Rebecca Knaak's stoppage-time header earned Manchester City a crucial 1-0 win over Liverpool which keeps the Women's Super League (WSL) title race in their hands.

A week after their shock defeat at Brighton offered Arsenal hope, City laboured against Liverpool and their former manager Gareth Taylor, and were moments away from leaving the door open for Arsenal to move level at the top if they could win their three games in hand.

But in the first minute of six added on, Knaak's stooping header squirmed under Jennifer Falk to ensure City end the campaign with a perfect winning record at the Joie Stadium, knowing a win on the final day at West Ham will bring their first title in 10 years even if Arsenal win their remaining games.

(Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

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City needed to show a response from last week's loss but instead started on the back foot with Aurélie Csillag and Denise O'Sullivan going close for Liverpool before Grace Fisk hit the post just six minutes into the game.

Andree Jeglertz's side did not get going until the second half as they poured forward with chances for Yui Hasegawa, Lauren Hemp and Khadija Shaw going begging.

The best of them fell to Kerolin just after the hour but after Shaw put her through on goal, a poor finish was pushed over by Liverpool goalkeeper Falk.

With City looking increasingly nervous, they almost fell behind when an unmarked Beata Olsson headed wide for Liverpool.

Falk then made a fine save from Shaw to keep out a point-blank header, only to make a mess of the resulting corner as City snatched a vital three points.