Arsenal: Van Domselaar; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Codina, McCabe; Cooney-Cross, Wälti; Mead, Maanum, Foord; Russo
Substitutes: Zinsberger, Mariona, Little, Kafaji, Kühl, Blackstenius, Godfrey, Reid
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Arsenal have beaten Leicester City 1-0, with Frida Maanum scoring the only goal of the game. Arsenal, playing their third game in seven days, were pretty poor on the day, and Daphne van Domselaar, making her debut, made two crucial second half saves to preserve Arsenal’s lead.
After a heavy schedule of Champions League qualifiers, Jonas Eidevall made four changes to the team that beat Häcken 4-0 on Thursday. Van Domselaar, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Frida Maanum, and Caitlin Foord came into the team, with Manuela Zinsberger, Kim Little, Stina Blackstenius, and Mariona Caldentey dropping to the bench.
First Half
After an even start to proceedings, Arsenal’s first good chance came after 11 minutes. From a short corner, Mead crossed from the left. Her cross was met by Russo, whose swept shot went into the side netting.
In truth, most of the first half was played at an off-tempo pace, perhaps because of the amount of changes, and the players who came out of the team.
On 34 minutes, Leicester came within inches of taking the lead. Ruby Mace played an excellent crossfield pass to Rantala. Rantala cut inside away from McCabe and shot, with her fierce shot getting tipped onto the crossbar by van Domselaar.
Lia Wälti had scored Arsenal’s first goal on Thursday, and she almost did the same on 39 minutes. Fox and Russo won the ball off of Mace in the corner, and Russo drove into the box. She laid the ball off to Wälti, who struck first time but was denied by a quick reaction save from Lize Kop.
Second Half
While the second half started much like the first half ended, Arsenal capitalised on a Leicester mistake to take the lead on 55 minutes. Russo intercepted Bott’s backpass. In the penalty box, she remained composed, took the ball away from Kop, and found Maanum for the easy tap-in. 1-0.
On 58 minutes, Arsenal made a triple substitution. Kim Little, Stina Blackstenius, and Mariona came on for Kyra Cooney-Cross, Frida Maanum, and Beth Mead, with Russo shifting to a deeper role.
On 72 minutes, Rosa Kafaji came on for Katie McCabe, with Caitlin Foord dropping into left back – the position she made her breakthrough for Australia over a decade ago.
Russo then had a chance to extend Arsenal’s lead. Little prodded the ball through to Russo, who took the ball around the corner and shot. Her shot took a nick off a defender, and came to Kop.
Van Domselaar made a superb savce to preserve Arsenal’s lead on 79 minutes. Chossenotte was set down the right, and cutback for Cayman in the middle. She hit a low shot towards the far post, but Van Domselaar, at full extension, was able to parry the ball around the post.
Van Domselaar was called into action again on 82 minutes. Chosesenotte was played through, and was one on one with the Arsenal goalkeeper, with Van Domselaar saving with her left leg.
There were seven minutes of time added on.
Kafaji had a good chance to make it 2-0. She was played in by Mariona, and then sat down two defenders. Her shot, though, was straight at Kop. Codina was booked for dragging Deanne Rose down, and Katie Reid replaced Caitlin Foord, as Arsenal saw out stoppage time.
Not overly inspiring performance perhaps but a busy schedule and Leicester have improved a lot over the team that we demolished 6-2 last season. One goal is enough to win the game and most importantly it’s back to London with 3 points on the table!
Sounds like a tired performance after the heroics of the champions league qualification. But 3 points is what counts.
Not that brilliant even given that Leicester have clearly improved. The goal was the highlight for many reasons but one or two will reflect, hopefully, that they had previously made a better job of turning up. One was thankfully substituted. Still, three points in the bag but they’ll need to improve and see the benefit od passing forward rather than 28 times across the pitch.
I thing if it were not for DVD, Arsenal could have lost. Those two second half saves allowed the girls to stay in the game. She should now take the spot and allow Manu to watch. Nevertheless, the team was below par today. Leicester have really improved.