Arsenal: Zinsberger; Reid, Wubben-Moy, Codina, McCabe; Cooney-Cross, Nighswonger; Foord, Maanum, Mariona; Russo
Substitutes: Van Domselaar, Williams, Fox, Williamson, Catley, Wälti, Blackstenius, Ilestedt
Arsenal are through to the quarter-final of the Women’s FA Cup after beating Women’s Championship side London City Lionesses 2-0, with goals from Laia Codina and Stina Blackstenius
Renée Slegers made six changes, with Manu Zinsberger, Laia Codina, Katie Reid, Katie McCabe, Caitlin Foord, and Jenna Nighswonger coming into the team. Daphne van Domselaar, Emily Fox, Leah Williamson, Steph Catley, Lia Wälti, and Stina Blackstenius all dropped to the bench, while Beth Mead and Rosa Kafaji weren’t in the squad.
In a first half low on incident, it took until about 24 minutes for Arsenal to have a telling effort on goal. Laia Codina’s long ball found Russo in the left channel. Russo advanced into the penalty box, and given space, shot powerfully from a narrow angle, with Orman parrying away and the visitors clearing.
London City nearly went ahead on 28 minutes. Imuran, on the left, found Sofia Jakobsson in space in midfield. She drove towards the box, with Wubben-Moy backing off, and then shot low and just wide of the far post, though Zinsberger likely had it covered had the effort been on target.
On 31 minutes, Foord found Russo behind the defensive line. Teyah Goldie got across to block, and appealed vocieferously for offside. Arsenal, though, had a corner, and while McCabe’s effort was poor, Reid recycled possession back to Cooney-Cross. She exchanged passes with Mariona and McCabe, and then from the inside right half space picked out Codina at the far post, who headed beyond Orman. 1-0.
Five minutes later, McCabe’s corner found Codina at the far post, but she misjudged the timing of header and Orman was able to claim the looping effort.
A minute later, the visitors should’ve drawn level. From the edge of the box, Asllani played a superb inswinging cross, finding Jakobsson, who got away from Codina. Jakobbson, though, prodded her effort wide.
At half time, Lia Wälti came on to replace Nighswonger.
Arsenal nearly doubled the lead seconds into the second half. Maanum was played in behind by McCabe, but Orman came out and Maanum couldn’t prod the ball behind her.
After a long period of Arsenal possession, Cooney-Cross was urged to shoot from the edge of the box from the crowd. She obliged, but while her shot was powerful it was also straight at Orman, who parried behind.
On 70 minutes, Stina Blackstenius replaced Caitlin Foord, with the Swede, rather than Alessia Russo, playing wide.
Cooney-Cross’ delivery nearly led to a second goal, as her free kick was floated to the near post from the left, but a London City Lioness player headed it away just in front of Blackstenius.
On 79 minutes, Emily Fox replaced Katie Reid.
On 82 minutes, Arsenal sealed the game. Under pressure, Brougham gave the ball away. Maanum controlled, perhaps partially with her arm, and drove forward before shooting. Her shot was parried by Orman, and came to Blackstenius, who fired in the rebound. 2-0.
Two minutes later, Blackstenius, on the right, found Mariona on the edge of the box in the middle, but she ballooned her effort well over the area.
On 88 minutes, Arsenal made a final substitution as Amanda Ilestedt replaced Kyra Cooney-Cross.
On 90 minutes, Russo found Mariona in space on the edge of the box, who shot powerfully, but her shot hit the underside of the crossbar and came out into Orman’s arms.
Ilestedt was booked for fouling Jakobbson on 94 minutes. With the final kick of the game, Boye-Hlorkah’s free kick just went over the crossbar, though Zinsberger appeared to have it covered.
Not a game where we really had to stretch ourselves.
Thought Arsenal player of the match was Teyah Goldie. Guess the loan agreement didn’t dis-bar her playing against us. Unless she actually transferclast month.
Arsenal gave permission for her to play. She’s on loan.
Wasn’t the greatest performance by Arsenal Women, but one great plus point was the performance of Teyah Goldie in central defence for LCL. She is on loan from Arsenal but was given permission to play. At times in the first half, she looked like she was keeping our team out single-handedly.
I enjoyed the match although they were not ever really stretched. Goldie was excellent for them.
At least there is a report of the match here. All this time after the match finished the BBC sports page so called is still having orgasms over Chelsea and Man Ure to be bothered to report on the match. Sad bias going on.
It’s even good that these people leave Arsenal alone, let the team do its job in peace, and thus advance in each competition.
Bread and butter sort of performance with chocolate sprinkles here and there. We were still a bit sloppy, but better in the second half. Easy match to watch – some nice passages and no anxiety. London City Lionesses are a really well organised side with lots of pace and aggression (Asllani, I’m looking at you!) so you could see from the start we would require application, but I never doubted the outcome, even at 1-0. I do like that we don’t seem disjointed, whoever is in the lineup. Very smart of RS to play Nighswonger at LW/LM rather than LB… Read more »
Agree – I much preferred that Russo stayed central when Stina came on too. I think that experiment definitely worked better than having Russo out wide.
Funnily enough, I think the aim is exactly the same whichever of the two is on the wing, but it did seem more natural this way round.
I thought Loadsamoney looked a bit bewildered in the midfield to be honest. No surprise Wally replaced her for the second half. Still, early days yet, new team, new style, and being played out of position too! What a revelation a fit Teyah Goldie is! Whoever is in charge of the squad contracts must not let her go! Not a particularly exciting game, I thought LCL would have made more of a fist of it but we pretty much won at a canter and are into the next match with no apparent further injuries or suspensions but also with a… Read more »
Tim on Bluesky said that he thought the Jenna/Wally switch was pre-planned: JN is essentially in the pre-season stage and LW is coming back from an injury lay-off.