WSL London derby: Five things learned as perfect Arsenal hammer champions Chelsea at home

Arsenal Women snatched back top spot of the Women’s Super League table after beating reigning champions Chelsea 5-0 at Kingsmeadow.

The Gunners went in 2-0 up at half-time and scored three goals within an 11-minute salvo after the interval to rout the Blues and maintain their grip on first place in the table, with Manchester City also winning 7-1 against West Ham on Sunday.

Here are five things we learned watching this afternoon’s London derby.

1. Chelsea Women stunned by landmark defeat

The Blues’ 25-game WSL unbeaten run came to an end in emphatic style.

Having been unbeaten at home since May 2016, and having avoided defeat at all in the league last season, the reigning champions were humbled today as Arsenal netted five without reply. To put this into context, Chelsea conceded only 13 times in the league at all last season.

This result also ends the 100% clean-sheet run Chelsea have maintained in all seven games this season so far and is their all-time joint-heaviest home defeat, according to records on Soccerway, along with a 0-5 defeat to Bristol City in May 2007.

We fall to our first league defeat of the season. #CFCW pic.twitter.com/ENzX8Pyer7

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) October 14, 2018

2. Arsenal Women’s attack is unparalleled right now

Elsewhere in the Women’s Super League, Man City may have thrashed West Ham United with a 7-1 win, but Arsenal answered the Citizen’s statement of intent with one of their own.

The Gunners continue their goal-scoring streak with 21 goals in four top-flight games, an average of 5.25 per match. Against Chelsea, they were at their clinical best as Arsenal’s five goals came from seven shots on target.

3. Kim Little’s big performance

Chelsea may have superstar Fran Kirby on their side, but today it was Arsenal’s Kim Little who shined. With a goalscoring record of six goals in five appearances against Chelsea, Little added to her tally from a penalty while she also recorded an assist. The Scottish international was all over the pitch this afternoon, causing headaches for the Blues until she was substituted off in the 65th minute following a clash with Chelsea’s Drew Spence, who came in for criticism on social media for the challenge.

Given Little’s contributions, today and over the course of the campaign so far, fans will be hoping that the apparent injury is not serious.

Drew Spence goes into the back of Kim Little, and the Arsenal player has to leave the field. Really really hope that isn't serious, as she is crucial to this Arsenal squad and has been so unlucky with injuries

— Molly Hudson (@M0lly_Writes) October 14, 2018

Drew Spence with a proper hack at Kim Little’s ankle, only a yellow. Really should’ve been a red.

— Tim Stillman (@Stillberto) October 14, 2018

4.  Perfect Arsenal in the driving seat for WSL title

The Gunners are in the middle of an impressive winning streak in the WSL, and should they continue in current form they are likely to be challenging for the WSL title, their first since 2012. They are currently top of the table with a one-point lead and a game in hand.

Full-time: Chelsea 0-5 Arsenal

We've maintained our place at the top of the @FAWSL table thanks to goals from Kim Little, @VivianneMiedema (2) and @JordanNobbs8 (2)

COME ON YOU GUNNERS! pic.twitter.com/VfHaiuaMS7

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) October 14, 2018

5. Toothless Chelsea unlikely to retain the title

Adding to the embarrassment of conceded five times to their London rivals at home is the fact Chelsea failed to score yet again. They have, in fact, only scored two goals in the WSL league this season so far, both of which came in the recent win over Brighton.

And so with just one win in five league matches, today’s emphatic defeat leaves Chelsea way off the pace already.

With Man City having scored 16 goals and Arsenal having on 21 already, there must be some serious concerns in the Blues’ camp about how they are going to recover and find the cutting edge they so clearly lacked this afternoon. Having switched from a back three to a back four for today’s game following their victory over Brighton, it will be interesting to see if manager Emma Hayes reverts to the prior, and successful, formula.

Hayes told BBC Sport after the game: “I thought we were dominant up until the [opening] goal, but at this level you have got to take the first one.

“I’ve had more good days in football than bad. As far as I’m concerned this is a part of the journey.

“We have to sit here and say that our team had gone 25 games unbeaten – we haven’t been beaten for a long time in that regard.”

Only the top two teams at the end of the season will qualify for the Champions League, meaning Chelsea’s participation for next term is already in serious jeopardy. They are currently fifth and, more worryingly, five of the six teams below them have a game in hand.

About the only thing going for the reigning WSL champions is that they have another 13 matches to turn it around.

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