CHELSEA BEAT ARSENAL 3-1 in the Women’s Super League in a game which was delayed by 30 minutes due to a clash of socks.
The league leaders moved three points clear of Manchester City, who have the chance to respond against Brighton on Sunday, and six ahead of the Gunners.
The reigning champions avenged their 4-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal at the Emirates in December through goals from Lauren James and Sjoeke Nusken’s brace.
Kim Little’s well-struck half-volley deflected in off the unfortunate Macario in the 85th minute to pull one back for Jonas Eidevall’s side but it was too late as Chelsea held out for a deserved 3-1 win.
The first whistle at Stamford Bridge was paused while Arsenal staff collected black socks from their opponents’ megastore, using blue tape to cover the Chelsea and Nike logos. Arsenal’s white Adidas socks, the same colour as Chelsea’s, had been deemed not fit for purpose by referee Rebecca Welch.
Eidevall revealed referee Welch delayed the clash when both teams were lined up in the tunnel.
“It was a clash of colour with the kits which came to mine, the players and the other team’s attention very late,” he said.
“We got told that we can’t go out and play with the kit we had so we had to adapt and that was definitely a first.
“I was not involved in the process in how it was resolved.
“We found out when we left the dressing room to go to the tunnel so it was a very late call and notice.
“It is what it is. It was the same for both teams.”
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes also called for less criticism towards Arsenal’s kit man, acknowledging he was left red-faced after the mix-up.
“I’m not throwing the kit man under the bus,” Hayes said.
“He’s going to be feeling terrible tonight, it was a mistake. He’s a new guy, new into the position so please don’t slaughter him.
“Because we didn’t have our blue socks I couldn’t say ‘don’t worry about it, we’ll put blue socks on’.
“I was delighted to see lion crests on Arsenal players’ legs in the first half. Maybe that gave my players motivation, I don’t know.
“It was an earnest mistake and something which that poor guy is going home tonight and will feel bad about. I’m certainly not going to pile in on him.”
Katie McCabe played all 90 minutes for Arsenal at right-back.
