to score a lot of goals,” she told Sky Sports.
Two goals off the WSL record
The hat-trick takes Shaw to 95 WSL goals, two short of Vivianne Miedema’s all-time record of 97. She is a two-time Golden Boot winner already, and this season is shaping up as her best yet.
| Khadija Shaw this season | Number |
|---|---|
| WSL goals | 12 |
| Share of City’s WSL goals | 44% |
| Consecutive league starts with a goal | 9 |
| Minutes per goal | 61 |
| Career WSL goals | 95 (record is 97) |
Nine scoring starts in a row in the league is the best run of her career, and she has scored in 14 of her 20 appearances in 2026. At this pace, the single-season record of 22, shared by Miedema and Rachel Daly, looks well within reach.
Hemp and Shaw both missed out on the 26-player FIFPRO Women’s World XI shortlist this week. On this form, that looks a strange call. Hemp struggled to put the partnership into words. “It’s hard to explain. We just click. It’s a connection we’ve built over time,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live. “It’s not always perfect, but with the standards we set for each other, naturally it’s going to come.”
Why Chelsea’s draw with Everton matters
Sonia Bompastor’s side should have won comfortably. They had 20 shots, an expected goals total of 2.14 and 55 touches in the Everton box, while Everton did not manage a single shot on target.
Lucy Bronze was involved at both ends. Her header from Katie McCabe’s cross set up Sandy Baltimore for the opener, but five minutes later her attempted clearance from Yuka Momiki’s cross miscued into her own net.
“Even when we shot on target we were not clinical enough, not ruthless enough,” Bompastor said. “And I don’t think we made Everton’s goalkeeper work hard enough.”
Chelsea were also without Lauren James, who has been ruled out for at least five games with the hamstring injury she picked up against Charlton. Captain Erin Cuthbert admitted they were “not at the races”, adding that a title-chasing side “can’t have too many of those”.
What Jeglertz said about the title race
Andrée Jeglertz was not interested in celebrating Chelsea’s slip. “At the moment, I don’t care about it so much,” the City boss told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Of course I don’t want them to win, but we also know that to win this league, we have to battle the whole way. If we win all our games, we’ll be fine but if we struggle, then of course it doesn’t matter what other teams do.”
He was happier talking about his squad. Goals from Japanese forward Aoba Fujino and Beney showed City are not only about Shaw, and Jeglertz knows he will need everyone in the next fortnight.
“Our depth is going to be crucial. We can put players on that can bring us to the next level,” he said. “We are going to need all players. Five games in two weeks. Some players are starting, some are finishing, some are supporting from the side. We are all very important for success and this showed in this game.”
Is Chelsea vs Man City a title decider?
Not yet, but it is close. A Chelsea win next Saturday would put them straight back on top, so City go into the game knowing a draw keeps them in front. Before that comes Champions League football in midweek.
Shaw, who was a Chelsea transfer target in the summer, is keeping her feet on the ground. “There’s a lot of games to play, a lot of twists and turns,” she told Sky Sports. “One game at a time. We’ve got Champions League midweek and then we go again. We have to focus on the task ahead and not get too complacent.”
History backs her caution. City have won their last two games against Chelsea, including last season’s FA Cup semi-final, but in 2023-24 they were three points clear with two games left and still lost the title to Chelsea on goal difference on the final day.
Verdict: Shaw makes City the team to catch
Chelsea have the better goal difference and the home game, but City have the one player in the league nobody can stop right now. Two more league goals would draw her level with Miedema, and the next WSL game is the one at Chelsea. If she keeps this up, City will take some catching.
The worry is the reliance. Fujino and Beney chipping in against West Ham helps, but with five games in two weeks, Jeglertz will need more than one route to goal when Chelsea come at them.
