Manchester United's Champions League ambitions went up in smoke at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday as Arsenal reignited their own hopes for the season with a devastating 3-1 victory over the Red Devils.
The visitors started brightly and looked like they would cause the Gunners' depleted backline problems with the high energy and pace of Nikita Parris and Geyse, but it was actually the latter putting the ball in her own net that broke the deadlock, Katie McCabe's corner causing chaos at the near post before bouncing off the Brazilian and beyond Mary Earps.
There were still errors in the Arsenal defence, however. Goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo dropped a routine catch right at the feet of Parris early on and Laia Codina's poor attempted block almost diverted Ella Toone's shot into the back of the net. But United didn't ask enough questions in this area and instead it was Arsenal who took control of the game, doubling the lead when Katie Zelem cleared the ball right onto the head of Cloe Lacasse, who simply couldn't miss.
If the travelling United fans thought it couldn't get worse, they were wrong. Beth Mead had been getting the better of Gemma Evans all afternoon, and it culminated in the Wales international chopping down the England star in the box just before half-time. Kim Little made no mistake from the spot, sending Earps the wrong way to put Arsenal in an unassailable lead.
The uneventful manner in which the game petered out will have only been more frustrating for United, with them unable to really conjure up anything to worry the Gunners in the most important game of their season, though a late consolation through Lucia Garcia did make the scoreline more flattering.
Regardless, with eight games remaining, the seven-point gap that has opened up between the Red Devils and Arsenal, who sit in the final European spot, is surely too large to overcome. The north London side, meanwhile, are now only three points off the top.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Emirates Stadium...
