MARK SKINNER urged Manchester United to remain relentless with their standards after they crushed Aston Villa 5-0 in front of a record Old Trafford crowd.
Five clinical finishes including an Ona Batlle stunner saw United momentarily go top of the table before Chelsea’s 8-0 drubbing of Leicester City.
The result saw Villa, who had Hannah Hampton back in goal for the first time since a 2-0 win against the Foxes in September, fall to their heaviest loss in the WSL this term after eight games.
And Man United notched up their seventh win from eight matches in front of a 30,196-strong crowd, the largest to watch them at the Theatre of Dreams.
The outcome saw Skinner’s side – who had five different players on the scoresheet keep up the pressure on the Blues and Arsenal.
And they remain second and level on points with the Gunners with Chelsea returning to pole position after their emphatic win.
Red Devils chief Skinner, whose stars face Man City next, told Sky Sports: “As a manager you have got to be happy with the result which of course I am.
“But we want to put performances on and as a group we wanted to be better in the first half and take that into the second.
“We need to keep our standards high and the players felt that too. They enjoyed it but we expect more for ourselves.”
Forward Ella Toone added: “We are feeling really confident that we can go out and produce big performances like this one.
“Our standards are so high that we are not 100% happy with our performance and we want more from ourselves.
“We demand so much more, but we are happy with the three points and the five goals.
Katie Zelem opened the scoring for the hosts on her 100th WSL appearance
The United captain pounced a fumble from Hampton to smash the ball home from yards out in the 13th minute.
And Leah Galton made it 2-0, slotting the ball home after a deft defensive-splitting pass from player of the match Toone.
Villa saw an Alisha Lehmann goal disallowed for an offside in the first spell’s closing stages before Alessia Russo extended United’s lead in the second half with her third goal in three successive games.
Rachel Daly and Lehmann forced a couple of impressive stops from Mary Earps before Batlle lashed the ball over Hampton’s head to make it 4-0 to Skinner’s side in the 76th minute
To their dismay the hosts saw a Galton finish ruled out after the referee had blown her whistle for Anna Patten’s foul from behind on the United forward.
However Rachel Williams topped off the victory in injury time by burying her first goal in a Red Devils shirt to wrap up the 5-0 win.
Villa boss Carla Ward, who had just two fit players on her bench, vowed her side would bounce back after their fourth loss in eight games.
Ward, whose team play Sheffield United in the Conti Cup before a league duel with Arsenal, said: “We’ve got to take learnings from this and the character of this group will be tested.
“One thing this result won’t do is define our season.
“My players have been absolutely exceptional this season, so these days happen sometimes.
“It’s difficult to have two fit players on the bench because you’re sitting there and thinking ‘your hands are tight, you can’t do much.’
“We’ve got players coming back from injury and the transfer window coming up.
“We have to get back on track and try to get over this as quickly as possible.”
