A hundred, and counting
One cross was all it took.
Lauren Hemp delivered it into the Aston Villa box at the weekend, Manchester City turned it into a goal, and the winger became the seventh player in Women’s Super League history to reach 100 goal involvements. City won 4-1 on the road. Hemp did not stop to mark the moment.
Triple figures in this league take seasons rather than streaks. The number says as much about how long Hemp has been operating at this level as it does about any single afternoon.
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Nobody in the WSL is creating more
Hemp created four chances against Villa. Only Chelsea’s Fran Kirby, with six, managed more anywhere on Matchday 2.
Across the opening two rounds she has created 11, more than any other player in the competition this season. She added 17 touches inside the opposition box and three shot-ending carries, again the most of anyone on the matchday.
That earned her a place on the left of Opta’s Matchday 2 team of the week, published on Monday, in an XI that also found room for two of her City teammates.
Shaw is finishing what Hemp starts
Khadija Shaw leads the WSL for goal involvements with four, three goals and an assist, and sits top of the league for expected goals on 2.02. She scored and assisted in the same league match for the first time since December 2025, when she struck twice and set up another against Leicester.
Mary Fowler completes the City trio in the Opta XI. The Australian has scored in consecutive league appearances for the first time since early 2025, after nearly ten months out.
The rest of the selection leaned on Chelsea and Crystal Palace. Ellie Carpenter, Keira Walsh and Lauren James were picked after the win at Manchester United, while Pauline Peyraud-Magnin and Molly Bartrip were rewarded for the point at Arsenal, the goalkeeper with eight saves and the defender with a matchday-high 18 clearances.
Two matchdays prove little on their own. They do put City’s supply line back where it was before injuries pulled it apart, and the rest of the league has to deal with it again.
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