Chelsea took just five minutes to open the scoring as Arsenal squandered possession to Erin Cuthbert, who drove towards goal before squaring for Bethany England to finish from close range.
Arsenal went in search of the equaliser through Dominique Bloodworth while Kate McCabe struck the post. Just before half time the Blues doubled their lead through Sweden international Jonna Andersson’s long-range effort.
England put the result beyond doubt when she raced onto a flick and finished superbly into the top corner.
Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger again denied Beth Mead while at the other end Pauline Peyraud-Magnin prevented Fran Kirby from making it a rout.
After the game, Emma Hayes told the Chelsea website “I say to my team my job is to give you a game plan and your job is to carry it out. If they carry out the game plan and we lose, then it is my responsibility. If they don’t carry it out then it is their responsibility.
“There were minimal mistakes,’ observed the boss. ‘We gifted goals to Man City last week and now we have shown what happens when we don’t make errors and we don’t give an easy goal. It is probably the quietest game we have seen Mead and Miedema have all season.”
