England's Lionesses had contrasting afternoons at the Emirates on Sunday, as the Gunners went level on points with the Blues at the top of the WSL
Can a title race really be over in December? Probably not, but had Chelsea beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, they'd have been in pretty firm control of the battle to win the Women's Super League. Six points clear at the top of the table with just one game to go before the Christmas break, few wouldn't have backed the Blues to win a fifth successive title. Fortunately for the Gunners, then, it was the hosts who emerged 4-1 winners in what star striker Vivianne Miedema described as a 'must-win' fixture before kick-off.
Goals were expected when these two London rivals met in the highlight of the WSL's weekend line-up and it delivered, with Beth Mead putting Arsenal ahead with just eight minutes on the clock when she showed incredible composure to send three Chelsea players the wrong way while she fired the ball into the back of the net from close range.
A Chelsea equaliser threatened to halt the Gunners' momentum, with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd continuing her fine start to the season with an arrowed strike that beat Manuela Zinsberger at her near post. There was a hint of offside against Sam Kerr, who may have been blocking the goalkeeper's view when her Swedish team-mate struck home, but there was minimal protest from the home players as they lost the lead just five minutes after taking it.
However, two Arsenal goals in three minutes changed everything and set the hosts on their way to going level with Chelsea at the top of the WSL table. First, Ann-Katrin Berger committed a costly error when she came to collect a corner and got nowhere near it, with Amanda Ilestedt able to head Steph Catley's delivery into an empty goal as a result. Then, before the Blues had even had a chance to process that, they were 3-1 down. Lia Walti's incisive pass set Alessia Russo free and she showed wonderful poise to place the ball into the far corner.
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes opted for a triple sub at half time as she tried to inspire her charges to an impressive turnaround but it was already too late, with a controversial penalty late in the second half, converted by Russo, allowing Arsenal to condemn their London rivals to their heaviest league defeat in five years – since a 5-0 loss to the Gunners in 2018.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Emirates Stadium…
GettyLOSER: Lauren James
Aside from the cheers that came primarily from the home supporters, one of the most notable sounds during the first half of this clash was Hayes constantly trying to get the attention of Lauren James. Calls of "LJ, LJ, LJ" were incessant from the away dugout, with the Chelsea boss clearly unhappy with the England star's lack of tracking down the left. It meant Katie McCabe had far too much space to roam forward and cause the Blues problems.
When she wasn't being asked to do more from a defensive point of view, James was struggling massively to get involved, unable to mark this game with her usual magic. Indeed, the 22-year-old didn't create a single chance at the Emirates and had just one shot, that flying off target.
She was also perhaps lucky that her afternoon ended with her being subbed off in the 75th minute. Prior to that, James had shown petulance that underlined her youth, deliberately leaving a foot in on Walti after the referee had blown to give a foul against her. She was only shown a yellow, though, fortunately for her.
AdvertisementGettyWINNER: Beth Mead
After an excruciating 11 months of watching from the sidelines while recovering from an ACL injury, Beth Mead is making up for lost time. Some players say it takes a few months to feel like yourself again after such a serious setback and if the Arsenal forward is that far off her best right now, then she might be set to hit new levels before the end of this season.
Mead has now scored four goals in her last four games after opening the scoring at the Emirates on Sunday. The only game of that quartet that she didn't score in was England's clash with the Netherlands, in which she came off the bench at half time to help inspire the Lionesses' comeback from 2-0 down to a 3-2 win.
It's clear there's still a bit of rust there, and that's totally understandable after a year out, but that's what makes her form even more exciting. She's only going to get better and better with each game that comes. That's massive for Arsenal and their title race.
GettyLOSER: Sam Kerr
Sam Kerr had just four touches in Arsenal's box on Sunday. It's a statistic that makes it no surprise, really, that Chelsea failed to trouble the Gunners' defence, given the severe lack of service that their star striker had.
There was plenty of effort from the Blues' captain-for-the-day, who won possession back on five occasions, came out on top in nine of her 10 aerial duels and dropped deep to try and get involved as much as she could, putting some nice passes together here and there.
But that 43 of Kerr's 47 touches came outside of the Arsenal box said it all about what a frustrating afternoon this was for one of the best goal-scorers on the planet, who was not only struggling to be found by team-mates but, it must be said, well-marshalled by the Gunners' defence, too.
GettyWINNER: Alessia Russo
Russo came into this game off the back of what will have been a frustrating international break. Not only was she part of the England side that failed to top their UEFA Women's Nations League group, thus not making the competition's finals or giving Great Britain a chance to make the Olympic women's football tournament, she was also benched for both of the Lionesses' games, despite her country needing to score a lot of goals in order to achieve these aims. That's not a great look for someone who has been England's first-choice No.9 for over a year.
However, any disappointment or loss of confidence that may have come from that situation wasn't on show at the Emirates. When Walti played a gorgeous pass to put her through on goal, she never looked like she was going to miss, shaping her body to curl the ball around Berger and into the back of the net.
And when Rebecca Welch awarded Arsenal a penalty late in the second half – extremely controversially, it must be noted, with Jess Carter clearly winning the ball cleanly – Russo stepped up and drilled the ball with pace into the bottom corner from 12 yards, despite not being the Gunners' regular penalty taker.
It's been said time and time again that England's No.9 is not her country's most clinical forward but she gets herself in plenty of great situations and if she can show this confidence and composure more often, she can certainly develop into a more prolific goal-scorer to further strengthen her already superb all-round game.