Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report from Meadow Park.
Some reaction from Katie McCabe, the match-winner, speaking to the BBC.
It’s been a lot [this week]. Qualifying for the first semi-final in the Champions League was unbelievable, and then the quick turnaround to get fit. I had a fantastic medical team to help me.
We’re just concentrating on ourselves and each game that’s put in front of us. It’s just another three points [today] and we just need to keep chipping away at it until the end of the season. We want players to go away with their national teams and stay fit, and then come back and prepare for a massive end to the season. It’s going to be an exciting run-in.
Here’s the winning goal. It was a beauty.
KATIE MCCABE 💚 pic.twitter.com/n08NZs6c5i
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 2, 2023
All on Chelsea later, who play Aston Villa, and will hope to do rather better than their men’s team did on Saturday against the same opponents. They can leap over Arsenal to go second but it remains so so tight.
Full-time: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City
A huge win for Arsenal, and a huge loss for City, a real blow for City’s title hopes and it’s Arsenal who look to have the momentum. They go up to second after goals from Frida Maanum and Katie McCabe’s cracking winner. Considering she was on crutches and in a protective boot, that’s quite the story. Arsenal continue to be patched up but a treble is still on,
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 17 | 37 | 41 |
| 2 | Arsenal Women | 16 | 30 | 38 |
| 3 | Man City Women | 17 | 19 | 38 |
| 4 | Chelsea Women | 15 | 25 | 37 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 16 | 7 | 29 |
90+8 min: Shaw is back on, will there be another City chance? The answer is no.
90+6 min: Shaw leaves the field, and Arsenal win a corner. Katie McCabe, all energy and devilment, will take her time.
90+5 min: Bunny Shaw pulls up with some untimely cramp. Or is it worse than cramp?
90+4 min: Surely more will be added on after that delay. Can City do anything with it?
90+3 min: Steph Houghton smashes the ball into the wall, someone goes down, and as the ball falls to Bunny Shaw, play is stopped for Maanum, for it is she, to receive treatment.
90 min: Hasegawa tries to squeak through, and suddenly a foul is called, right on the edge of the box. Six minutes have been added on.
88 min: Rafaelle shows all her experience in clearing out Raso, then far less composure in playing the ball back to City. There is relief when D’Angelo is able to climb on to the ball to buy time.
87 min: Angeldahl off, Mary Fowler on for City. Last throw of the dice?
Updated
85 min: Arsenal now banking back, and inviting City on to their back five. The midfield will do the chasing. Shaw, at last, reveals herself, and is played in by Raso, the sub, only for Jen Beattie to do enough to put City’s striker off.
83 min: A long break in play for that injury and that change. City having to find the hustle of the early stages to continue that winning run of theirs.
80 min: City’s Aleixandri is down injured. It’s been some time since Bunny Shaw scored They make a sub. Coombs off, Casparij on.
78 min: Real steel in Arsenal’s comeback. As against Bayern, they found a way back into the game, Jonas Eidevall making changes that paid off.
76 min: As it stands now. So much to play for
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 17 | 37 | 41 |
| 2 | Arsenal Women | 16 | 30 | 38 |
| 3 | Man City Women | 17 | 19 | 38 |
| 4 | Chelsea Women | 15 | 25 | 37 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 16 | 7 | 29 |
Goal! Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City (McCabe, 75)
The corner is taken short and McCabe, coming in off the right, with that left foot, thrashes in beyond a despairing Roebuck, who gets a hand to it.
Updated
74 min: Some angry voices in the Arsenal crowd. There were almost cheers when Maanum smashes on goal after McCabe’s pass. Roebuck’s save is excellent.
72 min: The pattern of play has broken down after those subs, though Arsenal seem far better organised at the back.
70 min: Lia Walti, of Arsenal, is booked for a hefty, late challenge on Angeldal. There are boos but it was deserved.
69 min: Here comes that triple change: Blackstenius, Maritz and Pelova off.
On come Beattie, Jodie Taylor and Kathrine Kühl.
67 min: Those Arsenal subs are sat back down with blankets on. Chloe Kelly meanwhile, takes up a chance to shoot on goal but misses, her shot rattling off the backboard.
63 min: Arsenal will wait on that double change, it seems.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 17 | 37 | 41 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 17 | 20 | 39 |
| 3 | Chelsea Women | 15 | 25 | 37 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 16 | 29 | 36 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 16 | 7 | 29 |
Goal! Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City (Maanum, 62)
Nice buildup from Arsenal, and eventually Blackstenius swings and misses, City can’t clear the ball and Maanum, the scorer of that Bayern pearler, slots it. Game on!
Updated
61 min: Looks like some Arsenal changes are in the offing. “Goo on, Citeh,” roars a reassuringly Mancunian voice in the crowd.
59 min: City try and take the sting out of Arsenal with some possession play.
57 min: The sun is out in Borehamwood and the tempo is lifting. Both teams are going at it, Arsenal seem far less fatigued than in the first half.
55 min: Morgan drops deep to clear City’s lines. They are being far more harried and hurried in this half.
53 min: Morgan concedes an Arsenal corner and home fans find their voice. It’s cleared but McCabe gets another chance to loop it in, and then City go down the other end. Angeldal fails to find Lauren Hemp, who seems a bit out of touch today.
51 min: It’s a more even contest, City not quite exerting the control of the first half.
49 min: A City corner, taken short, Chloe Kelly swings the ball in but it’s cleared as the ball looks to land with Coombs. Gareth Taylor likes a short corner, possibly the Joe Royle influence to his coaching career.
47 min: A sighting of Blackstenius but she fails to connect with the ball. Still, Arsenal already look brighter than before.
46 min: And back away we go at Meadow Park. It’s still grey out there.
SIGN UP NOW! Cor Baby It’s Really Free to sign up.
The WSL table AS IT STANDS
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 17 | 37 | 41 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 17 | 21 | 41 |
| 3 | Chelsea Women | 15 | 25 | 37 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 16 | 28 | 35 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 16 | 7 | 29 |
Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Manchester City
It’s a deserved lead for the visitors, and Arsenal have struggled to replicate the energy of midweek and to create chances. City have been good for their lead, and it might have been more.
Updated
45+3 min: Arsenal struggling to get out of their half. Chloe Kelly shoots and D’Angelo makes a fine save when it was heading goalwards.
45+1 min: Hasegawa takes the short corner, cuts in and shoots just over. Five min utes have been added on to this half.
45 min: City continue to press and harry Arsenal up front but are also defending with quality. Hemp has another chance, this time hitting the target after a Shaw pass. D’Angelo this time has to make a save, palming behind.
43 min: Shaw has dominated Arsenal’s defenders with her power and also her ability to pick up spaces as she drifts across the front. She’s such an improved player.
41 min: Arsenal have a corner, McCabe will take, an inswinger off her left foot, and the ball is flicked across goal. The ball was not quite high enough to cause trouble.
39 min: D’Angelo shanks the ball out of play from a goal-kick. Too many errors from Arsenal…though they aren’t alone. Shaw again plays provider, nodding the ball for Hemp to slot in. But…somehow, she slashes the ball over. Ooof. This is becoming an ever more nervy affair. High stakes.
37 min: Hemp has a shot blocked by Wubben-Moy, after Bunny Shaw’s fine flick.
35 min: Caitlin Foord is down for Arsenal. Some tired legs among the Champions League semi-finalists. Foord leaves the field when running repairs can do more. Wienroither comes on and that means Katie McCabe moves out right and in a far more attacking position.
33 min: City try to restore order, with Hasegawa stepping forward into midfield. Shaw releases Hemp, before Hasegawa again joins the attack. A Coombs header goes just wide after a slick passing move. That was fine play and probably deserved a better finish.
31 min: Lauren Hemp has to run back to help out and stop Pelova on the burst. Maanum, scorer of such a great goal v Bayern, tries a shot but this one is way off, catching the wind to fly miles behind.
29 min: Arsenal have definitely improved and City are being penned back far more.
27 min: Roebuck is OK for now and meanwhile Lauren Hemp is in the wars with a head injury. It’s a physical contest out there.
25 min: More momentum from Arsenal, and Blackstenius at last involved as Ellie Roebuck comes out to smother. And now the Manchester City goalie is down. Her knee is being tended to.
22 min: D’Angelo is back up. Now, has Eidevall made any difference with his machinations?
20 min: D’Angelo is down for Arsenal. At least Zinsberger is on the bench though she makes no move to come on. Rather conveniently, D’Angelo gets worked over and Jonas Eidevall can work on his team. They need to improve, and quickly, too.
17 min: City opening up great spaces in Arsenal’s midfield, before Pelova, at last, relieves the pressure, for what feels a first attack of the game, only for an offside to intervene. This is toughgoing for the home team.
15 min: Feels like Stina Blackstenius hasn’t seen much of the ball. Not a good sign for Arsenal. Not a good sign at all.
13 min: Shaw almost gets another as he presses Williamson down and finds space to shoot. Good save from D’Angelo, and it needed to be.
12 min: Shaw turns creator in lofting out a pass to Kelly, who takes on McCabe, on sudden death, before the shot is blocked. City are really on it in these opening moments.
10 min: Katie McCabe is booked for dissent and for taking a throw-in and bouncing the ball off Chloe Kelly’s head in what looked an act of petulance.
8 min: City really fancy this one, and Arsenal look a little tired already. That’s not a good sign. Chloe Kelly was the supplier from City’s right flank and Shaw now has 16 goals for the WSL season.
6 min: City were incisive where Arsenal were sleepy. And the goal came down Katie McCabe’s flank.
Goal! Arsenal 0-1 Manchester City (Shaw, 5)
City really bided their time well, a deliberate passing move sees the ball played out wide and Bunny Shaw heads in.
Updated
4 min: City seem willing to sit back for the moment, and use their pace on the break. Hemp has a first burst down their left.
2 min: Arsenal take up the cudgels early though there’s a delay in play when ball is launched out of the ground by a City defender before landing somewhere in the Borehamwood area.
1 min: And away we go, following a taking of the knee. Here’s the live table AS IT STANDS.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 17 | 37 | 41 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 17 | 20 | 39 |
| 3 | Chelsea Women | 15 | 25 | 37 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 16 | 29 | 36 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 16 | 7 | 29 |
| 6 | Everton Women | 15 | 2 | 21 |
| 7 | West Ham Women | 16 | -13 | 16 |
| 8 | Liverpool FC Women | 15 | -11 | 15 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 16 | -15 | 12 |
| 10 | Reading Women | 16 | -18 | 11 |
| 11 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 15 | -32 | 9 |
| 12 | Leicester Women | 16 | -31 | 7 |
The teams are out at Meadow Park for another grey afternoon in what has been a very grey spring so far. Still, this is no occasion to worry about the weather.
Charles Antaki writes in: “No Kim Little, and of course, no Miedema or Mead; enough to give any Arsenal fan the collywobbles. But on the other hand, they managed pretty well against Bayern the other day. And having the – let us say – combative Katie McCabe back is a bonus. Of course, there are doubts about whether Blackstenius will actually score on any given occasion, but usually others will step up, and sometimes Foord or Maanum will have a stunner of a game. So, positives.”
Jonas Eidevall on Katie McCabe’s recovery and Kim Little’s injury: “Katie made a very quick recovery. Kim is going to be out for a lonner time than Katie, at least a few weeks and we’ll have to see.”
Sabrina D’Angelo over Manuela Zinsberger in Arsenal’s goal is another headline selection from Jonas Eidevall. Can they revive the magic of Wednesday night?
Manchester City are unchanged from their 2-0 win over Chelsea last weekend as they seek to continue a 14-match winning streak.
The big news is that Katie McCabe starts at left-back for Arsenal after being on crutches and in a protective boot on Wednesday night but her foot injury was only a bruise. Back home in Ireland there were genuine fears she might even miss the summer’s World Cup. No Kim Little, though.
The teams are in
Arsenal: D’Angelo, Maritz, Williamson, Rafaelle, Wubben-Moy, Maanum, Walti, McCabe, Pelova, Blackstenius, Foord. Subs: Zinsberger, Beattie, Marckese, Queiroz, Kuhl, Wienroither, Taylor, Reid.
🥁 Introducing The Arsenal XI…
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 2, 2023
COME ON YOU GUNNERS 👊 pic.twitter.com/Mv6oForwe8
Man City: Roebuck, Aleixandri, Houghton, Greenwood, Morgan, Hasegawa, Angeldal, Kelly, Coombs, Hemp, Shaw. Subs: Casparij, Fowler, Castellanos, Raso, Ouahabi, MacIver, Dahou.
🙌 TEAM NEWS 🙌
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) April 2, 2023
XI | Roebuck, Morgan, Houghton (C), Greenwood, Aleixandri, Hasegawa, Angeldahl, Coombs, Kelly, Hemp, Shaw
SUBS | MacIver, Casparij, Fowler, Castellanos, Raso, Ouahabi, Dahou#ManCity | @HaysWorldwide pic.twitter.com/hmUudsilCy
Updated
Suzanne Wrack ran a tale of the tape on the two contenders. You may be surprised on her final scores.
City’s defeat of Chelsea was sandwiched between the two legs of the latter’s Champions League quarter-final win against last season’s winners, Lyon. Gareth Taylor’s team play Arsenal on Sunday after the Gunners’ gruelling midweek defeat of Bayern Munich that earned their place in the semi-finals.
If fixture congestion is to play a part in the outcome of the title, then City have the advantage. With Arsenal and Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals and the latter in the FA Cup last four along with Manchester United, City’s undivided attention on the league could prove to be significant.
In addition to Champions League games, Arsenal have the toughest run-in, with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all still to come. A first league title since 2019 is theirs if they win every game but dangers lie ahead.
Preamble
This is massive. The WSL season enters its final straight with so much to play for. Arsenal are not exactly fresh from their Champions League victory over Bayern Munich, with Kim Little and Katie McCabe likely to be joining the long-term injury list. They need a win to draw level on points with league leaders Manchester United, who won their match on Saturday 4-0 at Brighton. They also need to win to hold off City, who unlike Arsenal and Chelsea, who play Aston Villa later, don’t have European distractions to deal with.
Kick-off is 12.30pm. Join me.
