Arsenal's Women's Super League title bid was brought to a shocking end on Wednesday as Aston Villa inflicted an incredible 5-2 defeat on the Gunners to allow Chelsea the chance to secure their sixth-successive league triumph against Manchester United - a chance the Blues took.
Renee Slegers' side went into the game off the back of a remarkable 4-1 win in Lyon on Sunday, one that secured their place in the Champions League final, and knowing that any slip-up could hand Chelsea the title just a few hours later. But some familiar faces stunned the north London side as they conceded five goals in a WSL game for the first time in over seven years.
That instance in September 2017 was away at Manchester City, then the champions of England. This instance, meanwhile, came against a Villa side that has been embroiled in a relegation battle for most of the season. There were few signs of those struggles here, though, as the Villans put a performance that lived up to the star quality in their squad.
Jordan Nobbs, who played over 250 games for Arsenal, broke the deadlock after Villa had dominated the opening half an hour, before Kirsty Hanson added a deserved, and spectacular, second in first-half stoppage time. Before the hour, it was four, with goals from Chasity Grant and Rachel Daly putting the Gunners on course for a defeat that would have equalled their heaviest in the WSL era.
Then the comeback began. Stina Blackstenius pulled one back with 22 minutes to go and Alessia Russo got another quickly afterwards, having been introduced at half-time. It was unfortunate for Sabrina D'Angelo, the former Arsenal goalkeeper, to have lost her clean sheet, having made some great saves to preserve it until that point, but Grant's second of the day provided the sucker-punch to ensure that the most important thing - the win - was safe, taking the wind out of the Gunners' sails just as it was building.
It left Chelsea needing just one point from their final three games to secure the title and the Blues didn't waste any time in getting over the line, beating Man Utd just a couple of hours later to secure the trophy with two weeks to spare.
GOAL rates Arsenal's players from Villa Park...
