Brighton 0-4 Manchester United: Marc Skinner’s side put pressure on Women’s Super League rivals with big win

Manchester United secured a confident 4-0 win at Brighton to put the pressure on their rivals in the Women’s Super League.

United are three points clear of Manchester City, with Chelsea a further point adrift as the rest of the WSL play on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Brighton could find themselves at the bottom if Leicester City beat Reading.

Marc Skinner made one change from the win over West Ham with Vilde Boe Risa starting in midfield and Nikita Parris on the bench.

United slowly built into the game and scored with their first big chance from a Katie Zelem corner which was whipped in perfectly, and smartly headed in by Leah Galton, who used her body to ensure she was free.

The Red Devils have not lost a game when scoring first this season and Brighton missed a big chance early in the second half when they had numbers forward, only for Mary Earps to scoop up Lee Geum-Min’s effort.

Brighton were punished when some brilliant play from Hanna Blundell put Galton through. The England international went around goalkeeper Lydia Williams and stroked the ball in for her eighth goal of the season and gave United some breathing room.

Ella Toone had a goal disallowed with 15 minutes to go, before substitute Rachel Williams headed in from another Zelem corner at the back post in the 86th minute.

Just 67 seconds later and Lucia Garcia took advantage of some sloppy play from the Brighton defence, who tried to give the ball back to keeper Williams, not knowing she was out of her goal.

Garcia pounced and put the ball in the back of the net as the substitutes assured the three points for United.

On Sunday, Arsenal host Manchester City in a huge game in the context of the title race and Chelsea travel to Aston Villa.

Next up for United is their FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, which is also against Brighton at Wembley Stadium.