Caitlin Foord is making herself indispensable at Arsenal, with another goal capping the in-form Matilda's latest fine display at Liverpool in the Gunners' 2-0 Women's Super League win.
Foord sealed Arsenal's victory on Sunday (Monday AEDT) with a sharp piece of opportunism, nipping into the box ahead of a couple of defenders to slot home her left-foot shot from Alessia Russo's low cross for the 69th-minute clincher.
The 29-year-old may not be the most prolific of scorers - it was only her fourth goal of the WSL season - but she has been at the heart of much of Arsenal's best attacking work for months, with this being her 14th direct involvement in a goal in her past seven league matches.
It came nine minutes after Dutch superstar Vivianne Miedema, who had sat out 312 days with an ACL ligament injury before making her October return, netted her first goal for 13 months at Prenton Park with a terrific long-range strike.
It meant Arsenal are still on the tail of Chelsea in the hunt for the title, just three points adrift of the champions, who continued life without the injured Sam Kerr on Saturday with a 3-0 win at Brighton.
Manchester City are keeping up their challenge too on the same points total as Arsenal, after earning a 2-0 win at Tottenham, but they are doing it without needing much help from their star Matilda, Mary Fowler.
Fowler, who has lost the starting place she enjoyed at the beginning of the season after a fine World Cup, was again given only a 15-minute cameo off the bench after she replaced City's star striker Khadija Shaw with the points already effectively wrapped up.
After Tottenham defender Amy Turner's own goal gave City the lead, Shaw netted her 13th goal of the campaign after the break - putting her clear once again ahead of Chelsea's Lauren James in the race for the Golden Boot as the season's leading scorer - with a thumping strike.
Spurs, with Australian Charli Grant in their ranks, stay sixth after their four-match winning run ended.
Katrina Gorry was bought by West Ham to aid their battle against relegation, and the Australian again made her presence felt with another significant shift as the Londoners' key midfield engine, helping them to a vital 2-1 win at fellow relegation contenders Bristol City.
The win, also aided by Matildas' keeper Mackenzie Arnold's efforts, pushed the Hammers three points clear of Bristol at the bottom of the table.
Elsewhere, Nikita Parris's double for Manchester United in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa will ease the pressure on head coach Marc Skinner, who has faced calls from fans to get the sack.
