Manchester City's march to the Women's Super League title was slowed as they were held to a goalless draw by Aston Villa.

The result extends City's lead at the top to nine points, having played a game more than nearest challengers Manchester United and Chelsea, but it was a sloppy display from Andree Jeglertz's side at Villa Park.

Villa were much the better side in the first half with City goalkeeper Khiara Keating forced to make a number of smart saves to keep the scores level.

Keating, starting a league game for just the third time this season, was grateful when Chasity Grant's shot beat her but came back off the post.

The visitors improved after the break and largely kept Natalia Arroyo's home side penned inside their own half.

However, the usual incisiveness from City around the box was still sorely lacking, with far too many loose passes and heavy touches in the first league game for a month for both sides.

Centre-back Rebecca Knaak had City's best chance with a back-post header from a corner that was kept out by Villa keeper Ellie Roebuck, and another Alex Greenwood corner was going straight in before Grant chested it off the line.

The league leaders were perhaps also unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty after Lucy Parker kicked the boot of Khadija Shaw and then bundled over Laura Blindkilde Brown after being dispossessed on the corner of her own penalty area.

Pressure grew late on with Vivianne Miedema heading just over the bar, but City had to settle for a point - not what they came for, but a small step closer to a first league title since 2016.

For Villa, a spirited display halted their run of five straight losses in all competitions.

It had been three weeks since City's last game, four weeks since they last played in the league – and it showed.

They looked like a team who had not played together for a while and as they continued to give the ball away cheaply throughout the first half, you could almost see the City players looking for Yui Hasegawa – away at the Asia Cup with Japan – to knit the play together and calm things down.

With no-one able to do that, wave after wave of Villa attacks meant a very busy 45 minutes for Keating, who produced a trio of excellent stops to deny Noelle Maritz, Anna Patten and Kirsty Hanson in the space of six minutes midway through the first half.

The rust gradually appeared to wear off and City largely controlled the second half, without creating any significant chances from open play.

But with only five WSL games remaining, their advantage at the summit is such that even if Chelsea and United - and fourth-placed Arsenal - win their games in hand, Jeglertz's team will still be in a dominant position.

The hope in the City ranks will be that they can quickly move past this slip-up, rediscover the rhythm and momentum they had before the break, and ensure that what had been looking a procession to the title does not become a genuine race.

The prospect of facing the runaway league leaders, having lost five games in a row and shipped seven at home in their last match, may have felt rather daunting to Villa fans.

Instead, their team returned from a month-long hiatus with renewed vigour and not only went toe-to-toe but roundly outplayed City for 45 minutes.

Inside a minute they had a three-on-three situation with Hanson driving at the heart of the away side's defence.

It set the tone for a superb first-half display and with some slightly more clinical finishing, or even just a marginally less inspired showing from Keating, they might have been out of sight.

As it was, Villa's exertions caught up with them as the first period came to a close and the second half became an exercise in defensive resilience rather than attacking dynamism.

But to have shown both sides of themselves against the league's best – and stopped the rot after a dismal run before the break – should give the Villans confidence as they bid to end the season strongly.

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