Tottenham 1-5 Arsenal: Gunners keep title dream alive with derby win

Caitlin Foord's double helped Arsenal warm up for Wednesday's crucial clash with Bayern Munich as North London rivals Tottenham were swept aside.

After losing the first leg of their Women's Champions League quarter-final with Bayern 1-0 earlier this week, the Gunners bounced back in style at Brisbane Road. 

Jonas Eidevall's title-chasing side produced a scintillating display to banish the disappointment of a frustrating night in Germany. 

Stina Blackstenius started the rout before Foord, skipper Kim Little and Frida Maanum all got in on the act to hand Vicky Jepson's struggling Spurs a heavy loss despite Bethany England's first-half penalty. 

Victory for Arsenal moved them within two points of Women's Super League champions Chelsea, who visit Manchester City on Sunday, with a treble still a possibility for the Continental Cup winners. 

Hosts Tottenham went into the clash in high spirits as Kerys Harrop was named in the starting XI to level Gilly Flaherty's record of 177 WSL appearances. 

But the visiting fans made it feel more like it was Arsenal at home and it took only five minutes for them to score. 

England captain Leah Williamson sent the ball forward for Blackstenius to run in behind Molly Bartrip and the forward caught Tinja-Riikka Korpela off guard with a powerful effort.

It was the perfect tonic for Eidevall's side after a wasteful 90 minutes against Bayern but Spurs went close to a leveller when Drew Spence fired wide in the 11th minute. 

A stoppage for treatment for Korpela provided the hosts with some much-needed respite but normal service quickly resumed.

Foord collected the ball on the left and dribbled at Ashleigh Neville before curling home from 25 yards via the post to make it 2-0 after 29 minutes. 

A superb save by Korpela thwarted Victoria Pelova moments later and it helped Spurs regroup to finish the half strongly. 

The deficit was reduced with six minutes of the opening 45 left when Neville's shot was blocked by the hand of Katie McCabe and England drilled the resulting spot-kick past WSL debutant Sabrina D'Angelo. 

Arsenal started strongly after the break and it took Neville's tackle to deny Foord a second before Maanum's deflected shot was saved by Korpela. 

The Spurs goalkeeper stopped Little's deflected strike soon after but the visitors grabbed a third in the 66th minute. 

Amy Turner caught McCabe inside the area and ref Louise Saunders awarded another penalty, with Little doing the honours from the spot courtesy of a powerful shot into the roof of the net. 

Eidevall's troops scored again four minutes later when Foord controlled at the back post and fired home off the woodwork.

More misery was to come Tottenham's way when Williamson, now in midfield, regained possession from Spence before Maanum saw her lobbed shot take a deflection off Bartrip to loop over Korpela to make it 5-1. 

Substitute Gio Queiroz almost added a sixth but her poked effort hit the crossbar and she later limped off for the only sour note of a five-star display by Arsenal.