Chelsea Women got out of jail last weekend, thanks to a freak ricochet off an Arsenal player's leg that levelled a late Gunners goal.
It leaves the Women's Super League in delightful disarray. With Chelsea having drawn against United and Arsenal, this could go right to the wire as a four or even five-horse race.
What did emerge on Sunday at Meadow Park was that September signing Pernille Harder is no lightweight pushover. It may have taken her a couple of months to settle, but she had her best game yet in a blue shirt.
Unusually, Arsenal v Chelsea was a match with almost nothing to report for 85 minutes, except for a Caitlin Foord strike that hit the crossbar, bounced into the air then landed on the crossbar a second time before Blues keeper Ann-Katrin Berger could punch it clear.
Beth Mead's goal, with four minutes to go, seemed to have clinched it, but Harder's persistence down the right flank paid off. Her cross flew off Lotte Wubben-Moy and looped into the net.
Gunners manager Joe Montemurro was angry with the stadium announcer loudly declaring it an own-goal over the Tannoy and potentially undermining the defender's morale in the dying minutes, though her selection for the England squad has partly compensated for that.
It's now 27 league games since Chelsea tasted defeat... and had Sam Kerr's last kick of the game lobbed the Arsenal keeper instead of dropping wide, it could have been even better.
Harder enjoyed freedom of space in the match, and emerged with great credit after recent performances had put a question mark over her ability to cope with the physicality of the English game. She is, it's fair to say, Harder than she looks.
With another international pause upon us, Chelsea Women next host West Ham at Kingsmeadow on 6 December, with a realistic prospect of being top of the tree in January if they can get back to consistent winning ways.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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