GUNNERS THROUGH TO CONTI CUP QUARTER-FINALS
Arsenal’s defence of the Continental Tyres Cup will carry on into 2019 as they guaranteed qualification from their group with a 5-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Wednesday evening. Two each for Katie McCabe and Vivianne Miedema, sandwiched by an own goal gave the Gunners their second 5-0 win over Charlton in 2018, having beaten them by the same scoreline in last season’s FA Cup.
? 'It's always important to get back to winning ways' @Katie_McCabe11 reflects on @ArsenalWFC's #ContiCup win
? https://t.co/R6y8aL7eii pic.twitter.com/AwuP8yvZ7z
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) December 6, 2018
Montemurro’s side finish the group away at Millwall Lionesses on Wednesday evening at Dartford’s Princes Park. A point guarantees they will finish top of their group and therefore, will play a team that came second in their group in the quarter-finals. The Millwall match sees Arsenal pitted against ex-U-21 coach Chris Phillips, who manages the Lionesses and former Gunners boss Pedro Losa, who is their Director of Football.
HIGHLIGHTS | Arsenal 5 Charlton 0 (Dec 2018 Continental Cup)
HIGHLIGHTS | Watch highlights from Charlton's defeat to Arsenal in the Continental Cup #cafc
Posted by Charlton Athletic Women's Football Club on Thursday, 6 December 2018
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
With so many injuries to a small first team squad and a game against lower division opposition, Montemurro gave some debuts to youth players on Wednesday. Melissa Filis and Hannah Dawbarn made their first senior appearances against Charlton, while Ava Kuyken and Amelia Hazard started a match for the first time. Arsenal will likely give the youngsters a chance again at Millwall on Wednesday.
Amelia Hazard and @AvaKuyken are set to make their full debuts tonight ?#WeAreTheArsenal ? pic.twitter.com/Jmp9vMi5E3
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) December 5, 2018
MANCHESTER CITY GO LEVEL ON POINTS WITH ARSENAL
Arsenal were the only WSL side not to play this weekend (the league has 11 teams) and 2nd place Manchester City squeezed out a narrow 1-0 win at home to Birmingham to go level on points with the Gunners at the top of the table. Joe Montemurro’s side have a game in hand, but don’t play another league game until they travel to West Ham on Sunday, 6th January.
2019 WORLD CUP DRAW
The draw for next summer’s World Cup in France was made on Saturday evening and Arsenal’s Leah Williamson and Beth Mead will be coming face to face with their teammates Emma Mitchell, Kim Little and Lisa Evans, as England and Scotland were drawn in the same group, alongside Argentina and Japan.
Pauline Peyraud-Magnin’s France, who host, were drawn alongside Korea Republic, Norway and Nigeria. Jess Samuelsson’s Sweden will play USA, Thailand and Chile, while Dutch quartet Sari van Veenendaal, Danielle van de Donk, Vivianne Miedema and Doninique Bloodworth’s Netherlands side face Canada, Cameroon and New Zealand.
CONFIRMED:
Here are your groups for the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019! ??#FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/bz5ZghPZ1C
— FIFA Women's World Cup ?? (@FIFAWWC) December 8, 2018
JORDAN NOBBS UNDERGOES SURGERY AND WILL MISS WORLD CUP
One Arsenal player who definitely will not play at the World Cup is Jordan Nobbs. The Gunners midfielder Jordan Nobbs underwent successful surgery on her knee after rupturing her cruciate ligament last month. Nobbs will certainly miss the tournament the FA confirmed last week, but will begin her rehabilitation with the aim of returning at the beginning of next season. All the best to Jordan in her recovery.
Back on the road to recovery ?? Everyone has been indescribable ❤️ Tough times ahead, but I can’t thank you all enough for the support pic.twitter.com/6fbm7RTDXC
— Jordan Nobbs (@JordanNobbs8) December 4, 2018
DVD PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Dutch midfielder Danielle van de Donk has been voted FAWSL’s Player of the Month for November. DvD scored in all of the Gunners’ games in November, cementing her rise to prominence under Joe Montemurro. With Kim Little and Jordan Nobbs injured, van de Donk is more crucial than ever and tis recognition is very well deserved.
? Makin' plays
⚽️ Scoring goals
? Skill levelsNo wonder @ArsenalWFC's @DanielleDonk is your November player of the month!!! #FAWSL pic.twitter.com/TW3bq98CkT
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) December 5, 2018
To cap off a great November, Danielle was the subject of our November feature interview on Arseblog News, where she discusses the weekly routine of an Arsenal Women’s player in terms of training, diet, strength and conditioning and video analysis. You can read that interview here.
?? @DanielleDonk was on ? in November
1️⃣ ? Birmingham City
1️⃣ ? Everton
1️⃣ ? Brighton & Hove Albion #PFAFansAward pic.twitter.com/Z1k3C2wNps— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) December 7, 2018
BETH MEAD WINS FSF WOMEN’S FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR
Arsenal’s Beth Mead was voted as the Women’s Footballer of the Year at the FSF Awards last week. The Gunners forward has enjoyed a vintage year, forging a strong partnership with Vivianne Miedema in the forward line. Meado was a prominent part of the side that won the Conti Cup back in March and has been a first team regular as Montemurro’s team has shot to the top of the league this season.
And the winner of the Women's Player of the Year is #Arsenal's @bmeado9! Congratulations to Beth! #FSFAwards #AFC #WSL pic.twitter.com/j8iSukqoa4
— The FSF (@The_FSF) December 3, 2018
Mead collected her award from She Kicks magazine editor Jen O’Neil at a ceremony in Tower Bridge last Monday evening. There were some other awards dished out that night to various media outlets, but none of the other winners were anyone important, frankly. Though one of the award recipients was wearing an exceptionally garish suit…
Congratulations @arseblog. Inaugural winner of the Fan Media award at @The_FSF awards! ??? pic.twitter.com/ImzT3hQdIB
— gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) December 3, 2018
VAN DE DONK AND MIEDEMA NOMINATED FOR PFA NOVEMBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Dutch duo Danielle van de Donk and Vivianne Miedema have both been nominated for the WSL November Player of the Month award by the PFA. DvD and Miedema scored three goals a piece for the Gunners in November in victories over Birmingham, Everton and Brighton. You can vote for either of them below:
?| The PFA @BristolStMotors FA WSL Fans' Player of the Month nominees!
??????? @Brooklyn_7
??????? @emma_foll
?? @VivianneMiedema
?? @DanielleDonk
??????? @Megs1994
??????? @fara_williams47#PFAFansAward Who gets your vote? ? https://t.co/su5HP8FhQb pic.twitter.com/Y5kCFfip5C— PFA | Professional Footballers' Association (@PFA) December 7, 2018
WOMEN’S TOP 100
The Offside Rule podcast has collaborated with the Guardian newspaper to produce the list of the 100 top female footballers in the world. As you would expect, there are a smattering of Gunners players in the mix. Lia Wälti, Danielle van de Donk, Jordan Nobbs, Kim Little and Vivianne Miedema all feature in the running. The Offside Rule have produced a pen pic of each player in the list, I have listed the Arsenal profiles below, all of which feature quotes from Gunners boss Joe Montemurro.
Lia Wälti
Danielle van de Donk
Jordan Nobbs
Kim Little
Vivianne Miedema
Joe Montemurro, @ArsenalWFC manager:
“She’s a high energy midfielder with a great eye for goal."
Phil Neville, @Lionesses head coach:
“Jordan is a model pro on & off the field & was a key part of the Lionesses’ World Cup qualifying campaign."https://t.co/9tnCet0aUz#Top100
— The Offside Rule (@OffsideRulePod) December 6, 2018
COMING UP
We’ll have a full match preview for the midweek match against Millwall Lionesses on the site tomorrow, as well as exclusive post-match reaction from Gunners boss Joe Montemurro on the site on Wednesday evening. December’s feature interview will be with former Arsenal boss Pedro Martinez Losa. Now Director of Football at Millwall, I’ll be chatting with Pedro about his 3 years at Arsenal and his current job at the cash strapped Lionesses. That will go on the site in the next week or so.
1⃣ game to go till the ??break!
? @millwalllioness
? @ContiUK Cup
?️ Wed 12 Dec
⏰ 7.30pm
?️ Princes Park (DA1 1RT)#WeAreTheArsenal pic.twitter.com/WG00hwdr4A— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) December 9, 2018
Great job, Tim!
Congrats! Keep up the good work.
Wow, comprehensive! Thanks, Tim.
Couldn’t help noticing that in yor twitter timeline, you linked to the profile of a non-Arsenal player featuring in the top 100 – Sara Daebritz. Is there a reason for this? Is she perchance on her way to north London?
Thanks Tim. The women are doing great
this season and deserve all the plaudits.