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Chelsea's bid for a seventh successive Women's Super League title is hanging by a thread after Beth Mead inspired Arsenal to a famous 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Mead drove home the Gunners' opener on 55 minutes and set up the second for Mariona Caldentey six minutes later as the visitors dominated to move within a point of their second-placed rivals.

Chelsea seldom threatened to claim the points and now sit six points behind WSL leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

The hosts had gone into the game on a high after extending their winning run to seven games in all competitions with a midweek victory at City in the Women's League Cup semi-finals.

But the Gunners, who had lost to Manchester United in the same competition and missed Olivia Smith due to suspension, were on top from the start and ought to have turned their early possession into goals.

Mead finally cut through the frustration shortly after the break when Alessia Russo pounced on some Chelsea hesitation to roll forward and play in her team-mate, who slammed the opener past Chelsea keeper Hannah Hampton.

Arsenal were well on top and they deserved to double their advantage six minutes later when Mead moved in from the right and found the unmarked Caldentey in the middle of the box to fire home the simplest second.

With Chelsea all at sea, Arsenal continued to threaten and thought they had grabbed a third on 67 minutes, only for a Stina Blackstenius header to be ruled narrowly offside.

The home side showed some signs of fight as Erin Cuthbert came close to reducing the deficit, and substitute Sjoeke Nüsken was guilty of a glaring miss in front of goal as the minutes ticked by.

But Arsenal were seldom troubled as they played down time to wrap up their first league win at Chelsea since 2018.