The final whistle blows,the final remnants of Arsenal’s title challenge have been comprehensively shredded, and Chelsea are just one point from the title!
Villa finally have a shot on target that doesn’t go in,Katie Robinson with a tame effort from just outside the area.
There are two minutes’ stoppage timeremaining in that game, and Arsenal have a goal-kick and four goals to score.
Aston Villa have earned their 5-2 leadwith only five shots on target; Arsenal have had more possession (64%), more shots (15-14) and more shots on target (6-5), as well as more corners (10-5) and many, many more passes (489-276 as I type), but here they are.
Meanwhile the teams have landedfor the late game, and here they are:
Man Utd Women:Tullis-Joyce, Riviere, Le Tissier, Turner, George, Miyazawa, Ildhusoy, Janssen, Clinton, Galton, Malard.Subs:Middleton-Patel, Rendell, Mannion, Sandberg, Awujo, Naalsund, Toone, Griffiths, Terland.Chelsea Women:Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Girma, Charles, Walsh, Kaptein, Beever-Jones, Cuthbert, Baltimore, Ramirez.Subs:Spencer, Hamano, Mpome, Jean-Francois, Macario, Reiten, Lawrence, Kaneryd, Nusken.
Surely that ends it!This is wild, wild stuff: a one-two on the halfway line releases Chasity Grant to sprint clear of a high and understaffed Arsenal backline, and she makes no mistake – it’s 5-2!
And another one!A loveley cross from the right, and Alessia Russo stoops to head in at the near post! It’s 4-2 now, with 20 minutes or so to play!
Stina Blackstenius has pulled one back for Arsenal,getting on the end of a long pass over the top of the Villa defence, running clear, and scoring past an exposed keeper. It’s 4-1 now.
It’s a couple of years since anything like this has happened to Arsenal:in the space of a few weeks in April and May 2023 they lost league games 4-1 to Manchester City and 3-0 at home to Brighton, but they are not used to this kind of thing. Before this season they’d lost 10 games in three years; Villa have lost seven of their last 10; Manchester United tonked them 4-0 the last time they played a home game.
Well this is happening:Aston Villa have just scored a fourth –fourth– goal against Arsenal, a great move from goalkeeper through to forward, excellent passing and movement, ending with Rachel Daly poking past the keeper to make it 4-0!
Six points clear with three games to play,Chelsea would win the league tonight if they take more points from this match than Arsenal get in their 6pm kick-off against Aston Villa (likely to be impossible: Arsenal have won 12 of their last 13 in the league, slipping up only against Chelsea). The question is how the champions-elect cope with Sunday’s Champions League elimination at the hands of Barcelona.
“If we can win on Wednesday, it will be a big step for the title,” said the Chelsea coach, Sonia Bompastor. “This motivation is big enough for us to be focused. I’m still really confident going into the game. I know we have the quality in the squad, and the players and the staff will be all together to turn things around and be ready to compete.’
The fact that if they avoid defeat here they would guarantee going a full calendar year unbeaten in the WSL (winning 19 and drawing three) suggests there isn’t going to be much stopping them, but the possibility of a post-cup-defeat hangover is a straw to cling to – and in vaguely similar circumstances Chelsea lost an FA Cup semi-final to United in their first game after they were beaten in last season’s League Cup final. “I think it was the first time we beat Chelsea,” said the United forward Melvine Malard. “It was good. If we can do it once, we can do it again. We need to think like that.”
We’ll know for sure well before kick-off but the likelihood is that even if they win tonight Chelsea will have to wait until Sunday, when they visit Tottenham, to seal the title. But this game still holds intrigue as a dress rehearsal for next month’s FA Cup final, where Chelsea will attempt to complete the domestic treble for the second time in five seasons.