Vivianne Miedema struck a second-half brace as Arsenal cruised past Leicester 5-0 to briefly move to the top of the Women’s Super League.
Beth Mead gave the Gunners an early lead at the King Power inside two minutes, but Leicester then held firm until midway throught the second period. Arsenal then ran riot though, with striker Miedema scoring twice in two minutes.
An own goal from Ashleigh Plumptre made it four, before Tobin Heath rounded off the scoring shortly after coming off the bench. The win was a positive result for Arsenal as they bounced back from Champions League disappointment, after Wolfsburg knocked them out in midweek.
It lifted the Gunners two points above Chelsea, before Emma Hayes’ side were in action later in the day.
“What Chelsea do doesn’t matter at all,” Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall told BBC Sport.
“We can prepare for the games we are playing, we can control our own performances. I’m just as motivated if we’re on top at the moment or if we’re number two.
“We need to keep on believing, keep on preparing, keep on performing, and who knows where it takes us in the end. But we can only do whatever we can do.”
Later on Saturday, Chelsea thrashed Reading 5-0 following braces from both Sam Kerr and Beth England to return to the summit.
Earlier in the afternoon, Leah Galton got the only goal of the game as Manchester United beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 to re-open a three-point cushion over fourth-placed Manchester City, who beat West Ham United 2-0 on Saturday.
Tottenham’s Champions League hopes took a significant hit as they were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa, with Ramona Petzelberger scoring the winner in the 87th-minute. They are now ten points behind United in third, but do have two games in hand.
Bottom side Birmingham City battled to a scoreless draw with Everton on Friday. Trailing Leicester by seven points, they look almost certain to be relegated.
