Chelsea beat Arsenal 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with a penalty by Guro Reiten to go 10 points clear over the Gunners in the Women’s Super League (WSL).
Before kickoff, Naomi Girma was presented to the Chelsea fans. She is the most expensive transfer in women’s football for a world record fee of £900,000, with the American defender signing a long-term contract with the Blues.
The first half was shared between Chelsea and Arsenal with both teams having good spells and many chances, but neither able to score.
In the second half, both teams tried to find a goal but could not find break the deadlock and the game remained goalless for 80 minutes.
On the 82nd minute, substitute Lauren James made her way to the box and was brought down by Kim Little and the referee pointed to the spot. Her teammate, Katie McCabe was not happy with the decision and was shortly sent off with two yellow cards for dissent, leaving her team with 10 players.
Reiten stepped up and converted the penalty in the bottom right corner on the 84th minute, sending the Arsenal goalkeeper, Daphne van Domselaar, the wrong way to give Chelsea the lead.
“I am really pleased with the result,” Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said at the post-match press conference. “We did not win anything yet, so we have to keep the right mentality.”
The Gunners appealed for a penalty in additional time after Kim Little fell in the box following a clash with Sjoeke Nusken but the referee ordered play to continue.
Chelsea are now nine points above Manchester City who are second while the Gunners sit one point below City.
Sonia Bompastor’s side extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 20 matches while Arsenal suffered their first defeat under Renee Slegers, after 13 consecutive wins in all competitions since the Dutch manager took over.
“What was lacking today was goals,” Slegers said at the post-match press conference. “Next time we need to be more clinical with the chances and we knew it was going to be tight with small margins and details that matter,” she added.
34,302 fans watched the game from the stands, which a record number for a WSL match at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea will now focus on the away WSL match with Aston Villa on 2 February while Arsenal will host Bristol City on 29 January for the postponed fifth round match of the Women’s FA Cup.
Jade Oates
Erica Goncalves Lopes