Hands up if you enjoyed that WSL weekend? Well, Chelsea did, if Erin Cuthbert’s goal celebration during the 5-0 win over Everton was anything to go by. There were claims on social media that her routine, which involved raising her left hand in the air, was a reference to Arsenal defender Leah Williamson, who sometimes optimistically sticks her hand up in the hope an offside call might go her way.

But Aggie Beever-Jones, who scored the champions’ opening goal on Sunday, explained to broadcaster Sky Sports that the celebration after they had gone 2-0 up just before the break was a reference to a save an academy goalkeeper had made in training during the week. Cuthbert posted on her Instagram story on Sunday night to confirm that was the case, bringing any further speculation to a halt.

That the celebration was interesting enough for the broadcaster to ask Beever-Jones about post-match said a lot about Chelsea’s dominance.

The victory means they have won their opening five WSL matches for the first time, scoring 20 goals in the process — eight more than leaders Manchester City, who have played a game more. They fielded an ostensibly weaker side on Sunday, with Beever-Jones, 21, and Maika Hamano, 20, starting in attack. Wieke Kaptein, 19, also netted her first Chelsea goal when she came on later in the game, becoming the 14th player to score for them this season.

Sonia Bompastor’s team will face tougher tests, of course. The next block of matches includes Sunday’s away trip to Liverpool, where the champions lost 4-3 last season, before hosting City the following Saturday. But Chelsea’s attack is free-flowing, especially compared to the hard-earned 1-0 win in their season opener against Aston Villa three months ago, so they should continue to add to their impressive goal tally.

The same cannot be said for Arsenal.

Their 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village on Sunday was what we have come to expect: a dominant performance, chances created, chances not taken. Arsenal only had eight fewer touches in the opposition box than Chelsea did against Everton — 58 for Chelsea, 50 for Arsenal — yet could not see off United. France forward Melvine Malard flicked Rachel Williams’ header past goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar in the 82nd minute to cancel out Alessia Russo’s opener for the visitors.

Interim Arsenal coach Renee Slegers has used similar players and tactics to Jonas Eidevall, who left the club last month, and, unsurprisingly, is running into the same problems.

Arsenal do not appear to be in a rush to bring in a new manager.

Nick Cushing, who reported was the preferred choice, guided New York City to victory against Cincinnati in the second game of their best-of-three series in the first round of the MLS title play-offs on Saturday, so a decider will be played next weekend — with potentially more play-off ties to follow should they go through. Slegers looks likely to be at the helm until the international break at the end of the month, if not beyond.

Arsenal cannot afford to keep dropping points.

They have played their main top-four rivals now — City, United and Chelsea — and taken only two points from the possible nine, despite being the better team for large parts of all three games. Seven points behind City already with six matches gone, a title challenge this season looks beyond them but there is still a Champions League 2025-26 qualification spot, as well as this season’s tournament, to content for. Next in Europe are games against Juventus home and away (on November 12 in Italy, nine days later in London) — a double-header that could be pivotal in terms of advancing from Group C to the quarter-finals.

There is a danger of their 2024-25 season being written off. This is supposed to be the year Arsenal’s experienced core kick on and take the team to another level. High-flying Brighton & Hove Albion, third in the WSL after Nikita Parris’ third goal of the season gave them a 1-0 win against Leicester City, visit the Emirates on Friday and are already four points ahead of Arsenal in the race for those three Champions League spots. More dropped points could make things even more complicated for Arsenal.

Tottenham Hotspur picked up their first league win since the season’s opening weekend, after a bizarre own goal in stoppage time from Camila Saez gifted them the points against West Ham United.

The match looked to be petering out to a 1-1 draw — Bethany England’s equaliser had cancelled out Riko Ueki’s opener — until a hopeful long ball was chased by 19-year-old forward Lenna Gunning-Williams. Instead of passing back to Kinga Szemik in goal, Saez lobbed it over the ’keeper, who could do little more than watch the ball sail into the net.

Spurs had deserved a little luck after a tough run of losses against Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea, but it is unlikely that Robert Vilahamn’s side thought it would come in such a way.

Aston Villa lost 2-1 to Liverpool, keeping them winless. Fortunately for Robert de Pauw’s side, none of the teams around them at the bottom of the table picked up points either. However, Crystal Palace once again showed spirit. They lost 3-0 to leaders City, but the promoted side created chances, especially for Katie Stengel, who hit the post.

Four of the bottom five meet each other next week — Palace play Everton and West Ham host Leicester — in what could be a chance to pull away from that single relegation spot, currently occupied by Everton on goal difference, with West Ham and Villa level with them on two points.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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