Manchester City moved into first place in the Women’s Super League with a 5–0 home win over West Ham on Saturday, 7 November 2026. The club’s match report records a hat-trick for Khadija “Bunny” Shaw on her 150th City appearance, taking her club total to 132 goals. Shaw scored in the 38th, 53rd and 74th minutes, after City had reached the interval with only a single-goal advantage.

Aoba Fujino added the third in the 60th minute and supplied substitute Iman Beney for the fourth eight minutes later. Both opened their scoring accounts for the season. That distribution matters when assessing the performance: three different players supplied the finishing touches after the break, rather than City simply relying on their centre-forward throughout. Risa Shimizu also made her City debut when she replaced Shaw.

The importance of the result was sharpened by events in London. Chelsea’s own match report confirms that a 1–1 draw with Everton left the London club second, two points behind City. Their meeting at Stamford Bridge the following Saturday therefore becomes a direct contest between the leaders and their closest pursuers, with City approaching it from the front.

One emphatic afternoon cannot settle a championship. It does, however, change the position from which that next match begins. City converted a narrow half-time lead into a clear victory, while Fujino contributed both a goal and an assist. Those details explain more about the win than the final margin alone, and provide a concrete measure of the attacking contribution around Shaw.

Archival/illustrative cover photograph: Manchester City players warming up before the Leicester match, October 2023. Not from the current match or announcement. Photographer/creator: LHC88. Image source and metadata; CC BY 4.0. Image date as recorded by the source: 2023-10-21. Licensed file used without raster edits.