Chelsea march on with derby victory against Arsenal | OneFootball

Chelsea have taken another step towards winning this season’s Barclays Women’s Super League title with a 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.

Guro Reiten’s late penalty was enough to separate the two sides in-front of a record crowd for a Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Stamford Bridge of 34,302.

The London derby kicked-off with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd registering two shots on goal within the first two minutes. The first was saved by visiting keeper Daphne van Domselaar before the second flew over the bar.

Arsenal’s first chance came from Alessia Russo. She picked up a mis-timed pass from Erin Cuthbert before firing an effort towards Hannah Hampton’s goal, but the ball went wide of the far post.

After half an hour, the momentum shifted as Arsenal created successive chances. First, Beth Mead met a pass from Kim Little, but her curling effort went wide of the far post before substitute Frida Maanum had her first goal chance, which Millie Bright blocked.

Following a fast-paced first half, Sandy Baltimore looked to open the afternoon’s scoring in the second period. She sent an effort towards goal from 30 yards out but failed to find the back of the net.

At the other end, Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey cut the ball back to Maanum, who missed the target following a block from Nathalie Björn on Caldentey’s initial shot.

Chelsea took the lead six minutes from time when Lauren James was fouled by Katie McCabe in the box. McCabe received a red card and second half substitute Reiten converted from the penalty spot. She sent van Domselaar the wrong way and picked out the bottom-right corner. The Norwegian international’s strike proved to be the match-winner as Chelsea continued their unstoppable title push.

Chelsea return to Barclays Women’s Super League action next Sunday when they travel to Aston Villa, while Arsenal go to Manchester City.