Aston Villa 1-3 Arsenal: Gunners come from behind to seal away win

Arsenal mounted a late comeback to finally beat Aston Villa goalkeeper Anna Leat and keep their faint Women’s Super League title hopes alive with a 3-1 victory.

Despite dominating the majority of the match, Jonas Eidevall’s side were forced to come from behind at Villa Park in a game which was delayed by 45 minutes due to disruption to the visitors’ travel plans.

Substitute Stina Blackstenius sealed the victory with a controversial strike in the 86th minute as two quickfire goals killed off Villa’s resistance.

Blackstenius drove into the area but slipped and landed on the ball with her hands before getting back up to fire a deflected strike past Leat as referee Stacey Pearson waved away any Villa complaints.

Lotte Wubben-Moy headed her side into the lead two minutes earlier, after Alessia Russo’s cross from deep found the defender at the back post.

Despite Arsenal dominance, Villa opened the scoring in the 35th minute through a counter-attack that would have pleased manager Carla Ward, who oversaw things from the stands due to not wanting to spread her illness onto the squad.

Jordan Nobbs played a pin-point through ball down the wing to Adriana Leon in behind who pulled the ball back to Ebony Salmon.

Salmon then guided the ball into the far corner past Manuela Zinsberger to score in consecutive WSL matches after notching against Everton last weekend.

Arsenal came out after the break and found an equaliser through Victoria Pelova in the 54th minute.

Former Gunner Nobbs lost possession 30 yards out which allowed Russo to drive at goal and get a shot away.

Leat was equal to Russo’s strike however her parry dropped nicely for Pelova to fire into the back of the net on the half-volley.

Arsenal had their tails up following the goal as they hunted to take the lead and they nearly did soon after when Frida Maanum struck the post from just inside the area before Russo turned the rebound over.

Despite being kept relatively quiet in the first half, Leat was forced into some impressive saves after the interval.

Beth Mead picked up on a loose goal-kick by Leat before finding substitute Caitlin Foord at the back post in acres of space, but the New Zealand keeper made amends though by pushing the Australian’s effort over the bar before being called upon again from the resulting corner.

But Leat could not keep Wubben-Moy and Blackstenius at bay as Arsenal, six points behind joint WSL leaders Chelsea and Manchester City, triumphed.