Leaders Chelsea maintain control as Guro Reiten’s late penalty sees off Arsenal

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

A scrappy encounter between the London rivals 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.

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For McCabe, there may be more consequences to come after she kicked the tunnel on her way off the pitch, a 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.

Arsenal drop to fourth as a result of Manchester United’s 3-0 triumph over Brighton in Sunday’s late game – a result which lifted Marc Skinner’s team back above their neighbours into second.

Fresh from her hat-trick over neighbours Manchester City last weekend, it took only two minutes for Toone to open the scoring at the Leigh Sports Village as she slotted into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

Hinata Miyazawa doubled their advantage just under 10 minutes later and Celin Bizet beat Sophie Baggaley from distance in the second half to seal a comfortable evening for United.

Tottenham’s Olivia Holdt scored a stoppage-time winner on her debut to earn a 3-2 victory and break Crystal Palace hearts.

Spurs looked like they would cruise to victory when Bethany England struck a first-half brace to give them a healthy advantage heading into the break.

However, Palace hit back with two goals after the interval through Katie Stengel and Ashleigh Weerden to level the game before Holdt bent in a stunning free-kick to condemn Palace to a fifth successive defeat.

Leicester recovered from a goal down to boost their own survival hopes with a much-needed 2-1 victory over Liverpool.

Liverpool were lucky to take the lead in the third minute when Janina Leitzig’s clearance bounced off Olivia Smith and into the back of the net but Janice Cayman and Missy Goodwin each struck as Liverpool suffered a fifth defeat in six games.

West Ham leapfrogged Everton with a 2-0 victory courtesy of first-half goals from Shekiera Martinez and Viviane Asseyi.

It took only nine minutes for the Hammers to take the lead when Martinez was first to glance home from a corner before Asseyi smartly tucked away from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.