Chelsea Ladies 3-2 Arsenal Women
- Published
Maren Mjelde scores from close range to give Chelsea the lead
Chelsea Ladies won an entertaining WSL 1 London derby against Arsenal Women thanks to a late own goal from Gunners goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal.
Arsenal had twice come from behind to level before van Veenendaal spilled Jonna Andersson's shot into the net.
Maren Mjelde prodded in to give Chelsea a first-half lead, but Vivianne Miedema equalised shortly after the break.
Chelsea's Ji So-yun and Dominique Janssen exchanged scrappy strikes before van Veenendaal's error won it.
In a game of numerous chances and poor defending, Dutch keeper van Veenendaal and opposite number Hedvig Lindahl had made several fine saves to keep the scoring down.
It was also a match littered with scrappy close-range goals, with four of the five creeping over the line.
The victory maintains Chelsea's unbeaten start in WSL 1, with the team having won six of their opening seven games, while the defeat was Arsenal's first in four fixtures.
The Blues remain second in the table, after leaders Manchester City beat Reading 5-2 away later on Sunday.
Chelsea captain Katie Chapman:
"What with the conditions and it being a derby game, it was always going to be an end-to-end game
"At the end of the day we got three points and that is what matters. None of the goals were good goals, they were all scrappy, but we will take it.
"We know our performance wasn't good enough today, but we ground out the win. Winning gives you a boost, it was important to get that today, no matter how scrappy it was."
Arsenal midfielder Jordan Nobbs:
"There are a lot of disappointed faces in the dressing room, but disappointed in a good way because we felt we deserved more from the game today.
"I think we put on a great performance but playing a top team like Chelsea, they have great counter-attacking ability and that's where they've scored their goals today.
"Sari had a great game and made some great saves, both keepers were great today and that shows the type of football we want to play, getting lots of shots and goals. I'm sure it was a good one to watch but we are disappointed with the result."