STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, May 3 (Reuters) - Manchester City's Rebecca Knaak scored a stoppage-time winner to giveher side a nervy 1-0 home victory over Liverpool and put one hand on the Women's Super League trophy for the first time since 2016.
City top the standings on 52 points with one game left and are out of reach of second-placed Chelsea, who are nine points behind ahead of their clash with bottom side Leicester City later on Sunday.
Arsenal's 7-0 midweek hammering of Leicester put them third on 41 points with four games left. Manchester City have a superior goal difference of seven.
The title race is now firmly in City's hands and a win at West Ham United on May 16 will secure the title.
City looked nervous in the opening exchanges as Liverpool came close to scoring through an Aurelie Csillag header and a Grace Fisk shot that struck the woodwork.
Andre Jeglertz's side upped the tempo in the second half, forcing Liverpool's Jennifer Falk to make an excellent reflex save to deny Kerolin just after the hour mark, and she pulled off an even better one-handed stop in added time to prevent Bunny Shaw's header from hitting the back of the net.
The home side finally broke the deadlock from the resulting corner as Knaak lost her marker and headed towards the bottom-left corner, and for once Falk was found wanting as the ball squirmed over the line to the delight of the home crowd.
In London, Olivia Holt scored with a stunning long-range shot for Tottenham Hotspur as they beat London City Lionesses 2-1 to remain comfortably in fifth position, while on Saturday fourth-placed ManchesterUnited's hopes of making next season's Champions League suffered a blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton & Hove Albion.
On Saturday, Birmingham City and Crystal Palace both secured promotion to the top flight, with third-placed Charlton Athletic set to face Leicester City in a playoff to see who gets the final spot.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Ed Osmond)
