Cloe Lacasse’s brilliant stoppage-time equaliser rescued Arsenal from back-to-back Women’s Super League defeats as they held fellow title challengers Manchester United to a 2-2 draw.

United debutant Melvine Malard thought she had snatched victory for the Reds when she poked past Sabrina D’Angelo in the 81st minute.

But Lacasse struck a spectacular 25-yard effort past Mary Earps in the third minute of added time to stun a record Leigh Sports Village crowd of 8,312.

The Gunners had been on the receiving end of a shock Liverpool victory in their opening game and manager Jonas Eidevall made six changes from the side that lost at the Emirates Stadium.

It was Stina Blackstenius, one of those changes, who opened the scoring in the 14th minute when she burst into the box to latch on to a long Steph Catley delivery before coolly slotting past Earps.

Eidevall’s adapted line-up allowed a bolstered midfield to crowd out United and force the hosts to play long balls or try to play on the break.

Blackstenius continued to tease the United defence after Arsenal went ahead and forced Maya Le Tissier to make an expertly-timed tackle after the Swede once again cut past the hosts’ defence.

United’s direct approach eventually paid dividends when Gunners goalkeeper D’Angelo mistimed her kick as she attempted to deal with an aerial ball played by Gabby George and her mishap allowed Leah Galton to tap into an empty net in the 27th minute.

The hosts soon became better settled in defence and limited Arsenal to just one more first-half effort on goal, with former United striker Alessia Russo – whose every touch was booed – blasting over the crossbar shortly before the break.

Marc Skinner’s side had an early sight of goal after the interval and summer signing Geyse should have done better when she dragged a shot wide of the far post.

Arsenal defender Jen Beattie was called into action to prevent Geyse and Ella Toone from registering better efforts as United continued to ramp up the pressure.

The visitors weathered the storm and managed to regain an element of control before the introduction of Caitlin Foord, Frida Maanum and Katie McCabe injected more energy into their attacking efforts.

Russo came close to putting the Gunners ahead with just under a quarter of an hour remaining but her curling effort came back off the inside of a post.

Malard, on for her debut in the 76th minute, made an instant impression as she latched on to a loose ball to put United ahead.

Arsenal pushed for an equaliser and Maanum was correctly denied by the offside flag when slotting home a pass from Foord, but there was to be no denying Lacasse.