WSL round-up: Rachel Daly equals goal record in Aston Villa win at Arsenal | Football News

Plus: Manchester City finish fourth after holding on to beat Everton 3-2
in Izzy Christiansen’s final match before retirement; Bethany England scores twice for Tottenham at West Ham, who claim a 2-2 draw

Rachel Daly equalled the record for most goals in a WSL season by netting her 22nd goal of the campaign as Aston Villa beat Arsenal 2-0.

Daly struck in first-half stoppage time – securing the Golden Boot and emulating Vivianne Miedema’s haul for Arsenal in the 2018-19 season.

Alisha Lehmann then made sure of Villa’s first WSL win over Arsenal in the 49th minute, but the Gunners secured third place due to a superior goal difference over Manchester City, who finished fourth after holding on to beat Everton 3-2 in Izzy Christiansen’s final match before retirement.

Khadija Shaw struck either side of Lauren Hemp’s fine effort to put City three goals to the good before Lucy Hope and substitute Leonie Maier scored consolations for the Toffees.

Bethany England scored twice for Tottenham at West Ham, who claimed a 2-2 draw following Emma Snerle’s curling strike and Kit Graham’s own goal.

Daly on Golden Boot: It’s a team award

Aston Villa striker Rachel Daly to Sky Sports News:

“It’s the icing on the cake. We’ve pushed Man United, we’ve pushed Chelsea, we beat City and now we’ve beaten Arsenal. We’re competing with the top four sides now and it shows that we are a force to be reckoned with and a great step in the right direction for next year.

“I’m delighted [to win the Golden Boot]. As much as it’s an individual award, it’s a team award for me. I said that this week and I said that to the girls – I wouldn’t score the goals if they didn’t put it on the plate for me and they’ve been absolutely brilliant this year. I can’t thank them enough for helping me score these goals.”

Eidevall: Poor game, but season went well overall

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall to Sky Sports News:

“It’s a very poor game from us, especially after we concede the second goal. We dropped a lot of our standards, we committed a lot of mistakes.

“We’re not happy about today, but as a season as a whole, the player and staff group have gone above and beyond what has been asked of them and we’re very proud of that.

“If we look at how we’ve progressed, we’ve won a trophy, we were close to getting into the Champions League final and we get the Champions League spot for next season. With all the injuries and challenges we had, I think it went very well.”

Kirk: My biggest achievement in management

Leicester manager Willie Kirk to BBC Sport after helping Leicester survive relegation:

“This is my biggest achievement, because a seven-point turnaround has never been done before. It’s fantastic and thoroughly deserved – on today’s result but also over the five months [of 2023].

“The players and staff have been exceptional in terms of their openness to change, because we changed a hell of a lot. We’ve got the rewards from it.

“We had a reset at Christmas. We’ve constantly been showing the players the table from the January 1. We had a couple of friendlies which were really important – we won both, then beat Sunderland convincingly in the cup and beat Brighton.

“At that stage I thought ‘right, we’re on the right road.’ The only doubt I had was when we lost 1-0 to Tottenham, because the players were so convinced they were going to win it that the disappointment was huge. That was when I had to pick them up the most. That was the only time I had any doubt.”