Women's Super League: Brighton & Hove Albion Women 0-4 Arsenal Women
- Published
Arsenal seal WSL title with 4-0 win at Brighton
Arsenal sealed a first Women's Super League title since 2012 at the Amex Stadium as they beat Brighton in front of a new WSL-record crowd of 5,265.
The WSL's top scorer Vivianne Miedema fired in the opener off the underside of the bar early on, before feeding Katie McCabe to tuck in the second.
Beth Mead added a fine third, before Dutch midfielder Danielle van de Donk stroked home the fourth.
Victory clinched the title for the Gunners with one match to spare.
For the outstanding Miedema, her brilliantly-taken goal was her 22nd of the league campaign and she nearly added to her tally in second-half stoppage time, but headed on to the bar.
The Gunners - English women's football's most decorated club despite their seven-year wait for the title - become champions of England for the 15th time since first lifting the top-flight crown in 1993.
Victory also saw them secure a second domestic trophy under Australian first-team boss Joe Montemurro, adding to last season's WSL League Cup success.
Brighton, who were already safe from relegation, were playing at the home of their Premier League men's side for the first time, in the climax of their first season since promotion last summer.
Former England boss Hope Powell's side - who remain ninth in the table - impressed in spells but were unable to give the Gunners a major scare after the visitors had taken an early lead.
The new record crowd for the WSL era surpassed the previous mark of 5,052, which was set in a match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium in 2012.
Ahead of their now-less-significant final fixture at home to second-placed Manchester City on 11 May, Arsenal have won 17 of their 19 league games this term, dominating from start to finish.
Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro: "It's an amazing achievement to win the league title after that long, and doing so in the way we did it was very pleasing.
"I'm already thinking about what's to come to be honest and creating a base on which to build on.
"Man City and Chelsea have set the bar over the past three or four years and Arsenal need to be at that level.
"We put some strategies and long-term planning in when I arrived and I'm happy that the title has come a little earlier than I thought."
Brighton boss Hope Powell: "Obviously, Arsenal were deserved winners - they're a very good side.
"We found it tough. I thought we did a little better in the second half but we did expect it to be like this.
"We did our best to try and spoil their party but, for us, it was a massive learning curve against a top-quality side and we have to find the positives from it.
"For a lot of these players, it's their first time being in a professional environment. I think we've done fantastically well considering where we've come from."