Arsenal 5-0 Bristol City: Third-placed Gunners move step closer to sealing Champions League qualification

Arsenal brushed aside Women’s Super League strugglers Bristol City to continue their push for Champions League qualification.

The visitors sat deep in a back five but only managed to keep Arsenal at bay for seven minutes before Beth Mead opened the scoring when she reacted quickly to tap home from close range after Caitlin Foord hit the post.

Arsenal took control after that and would have been frustrated to have not converted more chances before Mead fired home her second in the 32nd minute.

Any hopes of Bristol City finding a path back into the game were dashed just two minutes later when a Steph Catley cross took an unfortunate deflection off visiting defender Ella Powell and curled past her own keeper Fran Bentley.

Alessia Russo then stepped up with two second-half goals, rifling one from the edge of the area and curling another past Bentley from inside the box.

With four games remaining third-placed Arsenal’s advantage over United should be enough to seal a spot in Europe, while Bristol City have a seven-point gap to West Ham in the fight to avoid relegation.

Europe within touching distance for Arsenal

Despite being six points behind leaders Manchester City, a late comeback in the title race is unlikely for Arsenal.

But victory at home to Leicester on 21 April – or if Manchester United fail to beat Tottenham Hotspur on the same day – would confirm Champions League football next season.

Arsenal were, as expected, in command throughout and regularly enjoyed success through Foord and Catley’s overlapping runs on the left wing.

Boss Jonas Eidevall opted to start the rarely-used pairing of Russo and Stina Blackstenius in attack and the frontline excelled on Sunday, giving him a potential selection dilemma for the remaining fixtures.

England forward Mead twice used her individual skill to stay switched on and convert loose balls and often made darting runs into the box to create space for her team-mates.

Beating Bristol City was routine for the Gunners and they were never really tested in defence.

More to follow.