Yet more pressure has been heaped on Renee Slegers after her Arsenal side twice lost the lead en route to a 4-2 defeat by Manchester City.

Questions are being asked of Slegers amid Arsenal's subpar start to the campaign. Before this match they had scored just twice in four league matches. That tally has now doubled, but the points tally sticks at five as the Gunners tumble to tenth in the league table.

Improvement was sorely needed after Arsenal gave up a two-goal advantage via a bizarre penalty incident to draw with Paris FC in the Champions League this week, a result which Slegers found so galling she decided against taking on her media duties.

But scrutiny will only intensify after this latest capitulation at the Etihad. Visiting the reigning WSL champions, Arsenal led late in the first-half through Lisa Baum, but they were cruelly pegged back in injury time by Lauren Hemp.

Alessia Russo duly restored the advantage with her first league goal of the season shortly after the break, before City put on a late show inspired by Andree Jeglertz’s substitutes. Kerstin Casparij equalised at 2-2 before Khadija Shaw and Hemp added a pair of killer blows which left the visitors bereft.

The manner of defeat will be hugely frustrating for Slegers, whose side twice seemed on track for a vital three points but could not get the result over the line.

Arsenal head into the international break a lowly tenth in the WSL table, ten points adrift of leaders City. The players may be grateful for the time away, but there is plenty of soul-searching for Slegers and her staff back at Colney.

Earlier in the day, London City Lionesses sent a clear statement to the rest of the table with a relentless 6-1 defeat of Tottenham.

The two sides had come into this campaign in a similar station: targeting a Champions League berth after a summer of heavy spending.

This match, then, provided an opportunity for either side to learn where their projects stand, and London City certainly taught Spurs a lesson. Alexia Putellas opened the scoring after just three minutes and it was 3-0 after just over half an hour.

Victoria Pelova pulled one back after the break, but Martin Ho’s side were put to the sword at Brisbane Road and found themselves leapfrogged by their cross-town rivals.

It is a victory which catapults London City into the title race conversation, leaving them third and one point off second-placed Chelsea, who moved up the table after breezing past West Ham in Dagenham. City, still perfect, remain top.

"The three points are the same as you can have in every game, but this kind of win can be a game changer in terms of showing everyone that we are pushing hard," Lionesses head coach Eder Maestre said at full-time. “We need to be humble as well. The teams that are used to being there and occupying these places [at the top] are still there.”

Elsewhere, Brighton put five past Charlton to pick up their first league win of the campaign, while a Ruby Mace brace powered Everton beyond Birmingham City.