Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal: Player ratings as Lauren James leads Blues to statement WSL win
Chelsea strengthened their WSL title hopes with an important 3-1 win against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Friday night.
Over 30,000 people were in attendance to watch Emma Hayes' side move three points clear of Manchester City and six ahead of the visiting Gunners.
Three first-half goals saw the Blues race into an unassailable lead and pile the misery on Arsenal, who got on the scoresheet late on thanks to an own goal.
The match was delayed by 30 minutes due to a kit clash, with Arsenal wearing white socks when they were required to bring red. They were forced to purchase Chelsea's away socks from the club megastore and tape over the Nike logo in one of the more bizarre incidents of the season.
Once the action got underway, Chelsea immediately piled on the pressure and broke the deadlock on 15 minutes. Guro Reiten won possession back in midfield and Sjoeke Nusken quickly picked out the run of Lauren James, who weaved away from Steph Catley and fired a shot at the near post, which was terribly palmed up and in by goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger.
Minutes later, Chelsea doubled their lead. James wriggled her way through the Arsenal backline once again and the ball eventually found Erin Cuthbert, whose trickling effort was turned in by Nusken after stepping in front of Leah Williamson.
Just after the half-hour mark, the hosts had a third. Williamson's poor free-kick from right to left was pounced upon by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, who dribbled 40 yards to goal before letting fly, and her strike deflected in off of Nusken.
Jonas Eidevall made three changes at the break to try and stem the tide. Katie McCabe found a yard of space inside the final third and let fly soon after the restart, but it flew over Hannah Hampton's goal.
James
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