Aston Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur in Women’s Super League first match of the year as Bethany England scores on debut

Aston Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the first Women’s Super League game of the year, with goals from Kenza Dali and Rachel Daly cancelling out Bethany England’s debut goal.

England, who made a record move between WSL clubs leaving Chelsea for £250,000 at the beginning of January, scored in the 28th minute to give Tottenham the lead, sweeping home a Chioma Ubogagu delivery six yards from goal.

Dali equalised six minutes later with a 20-yard strike, as Spurs goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela misjudged the ball on the edge of the D.

Daly completed the comeback in the 38th minute for her ninth goal of the season which takes her ahead of Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw in the goalscoring charts.

Kirsty Hanson registered a brace of assists setting up both goals.

Villa held on to claim the win and inflict another loss on Spurs, who have suffered five consecutive league defeats.

Three points for Carla Ward’s side lifts them to fourth in the table, leapfrogging Everton, while Tottenham remain in eighth, but could drop to 11th by Sunday night.

The WSL returned for the first time in 31 days, with Spurs losing the first match of the year following their 3-0 defeat to Everton in the final game of 2022.

There is a huge top-of-the-table clash on Sunday as Arsenal entertain frontrunners Chelsea, and third-place Manchester United host Liverpool.

The two clubs at the foot of the table, Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion, face each other in a relegation scrap, and Manchester City take on West Ham United.

Next up for Aston Villa is Man City, while Spurs look for their first league win in six when they face struggles Brighton next weekend.