WSL: Late Blackstenius brace deals blow to City title hopes, Chelsea fire eight past Bristol City
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ByOli Gent
Updated 05/05/2024 at 20:37 GMT
A brace from Stina Blackstenius late in the game saw Arsenal beat Manchester City 2-1 to throw a spanner in the Women's Super League title race. Ahead by a goal going into the 88th minute, City had one hand on the trophy and were about to seal their 15th consecutive win, only for the Sweden forward to drop two bombs on Gareth Taylor's side and cut their lead at the top short.
Stina Blackstenius of Arsenal celebrates scoring her team's second goal with teammate Beth Mead during the Barclays Women´s Super League match between Manchester City and Arsenal FC
Image credit: Getty Images
A late brace from Stina Blackstenius saw Arsenal inflict a stunning defeat on Manchester City, as the Women's Super League title race took another twist.
Gareth Taylor's City side took the lead in the 17th minute when Lauren Hemp fired a shot into the far corner. Mary Fowler's dangerous cross was cleared and fell for Leila Ouahabi on the edge of the area. She played it into Hemp who span on a sixpence before launching her shot far beyond Manuela Zinsberger in the visiting net.
Young goalkeeper Khiara Keating proved her worth between the City sticks as she kept out Frida Maanum early in the first half, and Zinsberger did similar in the second half for Arsenal, denying Fowler the chance to double the hosts' lead when she really ought to have done.
It seemed as though Jonas Eidevall had really got into his Arsenal side at the interval, as the Gunners came out in much better form than they had shown in the opening 45 minutes. Beth Mead began to cause chaos for City and even had a chance to equalise when Khiara Keating gave the ball away to her but her shot couldn’t trouble the City goalkeeper.
In the 89th minute, a corner from Mead once again landed dangerously in the penalty area and after bouncing, dropped perfectly for Blackstenius to slide it past Keating for the equaliser.
Then, just three minutes later, Kim Little whipped in a brilliant cross which Blackstenius connected with, heading it into the bottom left corner and completing a dramatic turnaround.
Arsenal held onto the slim lead for the next nine minutes of added time, ending City’s 14-match winning streak.
City are still five points ahead of second-placed Arsenal and six ahead of third-placed Chelsea, but The Blues have two games in hand over City, creating a dramatic finale.
The north London outfit are now 11 points adrift at the top, while second-placed Chelsea are nine points behind the leaders, but have two games in hand.
Relentless chelsea score eight to cut goal difference deficit
Chelsea routed Bristol City 8-0 to move back into second and put the pressure on leaders City.
Emma Hayes had already conceded that City were out of reach and the title was gone. The Blues were six points adrift at the start of the the day and were seven behind City on goal difference. But eight goals and three points to City’s zero has produced a dramatic plot twist.
Guro Reiten opened the scoring within six minutes with a penalty, and Sjoeke Nusken added the second with a scrappy attempt. The lead was only 2-0 at the break but Aggie Beever-Jones added a third shortly after.
Bristol City had no answer and Reiten fired home with her second of the day. The Norwegian soon completed her hat-trick thanks to a lovely reverse pass from Catarina Macario.
The sixth came from Niamh Charles. Reiten added the seventh, becoming the first Chelsea women’s player to score four goals at home in the league.
The final goal came from a Beever-Jones header, her second of the day, and Chelsea had finished with eight goals and the title back in their reach.
Clark the hero as liverpool's dream campaign continues
Jenna Clark's goal deep into first-half stoppage time was the difference between Liverpool and Manchester United in a hotly-contested derby at Prenton Park.
It stemmed from a Marie Hobinger that caused chaos in the visitors' box, and Clark, playing on the right of the Reds' back three, got the decisive touch to steer home and give the Reds a huge three points that sees them leapfrog their arch-rivals.
Matt Beard, the Liverpool manager, was dismissed for what seemed like dissent following Gemma Evans' heavy challenge on Emma Koivisto.
Neither side particularly threatened each other's goals after that, and Liverpool, playing their final home game at Prenton Park before their big move at the end of the season, stole a narrow yet famous win.
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