Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea: Ramirez and Baltimore pile more misery on Eidevall

Sonia Bompastor continued her perfect start to life as Chelsea head coach after sealing a 2-1 win over London rivals Arsenal, piling more pressure on Jonas Eidevall.

In an end-to-end encounter that the Gunners dominated for the majority, goals from Mayra Ramirez and Sandy Baltimore sealed a sixth victory of the season for Chelsea.

The Blues opened the scoring in the fourth minute after Arsenal failed to clear Baltimore’s corner, with Millie Bright flicking the ball on to Ramirez, who hooked it over her shoulder and in.

A dominant start was further rewarded 12 minutes later when Lauren James skipped to the byline before standing the ball up at the back post for Baltimore to nod beyond Daphne van Domselaar from close range.

But Arsenal grew into the contest after going two goals down, claiming their just rewards two minutes before the interval when Caitlin Foord broke into the Chelsea box before curling an effort in off the far post to hand the hosts a lifeline.

The Gunners felt they should have had a penalty early in the second half when James barged Lotte Wubben-Moy off the ball as they continued to mount pressure on the Blues’ backline.

And they almost snatched a point late on when Katie McCabe picked out Stina Blackstenius, with the Swede sending a strike crashing off the crossbar as Chelsea held on in the closing stages to seal an already huge victory in the title race.

LONDON. IS. BLUE. #CFCW pic.twitter.com/wkPOLjhjyZ

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) October 12, 2024

Data Debrief: Blues not brilliant, but win again

Chelsea continued their excellent start under Bompastor in the Women’s Super League but struggled in the second half against Arsenal’s endless wave of pressure.

The Blues ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 0.98 from their 11 shots compared to Arsenal’s 2.74 from their 20 attempts on Hannah Hampton’s goal.

Arsenal’s Alessia Russo was perhaps the most guilty of spurning her side’s best opportunities, ending the encounter with more shots on target (four) and touches in the opposition box (12) than any other player on the pitch.