For all their possession and promising opportunities they countlessly created, they walked away from Boreham Wood in midweek without a spot in March’s final.
Arsenal were their own worst enemy against a resilient Manchester United side, who have managed to not concede against the Gunners in 270 minutes of action this season.
Plenty of positives to take regarding dominance with the ball, but Arsenal boss Renee Slegers was left once more to ponder why her side were unable to convert ruthlessly in front of goal.
To regroup and dust themselves off so soon after being knocked out of a cup competition is harder than it may seem.
Slegers heaped praise on her players and their willingness to bounce back, and to address the finishing touches in the final third that have been agonisingly missing.
"The way the players deal with adversity. I think yesterday was the best I’ve seen it so far. So we’re growing as a team in that regard. We have been performing well apart from scoring since coming back in January.
"So we have to look at the positives and we’ve been really good and constructive and honest and solution-based on the final thing that we need to get right. It’s scoring goals."
She spoke in detail about the balance between letting the players express themselves freely and setting structures to facilitate Arsenal’s chances of netting goals more frequently.
"If we are really clear on how we want to structure things and what the plans are going into games, then there needs to be a freedom of decision making for players to follow their instincts as well."
She added, "So we try to find that perfect balance of giving structure and control the controllables, and then also allowing players to play on their intuition and make sure they believe in themselves. We show that we believe in them, because we all do."
Her Champions League winning side will face Sonia Bompastor’s formidable Chelsea, who are yet to have been knocked off their WSL perch for the past six campaigns.
The teams shared the spoils at the Emirates in November with Arsenal rescued by a late Alessia Russo equaliser, but at this stage with Slegers’ side ten points adrift of league leaders Manchester City, a victory is vital.
Although Slegers confirmed Emily Fox will be available in the matchday squad, Arsenal will be without their influential winger Olivia Smith.
The summer signing received a second yellow against Manchester United, which rules her out of WSL action at Stamford Bridge.
Ahead of Saturday lunchtime’s highly-anticipated clash, Slegers was clear on the objective to have hunger and eagerness to win against their London rivals, who narrowly ran out winners the last time Arsenal visited.
"We want to win. We need to win. We need points. In one way, it creates clarity in what we want to achieve and what we're going after tomorrow.
"A team that has been winning trophies over a long time. With Emma [Hayes] and now with Sonia [Bompastor] as well. A lot of winners in that team.
"They come out very fast. They did that at Emirates as well. They do score early in games. I think there will be a big crowd tomorrow. We have 3,000 fans travelling, which is amazing. We'll see them, we'll feel them, we'll fuel them. It's that late goal that we conceded. It was a close game, that away game at Stamford Bridge."