Chelsea Women 3-1 Arsenal Women: Emma Hayes’ Women’s Super League leaders too good for title rivals

Lauren James (centre) has scored 13 goals in the WSL this season – only Khadija Shaw of Manchester City (15) has more

Women’s Super League leaders Chelsea produced a dominant performance as they comfortably beat title rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

After a farcical 30-minute delay because Arsenal had brought the wrong socks, the hosts took a 15th-minute lead as Lauren James’ shot was parried into the net by Gunners goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger.

Chelsea, looking to win the WSL for a fifth successive season, doubled their advantage six minutes later when Sjoeke Nusken diverted Erin Cuthbert’s strike past Zinsberger.

There was a touch of fortune to Chelsea’s third goal, with the ball bouncing off an unaware Nusken and going into the bottom corner for her second of the match.

Only a number of vital saves from Zinsberger denied the home side further goals with a crowd of 32,970 watching on – a record for a Chelsea Women home game.

Arsenal pulled one back late on through Kim Little’s deflected shot, which went in off Catarina Macario, but the Blues claimed a fully-deserved victory.

Chelsea are now three points clear of Manchester City, who play their game in hand on Sunday away at ninth-placed Brighton (12:30 GMT).

For Arsenal, the result is a huge blow to their hopes of winning the WSL title for the time since 2018-19.

Jonas Eidevall’s side, third in the table, are now six points behind Chelsea with only six league games of the season left.

Chelsea gain revenge after December loss at Emirates Stadium

This result takes Emma Hayes’ Chelsea, in her last season at the club before she becomes the head coach of the United States’ Women’s team, a step closer to completing a quadruple.

The Blues play Ajax in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, are also in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and take on Arsenal in the League Cup final on 31 March.

Arsenal’s preparations were not helped by an embarrassing kit issue, which saw the game delayed for half an hour as their white socks were the same colours as Chelsea.

An Arsenal official bought black socks from the Chelsea megastore and then had to cover over the Blues’ logo with tape.

Chelsea’s logo became noticeable on some of the Arsenal players’ socks as the match progressed

When these two sides met at Emirates Stadium in December, a then-WSL record crowd of 59,042, saw the Gunners race into a 3-0 lead in the first half on their way to a 4-1 victory.

The opposite happened at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea completely dominant in the first half with England forward James proving a constant threat as she took her WSL total to 13 goals this season, before Nusken’s double.

Johanna Rytting Kaneryd almost added a fourth early in the second half, but Zinsberger made a crucial block, before she also denied James when through on goal.

Arsenal had started with Stina Blackstenius up front after her hat-trick in the 4-0 League Cup semi-final win over Aston Villa, but she was ineffective and replaced at half-time by England striker Alessia Russo.

Chelsea should have scored more before Arsenal got a late consolation as Little’s effort, which was going wide, bounced off Macario and into her own net.

But there was never any danger of Chelsea letting their lead slip as they clinched a fine victory.

What made the Blues’ performance even more impressive was a lengthy injury list that saw Hayes without a number of key players, including forwards Sam Kerr, Mia Fishel, Mayra Ramirez, midfielder Maren Mjelde, England defender Millie Bright and goalkeeper Ann Katrin-Berger.

Line-upsChelsea Women

Formation 4-2-3-1

24Hampton

15Périsset7Carter26Buchanan21Charles

22Cuthbert8Leupolz

19Rytting Kaneryd6Nüsken11Reiten

10James

Substitutes

Arsenal Women

Formation 4-2-3-1

1Zinsberger

15McCabe6Williamson3Wubben-Moy7Catley

21Pelova13Wälti

9Mead10Little19Foord

25Blackstenius

Substitutes

Referee:Rebecca Welch

Attendance:32,970

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