Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp, both of England, scored goals as Manchester City defeated Arsenal at Academy Stadium in the Women's Super League.
Hemp calmly finished Kelly's low cross from the right to give City the lead in the fourth minute. City entered the game fourth, trailing the Gunners on goal differential.
When Kelly received a pass from Khadija Shaw just before the half, she beat Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger once more, doubling the hosts' lead.
Stina Blackstenius, a striker for the Gunners, raced on to a long ball forward in the second half and was able to hold off Steph Houghton with strength and power, but her shot bounced off the right post.
Rafaelle Souza's looping header from Frida Maanum's deep free-kick gave the visitors a goal back, but it wasn't enough to stop City.
In fact, the hosts had a chance to win by a bigger margin, but Yui Hasegawa's 30-yard shot hit the crossbar, and Kelly's attempt from outside the box just missed.
With two points separating them from second-placed Manchester United, who play Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Gareth Taylor's team moves above Arsenal into third with the victory.
The 2016 WSL champions, City, are only two points behind Chelsea in the lead despite the fact that Chelsea do not have a game this weekend.
Arsenal falters once more as City triumphs justly.
Women's champions Arsenal (15 times), who finished second last season, trailed Chelsea by just one point, but they have only accrued two points in their last three WSL games.
Three days prior to this match, the Gunners defeated City 1-0 at Meadow Park in the Continental League Cup semifinals, but there was no repeat performance in Manchester.
Frida Maanum missed the target with her early shot for Jonas Eidevall's team, and then shaky defending allowed Hemp to score the game's first goal in the fourth minute.
Despite having 16 clean sheets in their previous 21 away WSL games, Arsenal found it difficult to match the skill and speed of Kelly on the other flank and Hemp on the left wing.
The Gunners' shoddy play did not help their cause. After being replaced at halftime, England international Lotte Wubben-Moy gave City a chance, but WSL leading scorer Shaw was stopped by Zinsberger.
The Austrian did well to block Shaw's subsequent shot as well as attempts from Filippa Angeldahl.
When Kelly scored her second WSL goal just before halftime after scoring the game-winning goal for England in the Euro 2022 final against Germany, Zinsberger was helpless to stop it.
At the break, Lia Walti and Katie McCabe were substituted in for Wubben-Moy and Caitlin Foord by Eidevall.
Within five minutes of the restart, Arsenal came close to regaining the lead, but Blackstenius, who had scored the game's lone goal on Wednesday, hit the post.
With Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema absent due to long-term knee injuries, Souza's header gave the visitors a chance to tie the score, but they were unable to do so as the hosts earned a well-deserved three points.
