Her side may now be top of FA Women’s Super League 1 but Chelsea boss Emma Hayes says Birmingham still have the upper hand after their unbeaten streak came to an end at Wheatsheaf Park.
City, who had previously been unbeaten in seven league matches, could not keep up as the Blues ran riot through Ji So-Yun, Gilly Flaherty and England's Eni Aluko, while Aoife Mannion netted a consolation.
WSL1 results
Bristol Academy 5-2 Everton
Chelsea 3-1 Birmingham City
Liverpool 1-0 Notts County
Man City 0-4 Arsenal
Hayes said: “Our class was the difference between the teams and I think this is a really big victory for us because players have come in and they’ve not started many games.
“But they’ve done a superb job and I thought it was a great team effort from start to finish. We were the dominant team.
“City are still the favourites for the title. We haven’t developed a culture for winning the league but we’ll continue to take it one game at a time.”
Elsewhere Manchester City were humbled 4-0 by an in-form Arsenal, rising to fifth in the table as England midfielder Jordan Nobbs provided the spark in the first half with a 40-yard strike.
WSL2 results
Reading 1-1 Sunderland
London Bees 0-2 Yeovil Town
Milwall Lionesses 1-2 Durham
Oxford United 1-5 Doncaster Rovers Belles
And England Under-20s international Katie Zelem’s second-half strike sent Liverpool into second at the expense of Notts County.
Back in the WSL1, Katie Wilkinson handed Aston Villa their third win on the bounce after a 1-0 win over Watford, while two second-half goals from Helen Bleazard secured a Yeovil a 2-0 triumph at London Bees.
On Saturday, two goals apiece from Natalia Pablos Sanchon and Nikki Watts helped Bristol Academy inflict a 5-2 defeat on Everton, who remain anchored to the bottom of FA WSL1.
In FA WSL2, Doncaster Rovers Belles manager Gordon Staniforth told his team to keep piling on the goals after a five-star display against Oxford – Courtney Sweetman-Kirk bagging a hat-trick in a 5-1 victory.
They made up ground on leaders Sunderland after their 1-1 draw with Reading on Saturday – and are now just two points behind the Lady Black Cats in the race for the FA WSL2 title.
“We got ourselves in control and we got a bit sloppy in defence when Oxford got their goal and it was a matter of keeping our concentration,” admitted Staniforth.
“It was also a case of how many more do we want to add to it because it may well come down to goal difference.
"We saw the talent in Courtney during the transfer window and we got her in and she's paying the dividends now of scoring the goals we need to win games.”
