Arsenal: Zinsberger; Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe; Wälti, Little; Mead, Maanum, Foord; Russo
Substitutes: Van Domselaar, Wubben-Moy, Codina, Reid, Kühl, Cooney-Cross, Kafaji, Hurtig, Blackstenius
Arsenal have closed the gap on 3rd place, beating Brighton and Hove Albion 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
Renee Slegers made two changes to the Arsenal team that drew 1-1 with Manchester United. Manuela Zinsberger returned in goal for the first time since Arsenal lost 5-2 to Bayern Munich, while Beth Mead replaced Mariona, who was unavailable.
First Half
Arsenal had an early chance after Foord slipped in McCabe. She crossed, and Mead, coming around the back headed straight at Sophie Baggaley.
Arsenal would then win the ball high up as Brighton tried to play out from a goal kick, but couldn’t work a good shooting angle.
Arsenal took the lead on 13 minutes. Maanum collected a pass from Little and played across for Mead. Poppy Pattinson missed the interception, and Mead cut onto her left foot and fired a curling shot off the inside of the far post. 1-0.
Caitlin Foord doubled Arsenal’s lead on 22 minutes. The move started when Fox, on the byline, won the ball back from Pattinson. Fox got the ball again, and played in Little, whose cross was turned in from close range. 2-0.
Three minutes later, it was 3-0. McCabe played into Maanum on the left on the penalty box, and from the edge of the area, Maanum turned and fired a shot that flew into the upper right quadrant of the goal. 3-0.
Foord hit the post on the 29th minute. After a quick turnover, Mead slipped Foord in behind. With Brighton’s defenders rushing back and Baggaley away from goal, she went for goal, but her shot hit the upright and went out.
Maanum then forced a save from Baggaley. After good Arsenal possession, Maanum shot from the edge of the area, with Baggaley palming the ball behind.
Second Half
Williamson headed over from a McCabe corner after Brighton couldn’t deal with Foord’s cross.
On 57 minutes Arsenal made a triple change. Codina, Cooney-Cross and Blackstenius came on for Fox, Little, and Maanum. McCabe moved from left back to right back, with Catley going to left back and Russo dropping to number 10.
Blackstenius had a chance after Catley and Foord combined on the left, with the former cutting back, and Blackstenius having a shot blocked after she took the pass and turned.
Brighton had offered nothing in attack and then troubled Zinsberger twice in two minutes. First, Kiko Seike forced Zinsberger to make a save, and then she hit the bar from the edge of the area, with Zinsberger beaten.
Foord could’ve made it 4-0. McCabe’s floated ball across the penalty area found the Australian, but her first touch was heavy, and as she collided into Baggaley, Brighton scrambled the ball clear.
Hurtig replaced Foord on 71 minutes.
With her first touch, Hurtig helped to make it 4-0 on 76 minutes. Arsenal won a corner. McCabe’s corner was an inswinger, and Hurtig flicked it on, with Baggaley unable to get a strong hand, and Symonds getting the final touch. 4-0.
On 79 minutes, Rosa Kafaji replaced Beth Mead, as Slegers made Arsenal’s final substitution.
Russo had a chance in the 89th minute. Blackstenius spun away from the Brighton defence, and played the ball across the box. Baggaley parried, but the rebound came to Russo, who, stretching, knocked the ball over the bar.
Cooney-Cross then played a good cross, but Blackstenius couldn’t control the cross, as the match entered 6 minutes of stoppage time.
At the other end, Haley led a Brighton counter, but Codina blocked the attempted shot, leaving Zinsberger untroubled.
On 94 minutes, Arsenal won a penalty. Blackstenius got around Carabalí by the byline and was dragged over by the defender. Russo stepped to the spot, and buried the penalty into the bottom left side of the goal. 5-0.
Codina put in another strong block as Masaka looked to respond. As a result of Codina’s block, Masaka appeared to be badly injured, and required treatment. She was stretchered off after a long delay.
Great game Renee for full time job please
Whatever happens in any of the other matches, I am happy. We are beginning to get our mojo back
Hey Renee foe full time job deffo
And, whisper it, we played better without mariona. She’s a totally class act, but the players on the field know each other and have a reasonable expectation of positioning, and runs made. It may be a daft or unpopular opinion, but rushing mariona in to play nearly every minute has not helped the team. She is not the reason we have looked dragged down in every area tho.
Happy happy happy with today’s joined up playing against a team that is massively better than in the last 4 seasons. Total room for optimism for us.
One of the best performances I have seen for a while and the least misplaced passes in the process. Frida’s goal was a gem. Well played.
A really enjoyable evening! Together with much of the United match, the players seem reenergised. Looking back, I now feel that Jonas sucked the life out of them.
I agree 100%. He was – unintentionally – chipping away at their confidence and enjoyment.
I really felt they looked over coached and that they didn’t enjoy playing football recently. Today was a nice breath of fresh air in that respect.
… maybe your right on the latter. In saying that, i believe that whilst there maybe better candidates for the full time job, arguably more tactically astute, or more experienced(?), we should ride this wave with Renee and our ladies. They definetely rise and punch on when they’re boosted up with confidence and love.
Renee has re-energised our girls and it shows, in that, there’s a lot of instinctual play- flowing from some of our team.
#Renee stays (at least til the season ends)
Keep on Gunning, girls ❤️🤍
Loved that. So nice to give a good team a shoeing. No huffing and puffing and labouring. It was easy. Even our 4-1 against Vålerenga was harder work than this.
When was the last time we had the game won in the first half? Feels like it was aeons ago.
Fantastic team performance.
So sad about the injury to their player, though. Horrible night all round for Brighton.