Sonia Bompastor hailed her Chelsea team as being in a “good position” to win the Women’s Super League title for the sixth year in succession after a “huge” 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Sunday.

Guro Reiten’s 84th-minute penalty and Katie McCabe’s sending-off for dissent in the aftermath was the difference for the Blues at Stamford Bridge, who ended Arsenal’s unbeaten run under new manager Renée Slegers while maintaining their own. “In terms of psychological elements, the win is huge, but there are a lot of games to be played,” said the Chelsea manager. “If we keep the right mentality, if we keep almost all the players available, we are in a good position but you never know what can happen in football.”

Related: Chelsea go nine points clear in WSL after Reiten’s late penalty downs Arsenal

Bompastor also praised Naomi Girma, with the world record signing presented to fans before kick-off. “I’m really pleased to have Naomi with us,” said the manager. “She’s a really talented player, she will bring a lot of quality to the squad even if the squad is already very talented. Having Naomi join the team will give us even more options. It was the perfect afternoon in terms of the announcement and the result.”

Slegers described the 10-point gap between Arsenal and the league leaders as “a much bigger mountain to climb” but did not concede the title. “We had our slips at the start of the season, and you never know when other teams are going to slip,” she said. “We will keep on playing our games and winning our games, that is all we can do. We knew it was important for us to win if we wanted to keep pace in the title race and we didn’t do that – but you never know what the future holds.”

Slegers, who had her interim role made permanent this month, expressed her frustration at the penalty decision. “I’ve seen footage, I see Kim [Little] gets the ball first but it’s not from me to comment on. We should have positioned ourselves better behind the ball to stop the counterattack,” she said.

Manchester United climbed up to second in the Women's Super League with an emphatic 3-0 victory at home to an out-of-form Brighton side.

United's fourth straight league win puts them seven points behind the leaders Chelsea as the high pressing and intense work rate of their front four caused Brighton problems, particularly in the first half.

The fit-again England midfielder Ella Toone opened the scoring inside two minutes with a low finish after bursting clear, adding to the hat-trick she scored a week earlier in the Manchester derby. The Japan midfielder Hinata Miyazawa drove in with power to make it 2-0 as a rebound rolled to her in the box after a free-kick. Celin Bizet added a third in the second half from long range. The home side thoroughly deserved their victory.

Defensively, Brighton were poor, and they have now lost three games in a row in all competitions, but remain fifth in the table. They remain winless away from home in the WSL since October.

Earlier, the Denmark midfielder Olivia Holdt had scored a 95th-minute free-kick on her Tottenham debut to give her new side a dramatic 3-2 victory away to the bottom side Crystal Palace. Bethany England also scored a brace for the visitors to become the first player to have scored against every different team that has featured in the WSL.

There were also valuable home victories for both Leicester and West Ham, boosting their hopes of avoiding relegation and adding a further downer to Crystal Palace's afternoon following their last-gasp defeat.

Leicester came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 thanks to a third goal in four games in all competitions from Missy Goodwin, ending the Foxes' six-game winless streak in the league.

West Ham were 2-0 winners at home to Everton as Shekiera Martinez and Viviane Asseyi both got on the scoresheet, ensuring the hosts have now won three of their past four home league fixtures.

Tom Garry

“The stakes are getting higher in women’s football so I think we need that in the game,” said Slegers in regards to the possible introduction of VAR. “I also think it’s important that the game is attractive for fans and VAR does slow things down, but I think it would be good for the women’s game.”