Women’s Super League: Tottenham beat West Ham at London Stadium

A crowd of 24,790, the second-largest attendance in Women’s Super League history, watched Tottenham beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium.

Rianna Dean and Lucy Quinn scored to give Spurs their second win in three outings since winning promotion.

Elsewhere, Chelsea beat Bristol City 4-0, while Manchester City and Arsenal maintained their 100% starts with wins.

England captain Steph Houghton scored a free-kick as City won 1-0 at Everton, who dropped their first points.

Houghton’s international team-mate Jordan Nobbs got her first goal since returning from a long-term knee injury in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Brighton.

Chelsea are close behind the top two, with seven points from three games, after two goals in the first 10 minutes from Norway international Guro Reiten put them on course for an impressive victory at Bristol City.

Birmingham’s game against Reading was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Defeat on West Ham’s big day

West Ham followed the lead of Manchester City, Chelsea and Bristol City by staging WSL fixtures at the stadiums of their male counterparts this season.

Their ticket-pricing strategy – charging £2 for general adult admission and £1 for season-ticket holders and Claret members – paid off with a sizeable crowd, although the Hammers were unable to reward their home supporters with a victory.

Spurs made their opponents pay for several missed chances with goals towards the end of each half, continuing their fine form since moving up a level from the Championship.

The attendance was second only to the 31,213 fans that saw Manchester City face city rivals United at the Etihad Stadium on 7 September.

Spurs will play Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 17 November as part of the first annual Women’s Football Weekend.

Three wins out of three

Manchester City and Arsenal are the only two clubs with perfect records after three WSL matches.

In persistent rain and playing on a sodden surface in Southport, Houghton’s well-struck set-piece from the edge of the box gave City a deserved seventh-minute lead at Everton.

City looked comfortable throughout, although Lucy Graham almost grabbed a 94th-minute leveller for Everton, but her header was cleared off the line by Janine Beckie.

It was a much more routine win for Arsenal, who took the lead early on against Brighton when Scotland midfielder Kim Little tucked home from Vivianne Miedema’s pass.

Miedema, last season’s top scorer in WSL, rounded off a one-touch passing move to get off the mark for the 2019-20 league campaign, before setting up her Netherlands team-mate Danielle van de Donk to make it 3-0.

Midfielder Nobbs, who missed England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals earlier this year, grabbed the fourth with a shot from 18 yards.

She told BBC Sport: “I’m so glad to be back and we just need to keep putting in the performances and winning games.

“We’ve got the three points that we wanted and I think Joe (Montemurro, Arsenal boss) will be happy with the way we played today.”

BBC Sport has launched #ChangeTheGame to showcase female athletes in a way they never have been before. Through more live women’s sport available to watch across the BBC in 2019, complemented by our journalism, we are aiming to turn up the volume on women’s sport and alter perceptions. Find out more here.

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