It might have been pre-season and it might have been 3,000 miles from London, but Chelsea will have certainly still enjoyed ending their tour of the United States with a victory over local rivals Arsenal, as a thumping strike from summer signing Sandy Baltimore secured a 1-0 win for the Blues in Washington D.C. on Sunday.
Despite the final result, it was the Gunners who had the bigger first half chances, as fantastic run by Caitlin Foord was picked out by an equally brilliant pass from Rosa Kafaji, only for the Australia international to fire wide under pressure from Lucy Bronze. Foord had an even bigger opportunity to break the deadlock just before the break, but Zecira Musovic made up for her possession-conceding error with a huge save to deny the Matildas star.
Instead, it was Chelsea who scored the first, and only, goal of the game only three minutes after the interval, Baltimore finishing well after Maika Hamano robbed Kim Little of the ball in her own box.
Arsenal had chances to get back into the game - Laura Wienroither was presented with the ball in the Chelsea box by Niamh Charles, only for Nathalie Bjorn to make a huge block, while Alessia Russo chose to strike at goal from an angle when released by Mariona Caldentey, but should have squared for Frida Maanum instead of forcing a rather comfortable save out of Hannah Hampton. But the Gunners just could not find the goal that they needed.
That Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor chose to make regular substitutions throughout the match, finishing with an entirely different XI to the one with which she started, while Jonas Eidevall stuck more closely to his strongest line-up, will have pleased the Blues in particular, as they continue to build nicely ahead of a Women's Super League season which will consist of a title defence for the fifth year in a row.
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