Women's Super League: Arsenal beat West Ham 3-0 as Little notches 50 WSL goals
- Published
Arsenal stay top after Little double inspires win
Kim Little scored twice against West Ham as Arsenal maintained their perfect start to the Women's Super League season and restored their three-point lead at the top.
Little found the bottom corner for the opener before taking her career tally of WSL goals to 50 with an excellent second-half finish.
Beth Mead, who hit the woodwork either side of the break, added a third.
A Grace Fisk own goal rounded off a difficult day for the Hammers.
Arsenal captain Little said she was not aware of her goalscoring milestone until told about it after the game.
"That's nice but most importantly we got the three points," she told Sky Sports.
Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall praised his skipper for playing "a huge part in the victory".
"Kim Little was brilliant," he said. "She is so dynamic in midfield, both with the defensive runs she makes and her positioning and, of course, when she's on the ball.
"She's a very hard player to defend."
Gunners maintain perfect Hammers record
Under boss Olli Harder, West Ham have made their best-ever start to a WSL season with eight points from the opening five games.
Yet Arsenal remain the only club they have lost to in every WSL meeting to date - this defeat being their sixth.
The Hammers were without influential forward Adriana Leon, who is having what the clubs says is a "potentially serious" foot injury assessed.
But they made an energetic start and twice threatened in the opening five minutes.
Claudia Walker wasted a chance from close range after the Gunners failed to deal with a corner, before Tameka Yallop pounced on a Leah Williamson mistake to test Manuela Zinsberger.
Arsenal, however, went on to dominate, putting the visitors under relentless pressure.
Caitlin Foord sent the first warning shot, crashing an effort off the foot of the post before the Hammers scrambled the loose ball clear as Nikita Parris tried to turn home the rebound.
In quick succession, Williamson fired narrowly wide and Foord had a diving header well saved by Mackenzie Arnold before Mead had a shot deflected onto the post.
Captain Little eventually got the breakthrough the Gunners deserved, linking up with Mead on the edge of the area before skipping between three defenders and coolly finishing.
Her 50th WSL goal, on her 98th league appearance, was equally impressive - firing past Arnold from a tight angle.
Mead then had a shot tipped onto the bar, but made it 3-0 moments later. She also played a part in the fourth goal as Fisk turned a cross from the England forward into her own net.
Gunners boss Eidevall said maintaining a fifth consecutive WSL clean sheet since conceding two goals in their season-opening 3-2 win against champions Chelsea was also "very important".
"Everything in football starts with having a solid defence and not conceding easy goals," he said.
"I want us to work hard every game to keep a clean sheet."