City’s defeat at Everton came a day after Chelsea dropped points for the first time this season. Manchester City squandered a rare opportunity to close the gap on Women’s Super League leaders Chelsea as they were beaten by Everton, who claimed just their second league win of the season.
![[Lucy Hope opened the scoring]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/15/14/GettyImages-2190052853.jpg)
A day after Chelsea dropped their first points of the season in a 1-1 draw at bottom-side Leicester, Gareth Taylor’s City suffered a shock defeat to fall further behind Sonia Bompastor’s side. First-half goals from Lucy Hope and Honoka Hayashi put Everton in control and City were unable to respond despite pulling one back late on through a Mary Fowler penalty. It was Everton’s first-ever win over City, in what was their 26th attempt.
Despite their draw at Leicester, Chelsea’s have opened up a six-point lead at the top of the table heading into the winter break, as the Blues chase a sixth title in a row. City, who were without top scorer Khadija Shaw, travel to Barcelona in their final match of the Women’s Champions League group stage on Wednesday.
