Manchester United hold Arsenal in WSL after Jayde Riviere sees red

Manchester City and Chelsea were the real winners, as Arsenal and Manchester United played out a goalless draw and lost further ground in the title race. United played the final 25 minutes with 10 players after Jayde Riviere was sent off for a second bookable offence, a late challenge on Caitlin Foord, but United were able to see out the remainder of the game without succumbing to Arsenal’s late pressure.

It means Manchester City could be 10 points better off than third-placed Arsenal by the end of the weekend – City play Everton on Sunday – while Manchester United are a point further behind. With 10 games remaining for Arsenal, that sort of deficit would be unlikely to be overturned.

Arsenal have lost one league game this term, but this was their fifth draw and a lack of a ruthless edge was their downfall again. It was a match that had promised much beforehand, on the WSL’s return after the winter break, but ultimately did little to warm the crowd of 37,627 on such a cold winter’s day.

The game came a day after Arsenal announced their head coach, Renée Slegers, had signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract and the Dutchwoman received a warm cheer from the home crowd before kick-off. By the end, they were booing the United goalkeeper, Phallon Tullis-Joyce, for perceived time-wasting. She made a crucial save in second-half stoppage time to keep out Victoria Pelova’s low drive that had looked to creep in. That was perhaps as close as the hosts came.

A point apart in the table, the teams were fully aware of the significance of the result in the race for Champions League places, with at least one of the so-called big four guaranteed to miss out on Europe. More significantly, neither team could afford to lose.

The visitors started brightly and Anneke Borbe had to make a fantastic save to divert Fridolina Rolfö header on to the crossbar from a Jess Park cross, after Park had combined well with Anna Sandberg down the left. Thereafter, Arsenal controlled the first half and in the 16th minute Mariona Caldentey wriggled into a shooting position just outside the area, but she was off balance and her left-foot effort flew high and wide.

Tullis-Joyce threw herself in front of Olivia Smith to block a close-range effort and Arsenal should have opened the scoring in the 26th minute. Katie McCabe’s cut-back rolled perfectly into Kim Little’s path, but her first-time shot hit the sidenetting.

After Riviere’s dismissal, the game was played almost entirely in United’s defensive third of the pitch. Tullis-Joyce got down low to a Russo chance and Little scuffed a strike over, before Pelova’s late opportunity.

Skinner gave debuts to two new signings, the striker Lea Schüller and the right-back Hanna Lundkvist, as second-half substitutes. Schüller was brought on shortly before the red card and was never given much chance to get into the game, in an attacking sense, as the visitors sat deep once they were a player down.

Lundkvist came on to add numbers to the backline after the sending off and made a solid start to life in England. Arsenal also brought on debutant Smilla Holmberg, but this was not their day.

Header image: [Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA]