Arsenal are through to the knockout phases of the Women’s Champions League after a 1-0 win over FC Twente, thanks to an early goal from Beth Mead.
The Gunners had 61% of the ball and 15 shots to two, but were guilty of profligacy, failing to turn their dominance into a sizable score line.
Steph Catley wore the captain’s armband, starting at centre-back alongside Lotte Wubben-Moy as Twente created little to worry the Matildas star, who completed 70 of her 78 passes.
“The clean sheet is important. (Our goalkeeper) Anneke Borbe took a knock to the face, but she was great and did everything she needed to really well,” Catley told UEFA.
“It was a big win, an important one.
“We could have scored more, but they really put bodies on the line. There were three or four goal-line clearances, but I’m pleased with how we stuck together.”
From an Australian perspective, the most pleasing aspect of this Arsenal victory was certainly the performance of Kyra Cooney-Cross, who played a full 90 minutes in midfield for the Gunners.
After struggling for minutes to start the season, it appears the Matildas midfielder has now worked her way into the starting XI under Renee Slegers.
Cooney-Cross has now started each of Arsenal’s last four matches across the Women’s Super League and the Champions League, producing an excellent performance here.
The 23-year-old completed 55 of her 61 passes and all three of her dribbles, created one chance, made 10 passes into the final third, put in two tackles, added three recoveries and won six of her seven ground duels.
Only Katie McCabe (100) and Wubben-Moy (94) had more touches than Cooney-Cross (83).
With captain Kim Little now fit again after two substitute appearances, it will be interesting to see if the Australian maintains her place in the XI for Saturday night AEST’s league clash against Everton.
Fellow Matildas star Caitlin Foord came off the bench in 58th minute, creating a chance, but could not help Arsenal add to their lead.
“We could have maybe took a few more risks in the final third. We had very good chances today and didn’t put some of them in the back of the net which is very frustrating,” Mead told Disney+.
“We obviously want to score more goals. We had chances to do that. We weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal today. When you have chances you have to score.”
After a poor start to their Champions League defence, giving up leads in losses to Lyon and Bayern Munich, the Gunners have clicked into gear, winning back-to-back matches against Real Madrid and now Twente.
With that, they move up to sixth in the league phase table, securing a spot in the knockout phase, ahead of their final league phase match against OH Leuven on December 18.
“That was super important so that’s the position we want to be in and we have the Leuven game next week, which is very important to get the 3 points and then get as high in the table as possible,” Slegers said, via Arseblog.
“From what I understood, they played 0-0 today again. They’ve been doing well with close results so that’s definitely not going to be easy.”
Keep an eye out for tomorrow’s Champions League matches, with Matildas to go head-to-head with Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter’s Chelsea hosting Winonah Heatley’s AS Roma.