Brighton & Hove Albion 4 – 2 Arsenal
By Emily Wyatt (05/05/2025)
Above: Brighton celebrate a big win. Photo: @BHAFCWomen on X.
Brighton pounced on a low-on-confidence Arsenal to claim a historic first victory against the Gunners, beating them 4-2 at the Broadfield Stadium.
In the opening moments of the game, Brighton put immediate pressure on Arsenal’s back line. Jelena Cankovic was the first to take a shot at goal but was deftly denied by Manuela Zinsberger with a fingertip save.
Arsenal made an immediate response seconds later, with Alessia Russo using her strength to guide the ball down the right-hand side of the pitch. After sending a fantastic ball into the box, Russo found the feet of Foord who was one-on-one with the keeper but the pressure from Sophie Baggaley was enough to send the ball just wide of the post.
As Arsenal eventually began to find their feet in the game, they were caught out on the counterattack. All it took was a perfectly timed pass from Cankovic and Fran Kirby powered the ball into the top right corner, sealing the first goal of the match for the home side.
Despite the setback for the Gunners, Arsenal looked positive and continued to apply pressure to Brighton’s back line for a large sector of the first half.
The Gunners managed to make it equal in the twenty-ninth minute through Caitlin Foord as she received a precise delivery from Mariona Caldentey.
However, the victory was short-lived for Arsenal and in the closing stages of the first half Brighton claimed their second goal of the game after receiving a corner, resulting in an astonishing volley from Cankovic.
Although the half time stats presented Arsenal to be dominating the game, the scoreline told a remarkably different story.
Going into the second half was clear that Brighton were feeling confident and it wasn’t long until this confidence paid off.
Extraordinarily, in the space of three minutes Brighton bagged two more goals through Cancovik and Seike. Cancovik managed to get her name on the board for the second time of the day after a poor clearance from Zinsberger was intercepted and played back over to her.
Arsenal’s defensive system suffered again just over a minute later, after Seike beat Katie McCabe to the ball and confidently shot it past the Arsenal keeper.
In the closing stages of this exhilarating game, Caldentey found the back of the net and got a second for the away team after finding herself unmarked just within the box.
However, this, along with a close attempt from Jenna Nighswonger that hit the crossbar from long range just wasn’t enough for Renee Sleger’s side to get back into the game this late on.
For Brighton, it was an important event as they had beat Arsenal for the first time. Although for the Gunners, this was their second consecutive defeat in the space of a week, leaving a large stain on their confidence ahead of a big week. The result also gives Manchester United a way of pipping them to second place – all they need to do is beat the Gunners at the Emirates next weekend.
Teams: BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION (3-1-4-2): Baggaley, Thorisdottir, Bergsvand, Hayes, Symonds, Auee, Kirby, Cankovic, Olislagers, Seike, Parris. Substitutes: Masaka, Miranda, McLauchlan, Rayner, Rule, Stefanovic, Vilamala.
Scorers: Kirby 16’, Cankovic 43’, 52’, Seike 54’
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Zinsberger, Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe, Little, Caldentey, Mead, Maanum, Foord, Russo. Substitutes: Blackstenius, Cooney-Cross, Nighswonger, Ilestedt, Kelly, Pelova, Williams, Wubben-Moy, Walti.
Scorers: Foord 29’, Caldentey 90+3’
Referee: Amy Fearn
Attendance: TBC
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