'Us at our very worst' - Emma Hayes admits Chelsea were 'bullied' by Arsenal during 4-1 defeat as Jonas Eidevall reacts to Lauren James' stamp on Lia Walti

A Women's Super League record crowd of 59,042 saw the Gunners cruise past Chelsea at the Emirates with a brace from Alessia Russo and a goal each by Beth Mead and Amanda Ilestedt. Hayes gave no excuses for her team's poor display after the final whistle, while Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall reacted to Lauren James' stamp on Lia Walti, which was only punished with a yellow card.

Hayes said: “That’s as bad as I’ve seen us for a long time, the better team won by a country mile. They bullied us. They dominated in the duels; all phases of our play were poor. That’s not us at our best today, that’s probably us at our very worst. You have to get beaten, you can’t go a whole season unbeaten, there’s lots of top teams. What you cannot do is give away three goals before half‑time and then give a mindless fourth. You’re giving it up. Teams lose football matches. We’ve lost a football match, it’s not the end of the world. We haven’t lost the title today. We’ve lost three points.”

The Chelsea boss claimed that she never saw James' stamp, after the Lionesses and Chelsea star controversially escaped a red card, and Eidevall refused to be drawn on the incident after his team's victory. “I saw it but I don’t think I can really comment on it,” said the Arsenal boss. “We had six yellow cards, they had one, in a game where it’s very even from a foul perspective. It is what it is."

The two sides are now level on 22 points in the WSL standings, with Chelsea still edging ahead in first place thanks to their superior goal difference. Arsenal's title prospects may be strengthened further by the return of striker Vivianne Miedema, who is regaining her footing after a protracted layoff due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury. England captain Leah Williamson is still out, but she might return before the end of the season to give the team a boost, and new summer additions are beginning to gel.

Arsenal will next be in action when they take on Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday in the WSL Cup, three days before they are due to face their north London rivals again in the league. Chelsea, meanwhile, will come up against Hacken on Thursday night in the Women's Champions League.