Arsenal: Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, McCabe; Little, Wälti; Mead, Mariona, Foord; Russo
Substitutes: Zinsberger (GK), Catley, Codina, Reid, Maanum, Kafaji, Kühl, Cooney-Cross, Blackstenius
Chelsea have beaten Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium. Two softly conceded first half goals doomed Arsenal to a second successive defeat, with the Gunners failing to win their first three home league matches.
Jonas Eidevall made four changes to the team that lost to Bayern Munich midweek, with Daphne van Domselaar, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Beth Mead, and Alessia Russo returning to the lineup. Manuela Zinsberger, Laia Codina, Frida Maanum, and Stina Blackstenius dropped to the bench.
Arsenal started brightly, and Mariona combined nicely in the centre before playing Caitlin Foord down the left. Foord’s cross was met by Buchanan, but her header looped up, and Beth Mead headed over the top.
Chelsea, though, took the lead on four minutes. Ramirez had won a corner, and from the corner, the Colombian put Chelsea ahead. The corner wasn’t cleared, and Ramirez, unchallenged, looped an overhead shot into the corner of the goal. 0-1.
Arsenal responded well, consistently targeting the flanks, where there was space behind Chelsea’s wingers ahead of the full backs, and playing some dangerous crosses.
Chelsea doubled the lead on 17 minutes. James skipped past Wälti in the box, and clipped the ball across the 6-yard box for Baltimore, again unmarked, who headed past a diving Van Domselaar. 0-2.
Foord tried responding. She drove from the left, skipped past Foord but then fired over goal.
James should’ve made it 3-0. From a goal kick, Williamson carelessly lost the ball on the edge of the box to Guro Reiten. Reiten’s cross was deflected by Wubben-Moy and looped to James, who volleyed over.
At the other end, Russo played an excellent ball across the box but Foord couldn’t connect.
From a corner, Arsenal should’ve cut the Chelsea lead in half. McCabe’s delivery was excellent, but Williamson’s touch was all wrong.
Caitlin Foord cut the Chelsea lead in half on 43 minutes. Receiving the ball on the left she beat Bronze with ease, and from a narrow angle shot away from Hampton and in, via the far post. 1-2.
James fouled on the edge of the area, giving Arsenal a free kick in a promising position right at the end of the half. McCabe, though, shot well over the bar.
Chelsea had the first attack of the half, with Ramirez powering past three Arsenal defenders before setting up Kaneryd, whose shot dribbled straight to Van Domselaar.
At the other end, Wubben-Moy’s glancing header from McCabe’s free kick went wide. Russo then showed good strength to beat Buchanan, but Bright blocked her shot.
Wubben-Moy then lost out to James in the Arsenal box. As James bore down on the Arsenal goal, Wubben-Moy recovered and went to ground, stopping James’ progress.
On 66 minutes, Frida Maanum replaced Beth Mead.
Van Domselaar saved Beever-Jones’ header, pushing it around the post. From the corner, Van Domselaar then saved Kaneryd’s long-range shot.
Wubben-Moy then headed over from the edge of the 6-yard box. Having gotten free of her marker, she met McCabe’s delivery, but made too much contact, with Hampton untroubled.
On 76 minutes, Stina Blackstenius and Kyra Cooney-Cross replaced Kim Little and Mariona.
Blackstenius had a chance for instant impact. Buchanan swung and missed at McCabe’s pass, letting Blackstenius in. She had Maanum on the overlap, but overhit the pass.
Blackstenius struck the bar in the 85th minute. She ran onto McCabe’s smart free kick, but her shot cannoned off the bar, and Chelsea were able to clear.
There were 6 minutes of stoppage time.
From another free kick, Chelsea cleared the first ball into the box, but the clearance went straight to Russo. She volleyed the shot first time, but straight at Hampton, who parried.
Beever-Jones had a chance to wrap the game up for Chelsea on the break, but her shot was straight at Van Domselaar who was able to push the ball away. At the other end, in the final minute of stoppage time, Blackstenius won a corner. Bronze, though, won the the ball and Lawrence carried the ball down field, and Arsenal wouldn’t get the ball back before time expired.
Looks like another season battling for top 3
Grim.
Top five might be a stretch with this coaching
will be a miracle if we make Top 3, This team lack pace, Idea, guile and goal
Pfffff
Looked at that Chelsea’s squad today and just shook my head. How have they managed to stack up so much talent like THAT?!
And Jonas not giving Kafaji any minutes again today is laughable, if I am being respectful.
Taxi for JE
Leave.
Genuine question thou; Why did we renew Stina’s contract?? no serious team Challenging for the title will have Russo & Stina as their main striking option.
Stina seems to have good matches here and there. I’m struggling to see that Russo was worth all the effort Arsenal went to signing her.
Between that and Mead and Williamson struggling to get back to the level they were before the the big injuries, they are in a tough place. Nevermind the questionable coaching.
Seems Jonas likes his strikers to do the hard yards. And Russo X Stina will give you plenty of that and some any day. But they are, unfortunately, lacking in the department that strikers are mainly judged on: finishing.
We had a TERRIFIC finisher and decided to let her go… and join one of our rivals! I still cannot get over that!!!
How this has more dislikes than likes is hilarious. No way our fans have watched those 2 consistently and still take up arms for them. Stina and Alessia will not win you a league title. They simply do not have the consistency over a league campaign to do so.
Our fanbase is still so incredibly tribal. People clamouring for individual players as opposed to what benefits the team. Lol.
They don’t have the service either. This blog’s conributors seem to come down to blaming Russo. She runs her socks off to get the ball because there is no service.
We do not want a centre forward who dooes not have the brain or ability to do anything else but score goals.
I remember Alan Smith got criticised for his lack of goals but he did so much more, like Russo.
In the last 17 minutes of the Bayern Game and the first 17 against Chelsea, we conceded five goals.
Well, I think I understand what’s going on now. Keep supporting the girls. They were much better on the field. Jonas will have to put his “pride” aside and choose between the players to be a 9 or a false 9: Beth, Foord, Frida. Kafaji needs to play soon. Maybe the goals will come from her feet. Olivia Smith from Liverpool is already playing very well. Russo and Stina are going through a goal drought and there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s not their fault. It’s just their personal phase, and when that happens, there’s nothing they can… Read more »
And the person who has to notice and see this is the coach, the technical team also has to get moving.
Jonas could put his pride aside and quit. Admit the stakes are too high for him now. Games moving forward. Standards rising. Coaching standards in particular. If only Wenger had done the same in 2014 or so. And club has invested. Can’t afford meh.
Don’t blame Russo or Stina. Look at the number of pases that went to the opposition from Williamson, McCabe, LWM and others. Also, what is the obsession of passing sideways across the pitch or backwards. Cross the F**king thing!!!!!