Arsenal Women had a memorable Sunday afternoon at the Emirates when they defeated Spurs, our North London rivals. Though it was not the most enjoyable game our Gunners have played, a win is a win, and it counts; it is one of the eight league victories our Gunners require to win the league.
Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn intimated ahead of the game that they would take the fight to Arsenal. But that wasn’t really the case; the Spurs played with a low block, likely to frustrate our girls.
Our Gunners, on the other hand, were wiser; they demonstrated patience and attention, and they made certain to seize the opportunity when it presented itself. Fortunately, Kim Little’s pass reached Beth Mead, who set up Russo for the only goal of the match.
Our Gunner women grabbed another win, which was fantastic. They remain three-points behind leaders Chelsea & Manchester City at the top of the standings. There are seven WSL games remaining; they cannot afford to lose any.
Some teams may try to frustrate Arsenal by playing with a low block, as the Spurs did, and Eidevall and the girls will have to find methods to deal with that.
Skipper Kim Little admitted after the game that while the win over the Spurs, who were playing defensively, wasn’t particularly enjoyable, it was still a win—three points in the bag. She stated that going forward, they need to improve in set pieces, which might be a way for them to punish teams that try to frustrate them by playing low blocks.
“I think the 3 points is the most important thing, but we weren’t at our best. We can probably be a bit more diverse with our corners. You can see across the game, when you’re good at set-pieces, you’ve got more chances of winning games,” Little told BBCSport post match.
Arsenal Women’s next match is against Aston Villa in the Continental Cup Semifinals, on Wednesday 6th March, kick-off 7.15PM UK. As reigning Conti Cup champions, Arsenal are very keen to keep a hold of the sole trophy they have won in recent years. The other semi-finalists, Man City v Chelsea, go head to head on Thursday 7th March, kick-off 7.15PM UK.
What did you think of Sunday’s match Gooners? Were you at the match?
Suzie P
Michelle M
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we re going to win the WSL this year, i have no doubt, Chelsea are very strong, City very consistent, but we re grinding out results and have the depth in our squad to ”outgun” both of them, in fact the better teams are easier to beat, paradoxically, b/c they may not pack their defences quite so much