A Georgia Stanway double and a tactical masterclass from Nick Cushing, who said Manchester City now have a “fighter’s chance” at the title, led the home side to become the first team to take points off an injury-hit Arsenal and closed the gap at the top of the Women’s Super League to three points.

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“In this isolated period nine points is very difficult, six would have still been a challenge, three and we’ve given ourselves a fighter’s chance,” the City manager said. “But it doesn’t mean anything. I remember eating my Christmas dinner last year and we were top of the league unbeaten, won every game, Continental Cup final, FA Cup semi-final, Champions League quarter-final and by the end of the season we took nothing.”

Arsenal struggled to assert themselves with the same swagger they have elsewhere this season. With their midfield architects Kim Little and Jordan Nobbs out with a fractured tibia and ruptured ACL respectively, Joe Montemurro was forced to drop Danielle van de Donk much deeper and hand a full debut to the 17-year-old Paige Bailey-Gayle.

“I’ll never make excuses for the injuries; that’s the squad I put out, that’s the squad that represented Arsenal,” said Montemurro. “We couldn’t break them down and every time we got the opportunity to pull the trigger we didn’t.

“We lacked that quality in front of goal. They were camped on their 18-yard line and the midfield line was dropping off. We couldn’t find any space.”

The warning signs were there early on. England’s Under-20 World Cup bronze medalist Stanway raced through the middle in the sixth minute but Leah Williamson recovered enough to put her off and her tame shot went into the arms of Pauline Peyraud-Magnin. With Tessa Wullaert and Jill Scott combining neatly on the right for City’s brightest play, it felt as if the breakthrough would come from there. Instead a testing Demi Stokes cross from a rare break on the right landed at the feet of Stanway who fired City in front from point-blank range.

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With 15 minutes of the half left the Gunners began to claw their way into the game. The league’s top scorer, Viv Miedema, who was playing deeper and deeper, won the ball on the edge of the City box and slipped in Beth Mead, Arsenal’s brightest outlet. She twisted past two blue shirts before laying off to Katie McCabe, who rattled the crossbar from a tight angle.

Shortly afterwards Mead cut inside and shot from 30 yards, forcing Ellie Roebuck to tip the ball over the bar. With Arsenal chasing the game and the City captain, Steph Houghton, and Jen Beattie nullifying the threat of Miedema, who has scored or assisted 14 goals in her last six games, Arsenal got scrappy. Miedema tried her luck on the left, evading two challenges before handing over to Mead, who shot from an acute angle. Roebuck pushed the ball into the air before catching it ahead of the incoming Van de Donk.

In terms of the outcome it was as close as Arsenal got. A wonderful ball from Keira Walsh sent Stanway away on a solo run on the right; she cut inside and beat two defenders before slotting into the bottom corner to trigger rapturous celebrations in the stands and on the pitch.

“I can’t do much more than I’m doing and hopefully he sees that,” said Stanway of Phil Neville, when asked about her World Cup chances after her two goals in front of the national manager. “But at the end of the day I’m still young [19], I have loads of time and there’s massive competition. It would be a dream come true to go but I’m at the start of my journey.”

Everton gain first win with derby success

A first win of the season for Everton, against Liverpool, kickstarted Willie Kirk’s tenure on Merseyside. Inessa Kaagman’s 30-yard shot gave the home side a sixth-minute lead before Jess Clarke equalised. However, Simone Magill sealed Everton’s win before the break.

Birmingham kept pace with Manchester City and Arsenal as goals from Lucy Staniforth and Charlie Wellings saw off Yeovil, despite Emily Syme’s late reply. West Ham leapfrogged Bristol City with a 1-0 win at Brighton thanks to a Jane Ross header. While Chelsea climbed to fourth with a 1-0 win at home to Reading.