Chelsea fight back to draw with Brighton, Man Utd close ground in WSL

Lauren James grabbed the equaliser as Chelsea had to fight back against Brighton to maintain their unbeaten run in the Women's Super League.

The league leaders came from behind to beat Everton in dramatic fashion before the international break, with James scoring in second-half stoppage time.

Yet Sonia Bompastor's Blues could only salvage a point at Brighton on Sunday, with the Seagulls holding out after James' 61st-minute equaliser as Chelsea dropped points for just the second time this season.

Brighton can consider themselves unfortunate, too, as James' goal should not have stood - the England international was in an offside position when Mayra Ramirez took a shot from which she subsequently tucked in on the rebound.

Chelsea, who had debutant Naomi Girma in their defence following her big move from the San Diego Wave, went ahead through Sandy Baltimore, though Marisa Olislagers and Vicky Losada turned the match on its head by half-time.

James took her chance when it came, but Chelsea could not build on it, and were perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty when Ramirez appeared to push a Brighton attacker in the box late on.

Chelsea's lead at the top has been cut to five points, with Manchester United having defeated Leicester City 2-0 in the early game, making it seven league wins on the spin.

Goals from Melvine Malard and Leah Galton secured the three points at Leigh Sports Village, where United have now won their last four WSL matches.

"I felt we might fall off a little bit in the second half because we have only had two days to prepare for international duty," said United manager Marc Skinner.

"Winners find a way to win, and we have done that."

Leicester did hit the crossbar through Catherine Bott's sliced delivery, and United also benefited from poor finishing from Sam Tierney and Asmita Ale.

Behind United, Manchester City overcame Tottenham 2-1, as Vivianne Miedema marked her 100th WSL start with a goal.

Miedema headed City in front after 11 minutes at Gaughan Group Stadium, but Bethany England dragged Spurs level with a cool finish just after the half-hour.

That was England's first goal involvement against City in the WSL since February 2020.

However, the visitors rallied in the second half, with Aoba Fujino sealing victory in the 78th minute.

Liverpool won their first match since they dismissed Matt Beard, with interim boss Amber Whiteley overseeing a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace, with Jasmine Matthews' 10th-minute goal proving decisive.

Palace, who are four points from safety, are still awaiting their first home win in the WSL, losing six of their seven such games to date (D1); the last team to wait longer for their first top-flight home win were Yeovil Town in November 2018 (won their 17th match).

Everton responded to their heartbreaking defeat to Chelsea last time out by beating Aston Villa 2-0 on the road.

The Toffees have won all five of their WSL visits to Villa, with Maren Mjelde and Honoka Hayashi on target this time.