Agency :
Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw grabbed a hat-trick, including a goal in the first minute, in a 4-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur that took the hosts a provisional four points clear at the top of the Women’s Super League on Friday.
City have 19 points from seven games ahead of second-placed Chelsea, who are on 15 points but with two matches in hand before they visit sixth-placed Liverpool on Sunday.
Shaw netted 23 seconds after kick-off at Etihad Stadium when she pounced on an error by center-back Clare Hunt.
“We really enjoyed that one,” Shaw told Sky Sports. “We spoke as a team about wanting to come out here and be on the front foot. We said we hadn’t really scored early in a game, so we’re going to go and press, and it worked out.”
The Jamaican continued to cause nightmares for Hunt, getting her second goal in the 15th when she nodded home Lauren Hemp’s pinpoint cross, the first of three assists for Hemp.
Jill Roord scored for the third successive WSL game to give City a three-goal lead in the 66th minute with a blistering left-foot shot before Shaw completed her hat-trick a minute later, tapping in Hemp’s low cross from the far post.
“With the players I have around me, I know I’m going to get crosses, and just making the right movement in the box they’ll find me,” Shaw said. “It’s something I pride myself in, especially being in the box and the ball being out wide, I know I have to be ready for the crosses.”
Shaw, who has three trebles against Spurs, stretched her lead atop this season’s WSL scoring charts as she moved onto seven goals, and her six career hat-tricks also lead the WSL.