Arsenal extended their perfect start to the Women’s Super League season by overcoming a stubborn Reading side to narrowly win their first away game of the campaign.

The Swede almost doubled Arsenal’s lead early in the second half when she hit the woodwork with a glancing header seconds after Katie McCabe had shot against the same post.

Reading goalkeeper Jackie Burns, who was making her top-flight debut, saved Kim Little’s penalty following a handball decision against Lily Woodham on the hour mark.

Keeper Manuela Zinsberger – who set a new WSL record with her eighth consecutive clean sheet – brilliantly denied Deanna Cooper and Natasha Dowie either side of Woodham curling a corner against the outside of a post as the second-bottom side threatened to draw level.

But Arsenal closed out the victory and are behind Manchester United – who thrashed Brighton 4-0 earlier on Sunday – on goal difference at the top of the table after three games.

Second-bottom Reading, who set a new attendance record of 3,611 for their women’s team, have lost all three of their opening games.

Royals make Arsenal work for win

Reading have never beaten Arsenal in 13 attempts in the WSL, and few would have foreseen the threat they would pose after they were carved open by one of the first attacks they faced.

Despite a lack of service for willing runner Dowie in attack, the organisation and energy of Kelly Chambers’ players became a feature of a determined display in which they so nearly pegged Arsenal back, and showed a marked improvement on their pair of 4-0 defeats in the fixture last season.

Most Royals fans would not have anticipated a positive result but this was a performance to suggest their side can target points from their next game, at West Ham, and their hosting of bottom side Leicester after that.

“We said before this game that we’re going to get one or two chances – and if we don’t take them, it could hurt us,” Chambers told Sky Sports.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t quite take those chances. But we have the positives and we’ve got to make sure that we build on the performance.”

Eidevall praises Gunners’ ‘control’

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall said before kick-off that Lotte Wubben-Moy and Steph Catley could not be expected to perfectly emulate injured centre-back duo Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza, who are expected to be out for several weeks.

Across the eight club matches Leah Williamson has missed since December 2021, Arsenal have lost more matches than they have in the 20 when the England captain has been involved.

Wubben-Moy was at fault when Cooper broke free inside the penalty area and drew a vital stop from Zinsberger, who was Arsenal’s saviour on more than one occasion and saw Rachel Rowe’s header cleared off the line as Arsenal made it nine league games without conceding.

“We created enough opportunities to score a second goal,” said Eidevall. “Whenever you only have one goal, it’s always going to be a bit more edgy in the last minutes.

“We controlled it overall and it was well deserved. Once we got out of their pressure, we really could see that everyone understood we had to go up in gear and intensity.”

An onerous-looking trip to Lyon awaits in the Champions League on Wednesday, when Eidevall is certain to learn more about whether his depleted backline can stand up to sterner tests.