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Arsenal beat Man Utd in seven-goal thriller to seal second

Arsenal celebrate their fourth goalGetty Images

Emma Smith

BBC Sport journalist

Arsenal secured second place in the Women's Super League with a chaotic victory over Manchester United, who finished third.

Chloe Kelly fired Arsenal ahead early on following a mistake by United keeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, before Ella Toone equalised shortly after.

Arsenal scored three times in 16 minutes after half-time. Mariona Caldentey tucked away a penalty before Frida Maanum marked her 150th Gunners appearance with a slotted finish following Katie McCabe's incisive pass, and Kim Little added a fourth with a powerful low strike.

But Manchester United forced a grandstand finish when Elisabeth Terland netted a deflected strike before Maya le Tissier scored from the spot after McCabe tripped Celin Bizet.

Arsenal ended their league campaign with 48 points from 22 matches, four points above United.

That means the Gunners will enter next season's Champions League in September's final qualifying round - unless they beat Barcelona in this season's final on 24 May - while United must go into the second round of qualifying in August.

Man Utd celebrate their equaliserGetty Images

The game sprang into life after 115 seconds because of an unusual error by Tullis-Joyce - who went into this match as the front-runner for the WSL Golden Glove for the most clean sheets, but loses out to Chelsea's Hannah Hampton.

Tullis-Joyce spilled a routine cross then lost the flight of the rebound. It allowed Kelly to nip in and fire Arsenal ahead.

It was a short-lived lead. Arsenal keeper Manuela Zinsberger was left frustrated having seconds earlier made a superb save, as United defender Millie Turner made first contact with the resulting corner, heading back across goal for the unmarked Toone.

Arsenal raised their game after the interval, and for a while blew United away. On 50 minutes Caitlin Foord fell over Clinton's leg in the area, allowing Caldentey to slot in the spot-kick.

Shortly after they picked open the United defence for Maanum to score, and roared on by the Emirates Stadium crowd in the sunshine they found a fourth with Little finishing powerfully after being set up by Kelly.

But Arsenal eased up and Terland scored her 10th league goal of the campaign after pouncing on a poor pass by McCabe, before United captain Le Tissier sent Zinsberger the wrong way on 76 minutes.

With the WSL season done, both these sides have major finals to focus on - United defend the FA Cup against Chelsea at Wembley next weekend, before Arsenal's huge showdown with Barcelona in Lisbon.

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1M. Zinsberger

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11K. McCabe

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2E. Fox

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8Mariona Caldentey

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10K. Little

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19C. Foord

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12F. Maanum

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18C. Kelly

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23A. Russo

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25S. Blackstenius

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5Laia Codina

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9B. Mead

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3L. Wubben-Moy

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13L. Wälti

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Starting XI

91P. Tullis-Joyce

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17D. Janssen

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21M. Turner

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4M. Le Tissier

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2A. Sandberg

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8G. Clinton

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20H. Miyazawa

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15C. Bizet Ildhusøy

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7E. Toone

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11L. Galton

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9M. Malard

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13S. Awujo

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16L. Naalsund

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19E. Terland

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