Chelsea move within reach of WSL title after beating Arsenal, Everton down Brighton with late winner

Chelsea's fourth consecutive Women's Super League title is within touching distance after a confident 2-0 victory over Arsenal at Kingsmeadow. The champions swept into a 2-0 lead in the first half when Guro Reiten made a perfectly-timed run into the box to connect with Eve Perriset's cross from the right, and then departing Blues captain Magdalena Eriksson's tap-in doubled the advantage. Ad In her final home match for Chelsea, Eriksson's goal — assisted by a cross-goal header from Sam Kerr — was received with rapturous applause.

Barclays WSLChelsea beat West Ham to go top of WSL, Arsenal consolidate third18/05/2023 AT 07:47 Katie McCabe won, but then missed, a penalty for Arsenal just before the break. Midway through the second half, Pernille Harder — herself another departing Chelsea legend — was substituted to a standing ovation. Arsenal pushed hard to find a way into the game, but Chelsea kept them largely at arm's length as they saw out the final moments to secure victory.

As a result of Chelsea's win, the title will be theirs if Manchester United fail to take three points from their derby with Manchester City later on Sunday. If United do win, the title race will go to the final day when they travel to face Liverpool away, while Chelsea meet Reading. Elsewhere, Everton beat Brighton 2-1 in a match that lacked some of the urgency of the other WSL fixtures.

With neither side playing for much, it is perhaps no surprise that the match had a tepid feeling. Katja Snoeijs opened the scoring with her seventh goal of the season, running onto a perfect cross-field ball from deep and finishing from a tight angle. 20-year-old Katie Robinson equalised before the break when she lobbed Emily Ramsey in the Everton goal.