Shaw brought up 100 goals in a Manchester City shirt as the league leaders took a six point advantage into the winter break
Khadija Shaw scored four in a comfortable win over Aston Villaopen image in gallery
Khadija Shaw scored four in a comfortable win over Aston Villa (Action Images via Reuters)
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Khadija Shaw scored four times for Manchester City as the Women's Super League leaders thrashed Aston Villa 6-1 at the Joie Stadium.
Jamaica forward Shaw's first of the afternoon was her 100th goal for the club - and she became Manchester City's first female player to reach that milestone in their professional era.
Shaw added another before the break and Aoba Fujino made it three just after the hour before Lucy Parker pulled one back for Villa.
Khadija Shaw scored four against Aston Villaopen image in gallery
Khadija Shaw scored four against Aston Villa (Cody Froggatt/PA Wire)
Vivianne Miedema tapped in a fourth before Shaw completed her treble on the counter-attack with six minutes left and deflected in a close-range effort in stoppage time.
City head into the WSL winter break six points clear of Chelsea, who won 3-0 at Brighton.
The Blues - who saw their 34-game unbeaten league run end last week with a 1-0 defeat against Everton - went ahead through a fine finish from Sandy Baltimore just before half-time.
An own goal from Brighton defender Caitlin Hayes doubled the lead early in the second half, with Alyssa Thompson sweeping in a late third as Sonia Bompastor's side put themselves back two points above Arsenal.
Chelsea got back to winning ways at Brightonopen image in gallery
Chelsea got back to winning ways at Brighton (Peter Tarry/PA Wire)
At the other end of the table, 10-player Liverpool scored a late equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers West Ham.
The Reds had seen defender Gemma Bonner shown a red card after 19 minutes for fouling West Ham striker Riko Ueki as she chased a through ball.
Ueki gave West Ham the lead just before the hour from a corner, but Mia Enderby soon equalised.
West Ham went in front again in the 68th minute through Anna Csiki, but Beata Olsson rescued a point for Liverpool when she slotted in after a defensive mix-up to leave them just two points adrift.
Janina Leitzig saved a penalty in stoppage time to help secure Leicester a valuable 1-0 victory over London City Lionesses at the King Power Stadium.
Kosovare Asllani was denied from the penalty spot late on for London City Lionessesopen image in gallery
Kosovare Asllani was denied from the penalty spot late on for London City Lionesses (WSL Football via Getty Images)
The Foxes were leading through Shannon O'Brien's second-half goal, but the Lionesses had a golden opportunity to snatch a point when Janice Cayman felled Grace Geyoro.
Kosovare Asllani's spot-kick, though, was weak and comfortably stopped by Leitzig.
Leicester overtake Everton to climb into ninth place in the table, moving six points clear of Liverpool.
PA