Lauren James shines as Chelsea easily defeat Arsenal in a Women’s Super League title battle at Stamford Bridge.

In a thrilling clash at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea dealt a major blow to Arsenal’s hopes of clinching the Women’s Super League title with a resounding 3-1 victory.

The match got off to a delayed start due to a kit blunder by The Gunners, who had to purchase black socks from the Chelsea megastore. Unfortunately for Jonas Eidevall’s side, their misfortunes continued on the pitch.

It was Lauren James who broke the deadlock after 15 minutes with a goal that Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger will want to forget. James skillfully received a pass from Sjoeke Nusken and displayed brilliant footwork to engineer a strike. Despite Zinsberger managing to get a hand to the ball, it ended up looping into her own net.

Just four minutes later, Nusken extended Chelsea’s lead with a quick reaction to divert Erin Cuthbert’s strike past Zinsberger. Lady Luck seemed to be on Chelsea’s side as their third goal came through a fortunate ricochet. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd intercepted Leah Williamson’s diagonal set-piece, and her effort took a deflection that left Zinsberger helpless, leaving Arsenal trailing 3-0 after just 32 minutes.

James continued to torment Arsenal with a long-range effort that narrowly missed the target. Eidevall made a triple substitution at halftime, hoping to inspire a comeback, but Arsenal’s improvement in the second half was not enough to mount a memorable turnaround.

Instead, it was Chelsea who had the final say as Kim Little’s strike took a deflection off Catarina Macario for an own goal.

With this defeat, Arsenal now find themselves six points behind Chelsea in third place with only six games remaining. Emma Hayes’ side, on the other hand, sit three points clear of Manchester City, who will be in action against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.

The result leaves Arsenal’s title aspirations fading away, while Chelsea’s grip on the top spot strengthens.