Chelsea’s WSL title hopes suffered a hammer blow on Saturday as they fell to a humbling 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Arsenal.
Beth Mead picked up a goal and an assist just six minutes apart to put the Blues to the sword. She finished smartly across Hannah Hampton’s goal to open the scoring shortly after half-time before setting up Mariona Caldentey moments later.
It is a second defeat of the season for reigning champions Chelsea, who failed to score in a WSL match today for just the third time in the last three seasons.
They now find themselves six points off leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
Arsenal dominated the match from the first whistle, with Katie McCabe forcing a smart save from Hampton before Alessia Russo saw a rebound effort cleared off the line. Stina Blackstenius later squandered a gilt-edged chance to open the scoring on the stroke of half-time.
A similarly fast start to the second-half saw Mead inspire the Gunners to an unassailable two-goal advantage, though both Erin Cuthbert and Wieke Kaptein missed presentable opportunities late on as the Blues chased the game.
Arsenal’s victory may well become a blueprint for other WSL rivals to get the better of Chelsea, with Mead revealing at full-time that they sussed out Sonia Bompastor’s side.
“We figured out where we could hurt them and we did that in the second half especially,” she explained to BBC Sport. “We put our chances away.”
Lionesses veteran Lucy Bronze took a dimmer view of the result, though, recognising the precarious nature of Chelsea’s title push: "Even if we were leading [the title race] that would be a must-win. That is the aim of the game when you play against the top teams.
“Drop a few points and you are out of the race. At the end you look at who wins it and they barely lose many games at all, if any."
There are still chances for Chelsea to revive their chances, though, with nine matches remaining in the campaign. They visit Manchester City next time out, before facing a resurgent Tottenham.
