Brilliant Arsenal Throw Title Race Wide Open
Arsenal 4 Chelsea 1
In front of a record Women’s Super League crowd of 59,042, Arsenal turned on the style to hand Emma Hayes’ Chelsea it’s first loss of the season and join them at the top of the table on 22 points, albeit with a slightly inferior goal difference.
The fervent Emirates faithful played their part throughout and were sent into raptures after eight minutes when Beth “Meado” Mead mimicked her slalom Euros ’22 goal against Norway, cutting in from the right and send three Chelsea players the wrong way and burying it in the top corner with her left ‘weaker’ peg.
It was an excellent move all round with Aussie winger Caitlin Foord driving down the left, finding Kim Little, who in the tightest of spaces squeezed onto the Victoria Pelova. The Dutch star’s cute swivel brought in Mead and she did the rest.
Chelsea were caught cold and hadn’t got into first gear, but within four minutes they were level, courtesy of their own sweeping move that ended with Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd cutting into the box and firing a low shot past Manuela Zinsberger. There was a hint of offside with Sam Kerr standing in the eyeline of the Arsenal keeper, but WSL doesn’t yet have VAR — for better or worse!
The Blues away fans, who were also in fine voice, would have expected a turbo-charged performance from then on with the likes of superstar attackers Lauren James and Kerr tormenting the Arsenal back line.
However, on this occasion, the onslaught never came and it was Arsenal who went up a couple of gears to effectively end the contest before half-time. First, on 35 minutes, Swedish World Cup star Amanda Ilestedt got her first WSL goal with a firm downward header after Chelsea keeper Ann-Katrin Berger inexplicably came for a ball her defenders were better placed to deal with.
Three minutes later Arsenal’s new heroine Alessia Russo burst in from the left and Thierry Henri-like opened up her body to finish superbly in the corner. That set off even wilder celebrations, but the disappointment and frustration showed visibly on Hayes, who had stern words with James, for as it appeared, coming too deep to collect the ball.
Hayes’ mood wouldn’t have improved to much as we got into the second half and it was Arsenal, who were dominating in all phases; possession, aggression and craft. They duly got their just desserts in the 74th minute when, after Little had departed, Russo won then tucked a spot kick beyond Berger’s despairing dive into her right-hand corner.
The ex- Man Utd and England striker well deserved her MVP trophy.
Red hot Russo celebrates her first goal.