Olivia Smith and Stina Blackstenius got the goals as Arsenal beat London City Lionesses 2-0 on Sunday, a result which allowed the Gunners to move within one point of the Women's Super League's European places. With Chelsea playing in the League Cup final on Sunday, Arsenal knew the short journey across the capital presented an opportunity to close the gap and put some pressure on the third-placed Blues, and they took it, winning their seventh game in a row in comfortable fashion.
London City actually started the better of the two sides, and it was Freya Godfrey, a product of the Gunners' youth set-up, who had a huge chance just 12 minutes in after some nice work from Poppy Pattinson and Sanni Franssi. However, the 20-year-old put her close-range effort over the bar, and three minutes later, it was 1-0 to Arsenal.
Chloe Kelly was the creator, showing a great burst of pace on the left wing that allowed her to evade Jana Fernandez and get to the byline, where she delivered a low cross that was somehow missed by everyone, until Smith darted in and sent it into the back of the hosts' net. From there, Arsenal were in firm control of the game, albeit without creating much of note. Emily Fox drilled a low effort from range wide in the first-half stoppage time but that was about it in terms of further action in the final third.
That didn't necessarily change much in the second half, either. There were a couple of half-chances for Arsenal, created by Alessia Russo's clever movement off the ball, and a scare when the ball fell to Franssi in their own box, only for the London City forward to hit her effort right at Anneke Borbe.
When Russo picked out Blackstenius 14 minutes from time then, and the Swede confidently arrowed a first-time finish into the back of the net, it felt like job done. Their hosts would push hard to get back into the game but to no avail, as the Gunners saw the win out to move within a point of Chelsea and that final Champions League spot, with a game in hand.
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