Sophie Ingle, Sam Kerr score as holders Chelsea beat Arsenal in Women's FA Cup

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'Brutally efficient' Chelsea dismiss Arsenal in Women's FA Cup

Sophie Lawson reports from Kingsmeadow where Chelsea scored two goals to beat Arsenal in the Women's FA Cup.

Updated: Oct 12, 2023, 03:21 pm

Goals from Sophie Ingle and Sam Kerr were the difference as Women's FA Cup holders Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 in Sunday's top-billed fifth-round clash.

Both teams had good chances to take the lead during the early exchanges with Arsenal midfielder Frida Maanum drawing a clawed save from Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger before Magda Eriksson nodded wide at the other end.

With the contest evenly poised, Arsenal wasted two further chances to claim the opener, first when Berger made a bundled save and again when Stina Blackstenius put her shot high and wide from inside the box.

Having looked dangerous in attack, Chelsea took the lead through a swift break when midfielder Ingle curled her shot around Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger in the 21st minute.

The match began to heat up with a raft of niggly fouls before Berger was called into action to deny Jelena Cankovic, before Arsenal again went close after Berger had let Katie McCabe's ball dribble through her fingers just before the break.

With the tie still on a knife-edge in the second half, Kerr put the game beyond reach on her 100th appearance for Chelsea when she raced in behind to pick up Cankovic's through ball before tucking it into the far side of the goal on 56 minutes.

With a place in the quarterfinals slipping away from them, Arsenal looked to get back into the game, but for all their efforts they could not find a goal. The last meaningful chance came from Maanum who put her free kick just over at the start of stoppage time.

It was the only all-WSL tie that was wrapped up in 90 minutes with both Tottenham Hotspur vs. Reading and West Ham United vs. Aston Villa taken all the way to penalties with Reading and Villa victorious after their respective shootouts.

Elsewhere, Manchester United, Manchester City and Brighton all claimed big wins against second tier opposition as Lewes dispatched with fourth-tier Cardiff City and Birmingham City were victorious after 120 minutes against Charlton in the only all-Championship tie.