Arsenal opened the Women’s Super League campaign with a hard fought 4-1 win over newly promoted London City Lionesses.
The first Saturday of theseason saw last term’s champions of Europe welcome the champions of the second tier to the Emirates Stadium. Both sides had made waves in the window over the summer. Arsenal broke the transfer record by signing Olivia Smith from Liverpool. Their opponents London City Lionesses were the busiest club in Europe over the window with a stunning 17 incomings over the summer. Among them PSG captain Grace Geyoro, Italy captain Elena Linari and former Manchester United captain Katie Zelem.
Both sides won their final pre season encounter against top flight opposition. The Gunners beat West Ham 2-0 while London City ran out 3-1 victors against Leicester City. The match would also see the return of Freya Godfrey and Teyah Goldie to Arsenal who were both signed on a permanent basis from the North London side in the summer.
Another statement signing from the newcomers is a former Gunner in Nikitta Parris who started London City’s first ever top flight match. Alongside her Jocelyn Prêcheur started five other new signings for the visitors. London City were still missing some new star signings in Daniëlle van de Donk and Grace Geyoro. Arsenal started a more modest number of new signings, just one, that world record one: Olivia Smith.
Prior to kick off Arsenal said goodbye to fan favourite Lia Wälti who wished an emotional farewell to the fans. Leah Williamson paraded the Champions League trophy on the pitch. Williamson was missing from the match day squad after being ruled out through injury. That meant that Katie Reid came into the starting eleven for Arsenal ahead of Lotte Wubben-Moy and Laia Codina.
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The Lineups
ARS: Van Domselaar; Fox, Reid, Catley, McCabe; Little, Mariona, Pelova; Smith, Russo, Kelly
MUN: Lete; Fernández, Linari, Kumagai, Kennedy, Imuran, Zelem, Asllani, Pérez, Parris, Goodwin
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The Action
The first effort of the match came from Arsenal’s American right back Emily Fox. Fox, lurking on the edge of the box was found by Victoria Pelova before she fired just wide. A positive early start for Katie Reid was under threat after after a foul on Asllani in the box resulted in a penalty. The Swedish legend made no mistake from the penalty spot.
A back and forth type of game unfolded in the following minutes before a moment of magic brought Arsenal level. Smith drove past Maria Pérez in the midfield and fired a sensational right footed shot into the back of the net for 1-1. Just moments later Emily Fox played through Victoria Pelova who rounded the keeper and but for a magnificent slice of defending from Saki Kumagai it would have been 2-1.
Smith nearly scored a goal to match the quality of her opener minutes later. A lovely bit of hold up play from Russo concluded with the Arsenal striker sitting the ball up to the back post. Smith met it on the volley but her effort was just wide. Arsenal were beginning to make their dominance show. With minutes remaining in the first half Steph Catley swung a ball into the box, a delicate touch from Russo found Chloe Kelly whose vicious effort went wide.
London City replied with a couple of inventive set piece routines, the best of them resulted in an effort from Zelem which was lofted over the bar. As the half came to a conclusion, Mariona Caldentey found Russo wonderfully in the box. Her headed effort was excellently stopped by Elene Lete in goal for the visitors. However Arsenal would not be denied the lead before half time. Chloe Kelly was found in the box by Ruuso who touched the ball past Lete to give the Gunners a deserved lead.
Olivia Smith was once again at the heart of Arsenal’s attack in the second half, as London City pushed forward she found space at the back. The first chance of the half saw Smith in behind, before cutting the ball back to Pelova who could only fire harmlessly over. Kelly’s deflected shot bounced wide of the post not long after as Arsenal turned up the heat.
The visitors came exceptionally close to a goal against the run of play as the match approached the sixty minute mark. Asllani found Roifat Imuran whose clipped ball knocked off the inside of the Arsenal upright before Daphne Van Domselaar gratefully claimed the ball. Arsenal immediately looked to put the game beyond doubt with an effort from Smith cutting in from the right well saved by Lete.
Stina Blackstenius came off the bench and with ten minutes to play almost got Arsenal’s third but her effort was brilliantly stopped by Lete. Arsenal did make it three with eight minutes to play and it was Blackstenius who got the goal. Mead found Blackstenius in the box and while there was a hint of a foul in the build up, the Swede made no mistake in the middle of the box. Within minutes it was four. And Mead was once again the provider, this time for another substitute Frida Maanum, the English winger’s chip to the back post was nodded home by Maanum.
London City Lionesses were penned back and another smart stop from Lete was all that stood between Maanum and a fifth goal. Arsenal comfortably held on for a 4-1 victory on the opening day.
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Arsenal Player Ratings
GK: Daphne Van Domselaar – 6/10 – A couple of shaky moments early on giving the ball away. Had a quiet afternoon.
RB: Emily Fox – 7/10 – Her effort was the first of Arsenal’s season whistling just wide of the post. Lost the ball in a poor area in the lead up to London City’s opener. Ever the energetic presence in the Arsenal line up.
CB: Katie Reid – 8/10 – Demonstrated some wonderful close control on the ball early in the match. Made more tackles than any other player and won 11 duels, the next most was six. Did exceptionally well to manage Goodwin throughout but went in overenthusiastically to give away an early penalty.
CB: Steph Catley – 7/10 – Got forward to support the attack well, as the game wore on she had less and less to do in a defensive sense. Got an assist too, even if it was a simple one.
LB: Katie McCabe – 7/10 – A thorn in the side of London City going forward at times was caught out of position on London City breaks.
CM: Kim Little – 7/10 – Kept things ticking in the midfield but it was a quiet game for the diminutive Scottish legend.
CM: Mariona Caldentey – 7/10 – Was marked expertly by Asllani but her presence was increasingly more felt as the match wore on.
AM: Victoria Pelova – 7/10 – Demonstrated some good early invention to carve out Arsenal’s first real chance. Almost had Arsenal’s second and did everything right, denied by Japanese brilliance.
CW: Chloe Kelly – 7/10 – Chloe Kelly scoring the winner in a tight match her side were initially behind in? Doesn’t sound familiar. Like Arsenal it took her a while to warm up into the match but once she did she was a potent threat, took the lead for the Gunners.
RW: Olivia Smith – 8/10 –Provided a couple of glimpses of what she is capable of in the opening quarter of the match. A sensational driving run and finish was exactly why Arsenal bought her, was far more effective when she and Kelly swapped wings.
ST: Alessia Russo – 8/10 – Struggled to get the ball to stick to her foot when it arrived near her in the London City half early on. Grew into the match impressively and was at the heart of moves linking the front three in more of a centre forward role at times. Russo had more key passes and created more big chances than any other player in the opening 45 minutes.
SUBS
Frida Maanum (62′ for Pelova)
Caitlin Foord (62′ for Smith)
Beth Mead (77′ for Kelly)
Stina Blackstenius (77′ for Russo)
Taylor Hinds (87′ for McCabe)
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London City Lionesses Player Ratings
GK: Elene Lete – 7/10 – Was forced into an excellent save to deny Russo to keep the scores level before half time however they conceded shortly after. Made some excellent second half saves.
RWB: Jana Fernández – 7/10 – A strong start to her career with the newly promoted side.
CB: Elena Linari – 6/10 – Tasked with touch tight defence of Olivia Smith supporting Imuran to manage the threat to good effect early on. Lost possession a little too often this afternoon.
CB: Saki Kumagai – 7/10 – Made an incredible sliding challenge to deny Pelova with the goal seemingly at her mercy, was the visitors best defender on the day.
CB: Alana Kennedy– 7/10 – The Australian was a rock at the back for London City, she looked like a player in season as opposed to at the start of her season. Nobody made more defensive contributions than her 15.
LWB: Rofiat Imuran – 6/10 – Did a brilliant job marshalling the influence of Smith and Fox in the opening exchanges. Was calm in possession when she had Arsenal players pressing her.
CM: Katie Zelem – 6/10 – Was withdrawn at half time after a quiet opening 45 minutes.
CM: María Pérez– 5/10 – Allowed Smith to dribble past her far too easily in the midfield for the opening Arsenal goal.
AM: Kosovare Asllani – 7/10 – A slick operator for the visitors managed Caldentey well in the early exchanges, tasked with limiting the Spaniards influence. Of course Asllani, a name for the women’s football history books would make yet more here scoring London City Lionesses first ever WSL goal.
ST: Nikita Parris – 5/10 – Struggle to get involved in the match and was well dealt with by McCabe.
ST: Isobel Goodwin – 4/10 – Reid did extremely well to mange Goodwin to a quiet afternoon. A difficult afternoon for Goodwin, who looked out of her depth at times.
SUBS
Julia Roddar (46′ for Zelem)
Sofia Jakobsson (65′ for Parris)
Sanni Franssi (65′ for Pérez)
Lucia Corrales (65′ for Imuran)
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The Halfway Line Player of the Match – Olivia Smith
A stunning debut for Arsenal’s record signing. When the game looked like it might go one way Smith ensured with one swing of the boot that it did not. Smith was exceptional. It was a magnificent day for Arsenal wingers with three out of four getting a goal involvement.
Beth Mead deserves a special mention, her introduction put the game beyond all doubt for Arsenal. She created a match leading total of two big chances despite being on the pitch for just 13 minutes.