LONDON :Chelsea’s Guro Reiten scored an 83rd-minute penalty as her side beat Arsenal 1-0 to remain top of the Women’s Super League (WSL) and deal a hammer blow to the title challenge of the Gunners, who had defender Katie McCabe sent off.
Sonia Bompastor’s Blues remain unbeaten in the league and top the standings on 34 points, seven points ahead of Manchester United, who thumped Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 in Sunday’s late game.
Manchester City, who beat Aston Villa 4-2 on Saturday, are third on 25 points, with Arsenal a point further back in fourth after Sunday’s defeat.
A win for the Gunners would have seen them cut the gap at the top to four points and the two sides were evenly matched in a tight, scrappy game that finally burst into life late on when Lauren James was upended in the box by Kim Little.
Arsenal’s McCabe was sent off in the wake of that incident, picking up two yellow cards in quick succession, with the second booking for foul and abusive language resulting in a red card for the Ireland international.
Having only entered the fray six minutes previously, Norwegian winger Reiten stepped up and held her nerve, firing the spot kick low to the goalkeeper’s left to delight the home fans among the 34,302 at Stamford Bridge.
The win was Chelsea’s 25th victory in 26 games in all competitions since losing to Liverpool in May of 2024, with a WSL draw with Leicester City in December the only blemish on their record in that time.
Blues defender Lucy Bronze said her side were aiming to keep that run going.
“We want to go the season unbeaten … there’s records out there to break, Chelsea’s a team that has always wanted to do that,” she told the BBC.
“We’ve never clinched the Champions League. We’ve got five league titles in a row but unbeaten (would be) unbelievable. We’re on a good road to doing that.”
Bottom side Crystal Palace fought back from two goals down to draw level with Tottenham Hotspur, only for Spurs substitute Olivia Holdt to grab the winner in the 95th minute with a brilliant free kick on her debut.
Palace’s defeat was compounded by second-from-bottom Leicester City’s 2-1 win at home to Liverpool to leave them on nine points, four ahead of the Eagles and one behind Everton, who lost 2-0 away to West Ham United.
