Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City
by Aimee Logan at Meadow Park for Impetus (6/11/23).
Above: Steph Catley (centre) celebrates her sensational opening goal for Arsenal yesterday. Photo: Arsenal Women.
Goals from Steph Catley and Stina Blackstenius a hugely important win over perennial title rivals Manchester City. A victory that moves the North Londoners up to fifth overall.
There was plenty of yellow card action in the first half. Indeed, within the first 10 minutes, both Lia Walti and Cloe Lacasse were booked for the Gunners. Manchester City came in on the attack with the first chance of the game coming from Khadija Shaw on the edge of the area as she fired one wide.
However, despite their early attacking opportunities, the visitors couldn’t prevent the home side’s first wave of pressure and the Australian duo, Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord charged forwards. Foord played the ball back to Catley who was left to finish the move off for the Gunners as she struck the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box for a sensational strike.
The home crowds were enthralled by the Australian duo on top form. Catley and Foord’s stellar performances on international break showed their quality and it seems they’ve bought this back to North London.
After Arsenal went ahead, City appeared rushed on the ball and were limited to their own half by the Arsenal defence. A rushed attempt at winning the ball off the fast-paced Lacasse, left visiting keeper Khiara Keating committing a foul on the striker, giving away a penalty to the opposition.
The young Lioness shot-stopper quickly became a hero, though, as she denied Arsenal’s captain, Kim Little, a goal from the spot. The yellow cards were consistent throughout the first half, and at the end of the first 45 minutes, each side had three each.
Coming into the opening of the second half, City dominated, and two minutes in, Kelly’s effort was just narrowly wide of Manuela Zinsberger’s goal. Cracks in the Gunners’ defensive lines started to show and another chance from Shaw was also just wide. The Jamaican World Cup star once again tested the home defence, and her header attempt struck the woodwork.
A player that Arsenal fans were eager to invite back to Meadow Park, Beth Mead, came onto the field in the 60th minute to replace Lacasse.
Another plus for Arsenal was their ability to keep Mary Fowler relatively quiet. The Matildas starwasn’t allowed to have time she may have wanted on the ball because of the consistent pressure of the opponents’ defenders. She seemed to be a player that the Gunners targeted.
More Matildas on the pitch included the duel between the home team’s forward, Caitlin Foord, and one of her closest international teammates, Alanna Kennedy. Both Kennedy and Foord were both successful at taking the ball away from the other’s feet and as an onlooker, it was evident that the players knew each other very well on the pitch.
Above: Mary Fowler in possession for Manchester City yesterday. Photo: Manchester City.
Manchester City were consistent in working their attack around star striker Khadija Shaw. All crosses from outside the box were directed to her so she could attempt to push one past Zinsberger in the net.
Finally, after several failed attempts, City levelled as a cross to Kelly from Shaw flew in. With 20 minutes of normal time to go.
In the 85th minute, Swedish striker Stina Blackstenius replaced Alessia Russo, in a hope she could score a winning goal for the home team. This didn’t take long, a messy mistake from Keating meant she was far off her line and the ball tumbled over her head, on the edge of the area, falling straight to Blackstenius who tapped the ball into the net.
After a long pause in play, Arsenal managed the last ten minutes of added time confidently, right until the final whistle, and secured a significant 2-1 victory in front of the home fans.
Above: Stina Blackstenius (far left) is mobbed by Katie McCabe and Beth Mead after scoring the winner for Arsenal. Photo: Arsenal Women.
Lotte Wubben-Moy performed impressively and earned herself the Barclays WSL Player of the Match award. When speaking to the media post-match, she explained how ‘’every single forward in the Man City side are a threat’’ and she wouldn’t say that just Shaw pressured her today. However, she joked how ‘’Bunny Shaw today didn’t have a good day, but that’s because I had a good day’’.
Wubben-Moy wanted to make it clear that taking three points from any game is getting tougher and tougher as the level of the players in the league increases more and more each season: saying ‘’I think that the WSL is one of the most competitive leagues in the world now’’. She also noted a change in her team’s play today, ‘’the Arsenal DNA in the past has been looked at as just ball playing, and today I think we showed that we had a bit of bite about us’’.
Gareth Taylor didn’t have as good an afternoon as he would have liked even though he stated that he ‘’thought we [Manchester City] dominated’’, but then he also explained how there was only ‘’moments’’ where they were challenging in front of goal: ‘’We’ve spoken about it, we know we need to be more clinical the top end of the pitch. We had three chances in the first five minutes, and we need to be finishing those,’’ said Taylor upon reflection of the first half.
The Arsenal manager, Jonas Eidevell, was not surprisingly the happier of the pair today. One of the telling comments from his discussion was his expression of confusion that his side were marked as the underdogs of the fixture; ‘’I was a little bit surprised before the game, to be honest, that we were portrayed as the underdog here. In my experience of being here, we’ve won three times out of three against Manchester City, this was the fourth time, I think that’s a very strong record’’.
During the unexpected stoppages after the Blackstenius’ winning goal, Eidevell had time to speak with his team about how to ‘’manage the game really well in the last ten minutes’’ so that they could still dominate and keep their winning position. He explained he decided to ‘’change formation, we clarified the roles. But then City changed formation, and we saw that before it started, so we could speak about that and clarify the roles again’’.
On a lighter note, the Gunners head coach was asked about his opinions on fellow WSL manager, Emma Hayes’, decision to leave the league at the end of this season. He described how he has ‘’no doubt that she will leave a legacy’’. He joked how ‘’I think me, and all the other managers are going to make life hell in the WSL as difficult and as unpleasant as possible before she leaves.”
Despite being the managers of the two London giant clubs, Eidevell wants to keep in contact with Hayes as she moves on to another stage in her career, ‘’She’ll be one of the first ones, after the season, that I might pick up the phone and give a call to because I do think she has some really interesting ideas about football…and when you’re not direct rivals, I’d love to spend a little bit of time with her.” He finished saying, ‘’That phone call has to wait, and we have to remain competitors. Hopefully, she ends in a really bad way, but that wouldn’t ruin her legacy anyway.’’
Teams: ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Zinsberger, Wubben-Moy, Catley, Little (C), Walti, McCabe, Foord, Pelova, Russo, Lacasse, Ilestedt. Substitutes used: Beattie, Mead, L. Maanum, Maritz, Blackstenius.
Scorers: Catley 14’, Blackstenius 87’.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Keating, Aleixandri (C), Fowler, Kelly, Hemp, Morgan, Ouahabi, Roord, Shaw, Hasegawa, Kennedy. Substitutes used: Castellanos, Park, Caparij, Blakstad.
Scorer: Kelly 72’.
Referee: Rebecca Welch.
Attendance: 3,453.
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