Leicester City are now six points clear of the relegation zone
Leicester City took a huge step towards safety with a 3-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at the King Power Stadium.
Amandine Miquel's side were just three points above the relegation zone heading into the latest round of Women's Super League matches.
However, three first-half goals helped the 10th-placed Foxes pick up their first league win since 16 February and widen the gap to bottom side Crystal Palace to six points with five matches remaining.
Shannon O'Brien gave the hosts the lead inside 11 minutes, pouncing on a Brighton error and firing a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Brighton were again at fault for Leicester's second, giving the ball away on the halfway line to unleash a counter-attacking Hannah Cain down the right. She picked out Saori Takarada, who side-footed home from close range.
A Rachel McLaughlan own goal made it three on the stroke of half-time, the ball ricocheting off the Brighton defender after Shana Chossenotte connected with Cain's low cross.
Leicester were cruising towards the three points until the 73rd minute, when Madison Haley squeezed a long-range effort beyond the fingertips of Janina Leitzig.
Yuka Momiki had a golden opportunity to restore the Foxes' three-goal lead from the penalty spot minutes later, but saw her effort saved by Melina Loeck, before handing Brighton a lifeline when she brought down Nikita Parris in Leicester's box.
Fran Kirby made no mistake with her penalty, sending Leitzig the wrong way to set up a nervy final 10 minutes for the home side.
Leicester edge unexpected thriller
Prior to Sunday's meeting with Brighton, two statistics stood out from Leicester's campaign.
The Foxes had only scored 10 goals in 16 league matches, giving them the worst attacking record in the league. At the opposite end of the park, they boasted the best defence outside the top four, conceding 24 goals.
Nothing about their season to date pointed towards them taking a three-goal lead into the half-time break, nor the match becoming a five-goal thriller, with two penalties – one missed, one scored – in back-to-back phases of play and nine minutes of nail-biting added time.
But in the end, this match, an important fixture in the context of the WSL relegation battle, brought the entertainment factor. Fortunately for Leicester (and probably deservedly, on balance), they came out on the right side.
Momiki's missed penalty aside, manager Miquel should be pleased with her side's performance in front of goal. They punished Brighton's sloppiness in possession, they looked threatening on the counter-attack, particularly whenever Chossenotte or Cain found themselves in space, and scored three goals in a league match for only the second time this season.
Having scored just three times in their first 10 outings, they've now managed 10 in seven in 2025, with six different players (plus one own goal) on the scoresheet.
For 70 minutes, they were also solid defensively, putting so many bodies behind the ball that Brighton's frustrated attackers were forced to resort to long-range efforts.
And while a 10-minute lapse in concentration set up a tense finale, Miquel's late changes, bringing on CJ Bott and Nelly Lasova for Cain and Sam Tierney, provided the defensive security to cling on to their lead.
Had they conceded an equaliser, the result would have left them four points clear of relegation favourites Crystal Palace. However, that cushion is instead a healthy six points, and with Leicester's goal difference (-13) far superior to Palace's (-28), they can start to breathe a little easier.
The Foxes, who only won one match from 10 before the winter break, have now won three in seven and are unbeaten in their past four home matches.
And with out-of-form Tottenham, currently on a five-match losing streak, their next opponents, they have a huge opportunity to move another three points closer to safety next week.
Touching on Leicester's home form, Miquel praised the club for hosting all of the women's matches at the King Power Stadium and challenged other teams to follow their example.
"If every club played in a proper stadium like this, maybe more people would come instead of watching games at training grounds. There are some nice training grounds in England but it's not the same," she said.
"The next step for the women's game is to have proper stadiums and keep growing attendances. Today's game was exciting, full of emotion, and that's why people come to watch football - to feel something."
Player of the match
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
