At Academy Stadium in the Women's Super League, Manchester City defeated Arsenal thanks to goals from English players Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp.
Kelly's low cross from the right was calmly finished by Hemp in the fourth minute to give City their first goal of the game. City entered the game fourth, trailing the Gunners on goal differential.
After several stops by Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger, Kelly doubled the advantage for the hosts by intercepting a pass from Khadija Shaw just before halftime.
Stina Blackstenius, a striker for the Gunners, raced on to a long ball forward in the second half and had enough strength and power to hold off Steph Houghton, but her shot bounced off the right post instead.
Rafaelle Souza's looping header from Frida Maanum's deep free-kick gave the visitors a chance to score, but it was insufficient to stop City.
However, Yui Hasegawa's 30-yard shot against the crossbar and Kelly's narrowly missed shot from outside the area prevented the hosts from winning by a larger margin.
The win moves Gareth Taylor's team above Arsenal into third and even with second-placed Manchester United, who will play Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Although Chelsea are the current leaders and City, the WSL champions in 2016, are only two points behind them, the latter team does have a game in hand because they don't have a match this weekend.
Arsenal again makes a mistake as City triumphs.
Arsenal, who have won the title for women a record 15 times, finished second last season, just one point behind Chelsea, but they have only accrued two points in their last three WSL games.
There was no repeat in Manchester three days after the Gunners defeated City 1-0 at Meadow Park in the Continental League Cup semifinal.
Frida Maanum's early shot went just wide for Jonas Eidevall's team, and Hemp's fourth-minute goal was made possible by shaky defending.
Arsenal struggled to match the skill and speed of Hemp on the left wing and Kelly on the other, despite having kept 16 clean sheets in their previous 21 away WSL games.
With some sloppy play, the Gunners did not help themselves. WSL leading scorer Shaw was denied by Zinsberger after England international Lotte Wubben-Moy, who was replaced at halftime, gave City a chance.
Filippa Angeldahl's attempts and another shot from Shaw were successfully blocked by the Austrian.
When Kelly scored her second WSL goal just before halftime, the first since she had given England the victory over Germany in the Euro 2022 championship game, Zinsberger was helpless to stop it.
At the intermission, Eidevall replaced Wubben-Moy and Caitlin Foord with Lia Walti and Katie McCabe.
Arsenal nearly pulled one back within five minutes of the restart, but Blackstenius, who scored the game's lone goal on Wednesday, hit the post.
Souza's header gave the visitors a chance to equalize, but without long-term absentees Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema—both out with serious knee injuries—they were unable to do so as the hosts earned a well-deserved victory.
