Arsenal hosted Chelsea in the Barclays FAWSL this weekend.
Teams
Arsenal:
Manuela Zinsberger; Viktoria Schnaderbeck; Leah Williamson; Louise Quinn (Lisa Evans); Danielle van de Donk; Lia Wälti; Jordan Nobbs (Beth Mead); Kim Little (c); Katie McCabe; Vivianne Miedema; Jill Roord
Chelsea:
Ann-Katrin Berger; Maren Mjelde; Millie Bright; Magdalena Eriksson (c); Jonna Andersson; Sophie Ingle; Erin Cuthbert; Guro Reiten (Hannah Blundell); Ji So Yun; Bethany England; Sam Kerr (Drew Spence)
Score:
1 (Beth Mead) v 4 (Bethany England; Sam Kerr; Sophie Ingle; Guro Reiten)
3 Word Summary
Goals, goals, goals.
Player of the Match
Sophie Ingle – Not only did Ingle score potentially the goal of the season but she ran play from her midfield position. The team was built around her. With her strength in the middle, her teammates were able to flood forward causing Arsenal all sorts of problems from the first whistle.
Stand Out Moment
It’s hard to pick one stand out moment from a game of so much quality from Chelsea. If we had to choose, it perhaps was Beth England’s goal. Her 10th minute effort was a beautifully struck opener and kick-started Chelsea’s dominance. It was definitely a sign of things to come.
Key Takeaways
- The importance of Sophie Ingle – The Welsh midfielder is such an underrated player and one of Chelsea’s most consistent performers. She needs to be on the plane to Tokyo in the summer.
- Montemurro’s change in tactics – Arsenal have changed things up at the wrong time. They seemed to sacrifice playing to their strengths with trying to snuff out Chelsea’s attack. With such a small squad, adapting to a new system quickly is difficult. Doing it against a top side like Chelsea was always going to be a tall order.
- Chelsea’s strength in depth – There are so many key players in this Chelsea side and when they’re on form they are unstoppable. To be able to put Bethany England, Ji So Yun, Erin Cuthbert and Sam Kerr in the starting XI and still have the likes of Ramona Bachmann and Drew Spence on the bench, they must really give opposition defenders a headache.
Quote of the Day
“I’m not normally a goal scorer but it was nice to get on the score sheet for the team. Once you hit it that sweet, you know it’s going to go top bins and luckily it did.”
SOPHIE INGLE
