Impetus editor Ben Gilby was at Kingsmeadow for a quite outstanding Barclays FA Women’s Super League game, which was settled by a goal of sheer class.
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
Chelsea firmly banished the nightmare of their home humiliation by the eventual Super League champions by putting in a second half performance of extreme skill to send the Gunners to their first defeat of the season.
In doing so, Chelsea moved into second place in the table, firmly banishing memories of a start to the season which critics voiced fears over Emma Hayes’ side’s ability to mix it with the likes of Manchester City and the Gunners.
In front of a crowd of over 4,100, Arsenal started confidently and took a deserved lead after nine minutes when Dutch star Vivianne Miedema floated past too many blue shirts for the home support’s liking, and found her fellow countrywomen Danielle van der Donk who carefully placed her shot into the left hand corner of the net, well out of the reach of Ann-Katrin Berger in the Chelsea goal.
Van der Donk had a quite outstanding first half, popping up both on the right hand side and through the middle. She was giving the Chelsea defence major headaches. Despite Arsenal more comfortable on the ball, and seemingly having too much time to construct their silky passing build up, they only had the one goal to show for their efforts. The Chelsea defence, marshalled by Millie Bright, who returned to action after missing Lionesses duty, did their jobs well to the extent that Berger didn’t have too much to do in terms of shots to save.
Chelsea came into the game gradually as the half wore on, but never seemed to have quite the same guile and technical skill in their approach work. Fran Kirby got herself into good positions, but did not receive enough ball to weave her magic in the opening stanza, and Beth England was worryingly quiet, as Arsenal lead 1-0 at the break.
The key to the game was always going to be the next goal. Chelsea came out determined to show their worth. Ji found England, whose first real effort was fired over the bar. Kirby became actively involved, and Chelsea reaped the rewards as Arsenal were continually on the back foot. Kirby buzzed around and dispossessed Jen Beattie. The England ace rampaged through and squared to England who, spun round, flicked it up and hit a low shot into the net.
It was now all Chelsea, with Erin Cuthbert adding her idiosyncratic bite to the action. Ji went close. As the game entered the final five minutes, Chelsea earned a second goal which their approach work richly deserved, and when it came, it was an absolute peach. Picking up the ball in the midfield, Norweigan international Maria Thorisdottir curled a magnificent shot into the net from over twenty yards. It was a glorious goal to settle a glorious game.
Arsenal, with Jordan Nobbs on, raised their game in the closing stages, but were not able to unlock the home defence again. Chelsea deserved the victory for their second half performance, and will take great heart from staying with it during Arsenal’s long spell of creative pressure in the opening period.
This was women’s football at its best and the near capacity Kingsmeadow crowd loved every minute of it.
Teams: CHELSEA: Berger, Mjelde, Eriksson, Bright, Andersson, Reiten, Ingle, Ji, Cuthbert, Kirby, England. Subs: Thorisdottir (for Reiten 74), Spence (for Ji 81), Bachmann (for Kirby 74), Asante (not used), Carter (not used), Cooper (not used), Telford (not used).
Scorers: England 57, Thorissdottir 85.
ARSENAL: Zinsberger, Evans, Williamson, Beattie, McCabe, Walti, Little, Roord, Van der Donk, Miedema, Mead. Subs: Veje (not used), Mitchell (not used), Peyraud-Magnin (not used), Grant (not used), Filis (not used), Nobbs (for Walti 64).
Scorer: Van der Donk 9.
Referee: Rebecca Welch.
Attendance: 4,149.
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