Laia Codina’s opening goal in our 2-0 win away to Crystal Palace came as no surprise to her teammates, who had a feeling she’d find the back of the net on Sunday.
It was a header that sent us on our way to the Subway League Cup’s semi-finals, with Stina Blackstenius adding our second goal late on.
Reflecting on the match, Codi said: “Yeah, a big win. I think it's been a great block, five out of five. So, I'm happy for the team performance, also because we knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but we went through it and we got the win.
“It's always nice to score. I was joking before with all the girls, all of them, they were like, ‘Codi, today you are going to score.’ And also the set-piece coach, so I'm happy for them, I'm happy to help the team, and yeah, to be on the pitch as well.”
[Read more
Report: Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal Women](https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/women/2025-Dec-21/crystal-palace-women-match-report?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
At the start of December following the most recently international break, Renée Slegers set out a simple assignment for the players - win five out of five matches this month - and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
“Yeah, 100%,” Laia recalled. “I remember the first day coming back from the international break, that was our goal for this block, and we got five out of five with our fans away today. Once again, they've been amazing. Also, during the week in Belgium, today against Crystal Palace, also happy for that because they've been always there. We're going to need them for 2026.
“We always speak about it, but sometimes I think that it's not enough, because we really feel them. Of course, big moments like the Champions League final, they were amazing. Our set of fans last week against Leuven, I think that was one of the biggest followings away. I'm really happy to be part of this club, to be part of these fans, and we're very grateful to have them.
“Feliz Navidad, Gooners!”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.