Beth Mead opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge after 55th minutes, and Mariona Caldentey doubled the advantage for the away side with 61 on the clock as the north Londoners secured all three points on a disappointing afternoon.

The experienced Bronze felt that the quick-fire nature of the goals was tough to recover from, but also acknowledged that the Blues created plenty of chances in the final period of the match.

'At the end, we created enough chances to at least get one goal back, and that might have swung it a little bit,' she said afterwards. 'I think in the first half we started really well, but it was a bit of a basketball game, up and down the pitch.

'They were just clinical on those chances they had. The second one was a bit of a killer because it was two in quick succession, and then at the end, you saw us pushing. If we had got a goal, we probably could have nicked a point.

'Coming off the back of the Man City game, there were probably a few tired legs out there, and Arsenal just attacked the game a little bit fresher. It probably took us a bit too long to get into our rhythm, but by the end, we were winning every single duel. '

Thoughts now turn to another tough test in the WSL as we travel to league leaders Manchester City next Sunday. And while Bronze was disappointed with the result against Arsenal, she stressed the importance of moving on to the next game and staying in the fight.

'It’s tough, but that’s football,' she concluded. 'Arsenal are a really good team, and they are fighting for the title as well as us. Dropping points at any time in the season is difficult, but especially when it’s against a club rival. Now it’s a case of focus on the next game, which is City, who are the ones who are at the top at the moment.

'They’ve got a target on their backs, and all we’ve got to do is focus on that one and take each game as it comes.'