Katie McCabe caps great performance with brilliant goal as Arsenal keep up perfect start

Arsenal Women 3 Everton Women 0

Ireland’s Katie McCabe delivered another stunning performance to help Arsenal extend their perfect Women’s Super League start with a 3-0 win over Everton.

The versatile left back created multiple chances and scored a screamer to put her team ahead. Arsenal’s fifth straight win leaves them three points clear of Chelsea and Tottenham at the top. Chelsea beat Leicester 2-0 on Sunday but Spurs surrendered their 100 per cent record, losing 2-1 at Brighton.

McCabe, named player of the match, was used at left back here but is capable in midfield positions. "She [McCabe] is so versatile and she has played a little bit as an attacking midfielder for us this year," Arsenal's manager, Jonas Eidevall, said. "I think she has been brilliant when she has been doing that as well. In all those positions she will give you the pace, she will give you the dribbles with her left foot and her crosses and finishes.

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“She can play in a lot of different positions. What I really like about Katie is she can bring different things to the team depending on where you have her.”

McCabe started well but it was Nikita Parris and Vivianne Miedema who had early chances which Everton saw off cleanly. The game slowed midway through the first half but then came the Arsenal onslaught.

Kim Little found acres of space, only for Rikke Sevecke to dispossess Arsenal's captain clinically. Miedema fired yards wide shortly after but Everton's defence held strong until McCabe struck a perfect ball that curled on target and sailed over the stretching arm of the goalkeeper Sandy MacIver.

Eidevall's side were then rocket-propelled in attack, with chances flooding in, notably from Noëlle Maritz. It was not long before Everton's afternoon went from bad to worse as McCabe drilled in a corner and Lotte Wubben-Moy doubled the lead. There was a heart-in-mouth moment as Everton's Gabby George, who returned to action in February after a year out with injury, remained on the floor after the corner but thankfully she was able to continue. – Guardian