Normal service resumed amid sub‑zero temperatures at Kingsmeadow, where Chelsea not only returned to winning ways but extended their lead at the top of the Women’s Super League. Second-half goals from Pernille Harder and Fran Kirby left Emma Hayes’s side three points clear of Manchester United and 12 in front of fourth-placed Arsenal whose own title challenge is surely over. Joe Montemurro’s team remain capable of some bewitching football but injuries have exposed the slenderness of a squad lacking the strength in depth needed to secure European qualification. Moreover the manager’s commitment to persistently playing out from the back can, as Chelsea’s counter-attacking highlighted, sometimes prove self-destructive. Stung by their home defeat against Brighton on last Sunday – a reverse which ended their 33-game WSL unbeaten run – Chelsea looked fully galvanised. And no one more so than Melanie Leupolz who swiftly collected a booking for clattering Beth Mead as she concentrated on the enforcement aspect of her midfield duties. Leupolz needed to watch her step and was arguably fortunate to escape a second yellow card after a mistimed challenge on Danielle van de Donk but she also played an important role in Chelsea’s expert pressing game. Its intensity dictated the Arsenal defence endured some slapdash moments at the back with Lydia Williams not always entirely convincing in goal. In fairness Lotte Wubben-Moy showed flashes of real defensive class while Williams excelled when brilliantly turning a Kirby shot struck with the outside of a foot round a post after the England forward had shown off her adhesive control while manoeuvring the ball in the tightest of spaces. “Only those with the highest standards will keep this dream machine flying,” said an approving Hayes. “Fran and Pernille showed their quality but, for me, the real performance was the team’s defending.” Chelsea certainly did extremely well to largely isolate Arsenal’s dangerous Netherlands striker, Vivianne Miedema, restricting her to one real chance – but, as the score remained stubbornly goalless, frustration crept into their play with Ji So-yun picking up a booking for an unnecessary foul on the influential Van de Donk. As icicles crystallised on the goal nets Harder improved her teammates’ collective mood. The second half had barely begun before the Denmark striker met Kirby’s pass and deceived Williams with a low, swerving, slightly bouncing, shot from outside the area. Given its shortage of power, the possibly unsighted, not brilliantly positioned, Australian should probably have saved it. Williams stood no chance with Harder’s high-velocity second goal. It proved the culmination of a wonderfully fluent move featuring Jonna Andersson’s slick pass and Kirby’s cut back before the Dane lashed the ball high into the roof of the net. Kirby reinforced Chelsea’s superiority in stoppage time, eluding Williams from an awkward angle as Montemurro’s team fell apart in the face of another counterattack. “Chelsea are a very, very, good team with powerful players,” said Montemurro. “Their quality has undone us.”