Arsenal's run to last year's Women's Champions League trophy was characterised by astonishing comebacks but it doesn't look like the Gunners will need one to continue their title defence beyond the quarter-final stage, after beating Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of their all-English last eight tie on Tuesday night. Goals from Stina Blackstenius and Chloe Kelly allowed the reigning European champions to take an advantage into next week's meeting at Stamford Bridge, in which they will only need to avoid defeat to reach the semi-finals.
At this stage last year, Arsenal went 2-0 down to Real Madrid, forcing them to beat the Spanish side 3-0 at the Emirates in the same week that Chelsea overturned the same deficit on home soil, to beat Manchester City. The Gunners know very well, then, that this 3-1 win doesn't signal the end of this tie. That said, it's a fantastic lead to have, especially given they've only won once at Chelsea in their last 10 visits.
It was one given to them first by Blackstenius, who glanced home Katie McCabe's terrific free-kick delivery at the midway point of the first half. The deadlock could've been broken before that, either by Lauren James hitting the post for Chelsea early on at the other end or Blackstenius taking an opportunity a few minutes prior that Hannah Hampton saved well, but the Swede was clinical to take her second chance and give the hosts the advantage. Kelly then doubled that 10 minutes later. Given plenty of time and space on the edge of the box to wind up a shot, her powerful drive skidded underneath Hampton, who would have expected herself to do better given her world-class quality.
When James curled an absolute beauty into the top corner midway through the second half, it looked like Chelsea could take a crucially smaller deficit into their home leg. But Russo responded to her England team-mate's magic with some of her own, quite brilliantly volleying in a third for Arsenal after being slipped in behind the Blues' bamboozled backline by Blackstenius. This tie isn't over yet but it is firmly in the Gunners' control, with their Champions League title defence looking set to continue - and at the expense of their London rivals, still searching for that first UWCL triumph.
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