Arsenal beat Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 in the Barclays Women’s Super League season opener watched by a capacity crowd at Meadow Park.
A disastrous start for the visitors saw Emma Kullberg dismissed in the seventh minute for bringing down Stina Blackstenius on the edge of the box, with the Swedish forward through on goal.
Elisabeth Terland shot wide from a good opportunity for Brighton but moments later Caitlin Foord’s cutback was slotted home by Kim Little to make it 2-0.
Blackstenius hit the crossbar and at the end of the first half, Albion’s Megan Walsh tipped away a Lia Walti strike and Rafaelle Souza’s header from the resulting corner of was cleared off the line.
But the crowd of 3,238 did see Blackstenius get her goal five minutes after the interval, after which Beth Mead made sure of the points with a brace in the last half-hour.
