Both teams knew this was surely a “win or bust” moment for their already-fading title hopes and, in that spirit, they served up a breathless seven-goal thriller. It was the visitors, Arsenal, who came out on top to surely confine the remainder of Manchester City’s Women’s Super League campaign to merely a battle for European qualification.

City’s fourth defeat in their past six WSL games was another engrossing but mistake-filled contest that will be hugely damaging for their hopes of domestic success this term. On the overall share of the chances, Arsenal probably deserved to edge this end-to-end contest.