LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Chelsea's hopes of winning a seventh Women's Super League title in a row suffered a devastating blow on Saturday when Beth Mead scored one goal and made a second in a 2-0 away win for Arsenal.
With 13 of their 22 league games played, Chelsea remain second in the table on 27 points, six behind leaders Manchester City, who play London City Lionesses on Sunday. The win moves Arsenal up to 26 points, three ahead of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Without an away league win against Chelsea since October 2018, Arsenal looked the hungrier of the two sides in the first half, but it took a slice of Mead magic in the second to break the deadlock.
Fed by Alessia Russo 10 minutes into the second half, Mead swept a blistering shot across the face of goal and past Chelsea keeper Hannah Hampton to leave the ball nestling inside the far post, briefly silencing the crowd at Stamford Bridge.
That goal jolted an unusually sluggish Chelsea into life, but they conceded a second six minutes later when Mead picked out Mariona Caldentey in the box and the Spaniard shifted the ball to her right before drilling it past the helpless Hampton.
Arsenal's Stina Blackstenius had a goal disallowed before Chelsea mounted a late onslaught but despite a number of shots from distance they could not pull back a goal as they slumped to their second league defeat of the season.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)
