Brighton 0-3 Arsenal: Blackstenius fires Gunners to win in front of record crowd

Arsenal sealed a convincing 3-0 win over Brighton at Broadfield Stadium in front of a record 4,921 crowd after selling out the stadium for the first time.

The Seagulls had never beaten Arsenal before and suffered another hard-fought loss after Stina Blackstenius set the visitors in motion, floating her strike past Brighton goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley and into the top left corner.

Caitlin Foord doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 80th minute before Frida Maanum added a third in stoppage time, consolidating second place in the Women’s Super League table, with Brighton slipping to eighth.

Arsenal, controlling the possession, took the early lead after a fairly stale opening 10 minutes.

The initial block was poorly handled by Jorelyn Carabali, rebounding to fall at the feet of Blackstenius who, after a near miss, lofted into the top left corner from a tight angle.

Brighton were well aware they would be without plentiful chances and capitalised on the few they were gifted, nearly levelling through Vicky Losada, captaining against her former side, but sent the misdirected header wide before two ambitious long-range shots from the Seagulls wavered off-target.

Arsenal, despite a single-goal cushion, squandered clear chances to add to their lead throughout the half. A nifty set-piece routine looked to produce the double, but Lotte Wubben-Moy could not direct the header down, tipping over the crossbar.

A sprightly second-half start from Brighton looked to prove fruitful, matched with some frantic defending from Arsenal, requiring Alessia Russo to backpedal and pull off an impressive tackle to deny England compatriot Katie Robinson.

Beth Mead, making her first WSL start in over a year, nearly doubled Arsenal’s lead but sent her powerful strike inches over the crossbar.

The Gunners, fully in the driving seat, had a trio of shots blocked by a flood of blue shirts in the box before Brighton ignited a flurry of runs into the final third but fell short in search of an equaliser.

Victoria Pelova broke from her defender and sent in a glorious ball to find substitute Maanum who, from close range, slotted wide of the net, squandering yet another golden opportunity for the visitors.

Yet Foord doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 80th minute after being given far too much space and sending a monumental strike from 20 yards out into the bottom left corner.

Five minutes into stoppage time, Maanum scored her first of the season, taking the tally to three after a well-worked team effort from the visitors.

With Brighton unable to pull one back, Arsenal earned their sixth consecutive win and kept their first WSL clean sheet this season.