Chelsea Ladies missed the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Women’s Super League table to five points as they were held to a 1-1 by Arsenal Women.
The Blues desperately needed a victory away at the Gunners to put pressure on second-placed Manchester City, who now have two games in hand and are only three points behind.
Chelsea, fresh from their midweek qualification for the Women’s Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history, led through Fran Kirby’s finish following a poor clearance by Sari van Veenendaal.
The Arsenal keeper kicked the ball straight to Ramona Bachmann on the right wing and the Swiss attacker played a fine ball into the box, which Kirby controlled and showed great speed to react first and poke the ball home.
But Beth Mead’s solo strike levelled the score in first-half injury-time when she cut in from the right and sped into the box before slipping the ball past keeper Hedvig Lindahl.
Both sides had opportunities to earn all three points after the break, but the best fell to the Blues.
Kirby had a great one-on-one chance but went too wide after rounding van Veenendaal.
And the big keeper made two saves to deny substitute Erin Cuthbert late on, the second being the pick when she stopped the Scot’s low strike with her foot.