Arsenal kept their Women’s Super League title hopes alive in emphatic fashion on Tuesday night, cruising to a commanding 5-1 win over Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners got off to a perfect start, dominating the early minutes with a calculated high press, before Caitlin Foord broke the deadlock in the ninth minute, tapping in a superb Frida Maanum cross at the back post.

The hosts doubled their lead just seven minutes later, as a sweeping team move from back to front culminated in Stina Blackstenius slotting in from close range after Beth Mead whipped a low ball across the face of goal.

Leicester briefly threatened a response, but the Foxes simply couldn’t handle the pressure, conceding a third on the half-hour mark. Goalscorers Blackstenius and Foord combined to add to Arsenal’s advantage, with the latter’s first-time shot taking a deflection on its way into the net.

The Gunners began to enjoy themselves from there, with a win in sight to narrow the gap with league leaders Chelsea to just three points.

Arsenal manager Renee Slegers brought up some changes at the break, likely keeping the Gunners’ upcoming Women’s Champions League semi-final clash with Lyon on Saturday in mind.

But it didn’t matter as the hosts continued to peg Leicester back, with Mead arriving in perfect time to power a header into the net just past the hour mark, following a delightful solo run by Kim Little.

The Foxes fought admirably, pulling a consolation goal back in the 65th minute, courtesy of Nicole Momiki’s strike from just outside the penalty area.

But the Gunners continued in emphatic style, with Victoria Pelova pouncing to smash home a volley after Katie McCabe’s set-piece attempt ricocheted off the woodwork in the 69th minute.

Arsenal’s dominant performance keeps them in second in the WSL standings, three points behind Chelsea with two games left, while Leicester suffer their 11th loss of the season, placing them 10th, just two points off Tottenham.

Five-star showing in N5 pic.twitter.com/6bC9r2TAU8
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 15, 2025

Data debrief: High-flying Gunners maintain perfect record over Leicester

With Tuesday’s win, Arsenal have now won each of their eight WSL meetings with Leicester City at an aggregate score of 29-3. But interestingly, this was the first time the Gunners failed to keep a clean sheet at home against the Foxes.

Arsenal’s dominance 2025 has been unparalleled though, with no team having won more points (24) or scored more goals (34) in the WSL than the Gunners so far this year.

Prior to Tuesday’s clash, the Gunners were averaging 3.6 goals per game across their eight games this calendar year – the second-best rate by a team in a single year in the WSL after Chelsea in 2017 (53 goals in 13 games – 4.1 average).

On Tuesday, they heavily overperformed their expected goals (xG) value of 2.69, amassing 19 shots, 10 of which were on target. Leicester, meanwhile, managed four shots on target from their five attempts, at a lamentable xG of 0.17.