Derby delight for our men and women! by Shenel Osman
After our men had beaten Fulham 3-0 earlier on in the day, the Arsenal women also ran out winners in their second game of the season in Dagenham in front of a 1000 capacity crowd, in a test game for home supporters.
Following on from their 6-1 demolition of Reading last weekend, the Arsenal Women ran out emphatic derby winners against West Ham coming away 9-1 winners.
A good day to be a Gooner 😊
Great performance, @ArsenalWFC 🔴 https://t.co/Zq4IguUYLO
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 12, 2020
It was a bright and intense start from both teams in the sunshine and each time either side went forward they looked like they could score. In addition to the intensity though West Ham also had physicality thrown into their game with a couple of tasty challenges and had been given their first two yellows around 14 minutes of the game, one for a challenge from Rachel Daly and one for dissent against the referee for Gill Flaherty.
Arsenal were forced into an early change, on 19 minutes, Steph Catley, who took a knock to the back of the head, was replaced by Katie McCabe who was making her first appearance of the season after being suspended last week against Reading. But finally, the breakthrough came for Arsenal on 23 minutes, Jill Roord getting the goal after an assist by McCabe who had only been on the pitch for four minutes.
It took West Ham just four minutes to equalise though, Kenza Dali with a fine first touch to bury the ball into the bottom left corner from just outside the box after Arsenal failed to clear their lines. It was game on until Arsenal then went 2-1 up on 33 minutes, after a previous flurry had them missing chances they would normally bury, but a sweet cross from Beth Mead was knocked in by Miedema, and amongst the goal celebrations West Ham had their captain Gilly Flaherty sent off for dissent and was shown a second yellow.
West Ham seemed to have lost their head after the sending off and Arsenal took advantage, extending their lead and going in at half time 4-1 up thanks to goals from Kim Little and Beth Mead, the latter with a fine finish in the top left corner, mirroring the goal scored by Aubameyang earlier in the day.
Our girls then started the second half as they finished the first, Jill Roord getting her second, Miedema then got her second and Arsenal’s sixth two minutes after Roords strike, getting behind the defender and hammering the ball into the net. Roord who for the second game running was the stand-out player, then got back-back hat-tricks in the WSL all within a week, making it 7-1 with 35 minutes still to play, it was clear that Arsenal was in cruise control but even at 7-1 Arsenal competed for challenges and were always hungry for more goals, their level and intensity never dropped off.
Leah Williamson then added an eighth for Arsenal on 72 minutes, followed by sub Caitlyn Foord scoring the final goal of the game and her first WSL goal on 85 minutes to help Arsenal to a second win. Despite all of Arsenal Women’s dominance in front of goal they still have a weakness at the back and have conceded two goals over their first two games, something Montemurro would be concerned about, especially against a quality opponent.
Let’s hope the men follow suit again next week as they did today and grab another three points in a comfortable win against West Ham at the Emirates. Gooners?
Shenel
Hopefully, Steph Catley has recovered from her head knock. 🇦🇺
Girl power 👊
Seconded!
Thank for the update