Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
by Freya Ward at The Emirates for Impetus (12/10/24).
Above: Caitlin Foord celebrates her goal with a badge tap at the Emirates Stadium. Photo: ArsenalWFC on X
Mayra Ramirez set Chelsea up for success in the team’s first clash with Arsenal this season.
Within the first three minutes of the game, the Columbian placed a beautiful overhead kick into the back of the net, perfectly setting the tempo for their 2-1 win, at the Emirates.
By using Ramirez’s strength and composure to their advantage to beat Arsenal’s defence in 1v1 situations, Chelsea created numerous goalscoring oppourtunities for the home side’s defence to deal with; stretching out the backline and putting pressure on the gunners seemed to be their plan from the first kick of the ball.
Arsenal responded with a positive spell of play, winning themselves a corner after putting pressure on Chelsea inside the 18-yard box with some brilliant skill coming from Caitlin Foord to ensure the ball came off Lucy Bronze- unfortunately for the Gunners the corner was well dealt with by Millie Bright who guided the ball to safety.
The visitors opened up Arsenal’s defence yet again 16 minutes into the game with a beautiful run of play, starting with Hannah Hampton, who used her incredible distribution to guide the ball to Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd far down the right wing.
Kaneryd passed the ball to Ramirez, who utilised her great one-on-one ability to keep Lotte Wubben-Moy and Leah Williamson off the ball, before passing back to Kaneryd who had found space in the box to slot the ball to Lauren James. James drove forward into the right-hand side of the box before pinging the ball over Arsenal’s entire backline for Sandy Baltimore to head past Van Domselaar.
It looked like the Blues would cruise into halftime without conceding after their dominant start to the game but Arsenal’s number 19 and Matilda’s superstar Foord had other plans.
After a great turnover of possession in midfield for Arsenal- Emily Fox played a great ball towards Foord who carried it into the box- dancing past Bronze and Kadeisha Buchanan before curling a powerful shot into the far right corner of the net to put the home side back into contention going into the second half.
Foord was deservedly awarded player of the match by the Arsenal Women’s Supporters Club after a standout performance in what was a disappointing performance by the Gunners.
The second half of the game saw Ramirez instantly made her mark. The Colombian created openings in Arsenal’s defence by charging at goal, leaving Rytting-Kaneryd unmarked but it wasn’t long until Katie McCabe came to the rescue for the home side putting pressure on the Swede leaving the ball to roll into the arms of Van Domselaar.
The Gunners followed suit with another stunning piece of football down the left channel from Foord a couple of minutes later but ultimately it was dealt with by Chelsea’s defence. Both teams continued to create chances – notably Foord who was involved in some capacity in almost all of the home teams’ attempts on goal, putting pressure on the Blues backline and drawing them in to uncomfortable decisions.
As Arsenal continued to push for a late equaliser Sonia Bompastor, made a defensive tactical substitution bringing on Nathalie Björn and Ashley Lawrence in place of Rytting-Kaneryd and Guro Reiten in an attempt to see out the game. This change in tactics ultimately proved successful as Chelsea were able to claim the points.
Teams: ARSENAL: Van Domselaar, Fox, Wubben-Moy, Williamson, Caldenty, Mead, Little, Mccabe, Walti, Foord, Russo. Substitutes used: L. Maanum, Cooney-Cross, Blackstenius
Scorer: Foord 43′.
CHELSEA: Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Buchanan, Baltimore, Kaptein, Nusken, Reiten, James, Ramirez. Substitutes used: Macario, Beever-Jones, Cuthbert, Lawrence, Bjorn
Scorers: Ramirez 4′, Baltimore 16′.
Referee: Cheryl Foster.
Attendance: 45,860.
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