Arsenal Women 1-2 Chelsea Women
How crucial will Chelsea's hard-fought, ground-out victory over rivals Arsenal Women prove at the end of the season?
The Blues are still unbeaten ahead of another London derby this Sunday evening against Spurs at Kingsmeadow, following their 2-1 win at the Emirates in front of more than 45,000.
Jonas Eidevall, under pressure after the Gunners' longest winless run in a decade, said his team had "given their absolute everything" to claw their way back into the game after falling 2-0 behind with a quarter of an hour played.
Caitlin Foord bamboozled otherwise switched-on defender Lucy Bronze to score just before half-time, but despite relentless Arsenal pressure in the second half, Chelsea held firm. Just.
The Blues were lucky not to have been reduced to 10 players when sub Erin Cuthbert, back in the team after injury, was booked in the first of six hectic minutes of stoppage time.
She'd escaped a booking three minutes earlier when ref Cheryl Foster got confused and showed a yellow card to the innocent Sandy Baltimore instead of the tough little Scot. VAR would have intervened, had it been in use. But, despite former Blues manager Emma Hayes' regular calls, it will take some time before all WSL grounds are properly equipped.
Hayes (and her mum) were watching from the posh seats at the Emirates, in her capacity as USA women's coach, keeping an eye on Catarina Macario and Emily Fox. Macario, who came on for Lauren James on 63 minutes, impressed. Less so Arsenal defender Fox, who was caught napping when Baltimore's diving header made it 2-0 following Mayra Ramirez' looped overhead opener.
Sonia Bompastor, delighted Chelsea manager, said after the game that Hayes had had the courtesy to text her to let her know she'd be at the match, underlining the professionalism of the two coaches and the smoothness of what might otherwise have been a tricky transition.
"Credit to Arsenal," said the eminently quotable Bompastor in the Gunners' press room. "I expected us to possess more of the ball in the second half, but the home fans give you so much power." She also praised the large and vocal contingent of 3,000 Chelsea fans, and proudly led her players across the pitch to applaud and salute them after the game.
Of Cuthbert's return, she admitted: "Erin wasn't supposed to come in today, although I never take any risk with the players' fitness."
Lacking recent match practice, Cuthbert may have been slightly short of pace. But she more than made up for it as a ruthless Chelsea enforcer in the middle of the pitch.
This was a significant win, as much for the determination to shut out the rampaging Arsenal attackers in the second half as for the quick brace scored in the first.
Manchester City currently look the toughest threat to the Blues winning yet another league title, with the crunch fixture at Stamford Bridge between the teams next month brought forward a day to Saturday, 16 November at 5.30pm so Sky can cover it live.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
