Chelsea extend lead in title race after Arsenal and Katie McCabe see red | OneFootball

Chelsea FC moved nine points clear at the top of the Women’s Super League as Guro Reiten’s 84th-minute penalty secured a 1-0 victory over third-placed Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

A scrappy encounter looked to be drifting towards a stalemate when two substitutes turned the tide for Sonia Bompastor’s side in a dramatic finale.

Lauren James, having been sent on in the 57th minute to try to breathe life into a flat display, did exactly that. Having burst past Mariona Caldentey, she cut inside and was tripped by a desperate tackle from Kim Little.

In the aftermath Arsenal’s Katie McCabe was shown a second yellow card, seemingly for dissent. Once Reiten had converted the resulting spot-kick, it left the visitors facing an uphill battle.

For McCabe, there may be more consequences to come after she kicked the tunnel on her way off the pitch, a hugely-frustrating end to a game that Renee Slegers’ side had probably edged.

Chelsea paraded world-record signing Naomi Girma on the pitch before kick-off, the 24-year-old United States defender having joined the champions earlier on Sunday for a reported £900,000 from San Diego Wave.

Lucy Bronze believes Chelsea can go the rest of the season of unbeaten after extending their lead at the top.

“At the end of the day we’re trying to win four trophies and that’s difficult, we wanted to get a good stretch of points so that when we’re trying to compete in all cups we’re in a good place,” the right back told the BBC.

“We can afford that but we want to go the season unbeaten so that’s the way it us.

“There’s records out there to break, we’ve never clinched the Champions League. Unbeaten is unbelievable and we’re on a good road to doing that.”