Brighton Women’s vs Arsenal Women’s Match Report
Arsenal women’s retain their form tonight after dominating Brighton 3-0 at the Broadfield Stadium in Crawley. That’s their 3rd win in a row and their 8 game unbeaten run continues.
The Gunners started off strongly and within 10 minutes a great ball into the box was headed by Leah Williamson, but tipped over the bar by Megan Walsh. Shortly after Williamson saw herself in Tom Reeves’s book for her first booking this season, after a handball that could have quite easily been prevented, as the ball was already going out of play. Megan Walsh contests a great volley from Miedema which can only fall to Leah Waltis’s head, that is met by another great save by Megan Walsh, making that her 5th save in just 15 minutes of the first half. Another close range shot from Miedema is clawed away by Walsh after another good move from Arsenal. They have really shown their ability to counter attack with such pace using the likes of top scorer Miedema and forward Blackstenius.
27 minutes in, Blackstenius hits the back of the net after a promising counter attack leads to a low cross across the box that is smashed in by Blackstenius. Blackstenius has been picking this Brighton defence apart with numerous perfect long balls. Her quick feet and forward thinking has caused so many Brighton problems throughout this whole game. She has really impressed Arsenal gaffer Jonas Eidevall with 4 goals in her last 5 games in all competitions since joining in January on a free transfer.
Arsenal made it 2-0 just 7 minutes after, when Meidermar used great skill to beat 2 defenders and slip Beth Mead through for a simple finish. Ford whips a great ball into the box that is flicked on by Blackstenius’s head towards the far post and lands into the back of the net in the 41st minute. That’s her second of the game and makes it 3-0 to the gunners. She is on fire and Brighton simply can’t handle her movement in the final third. 30 minutes into the second half has had a much slower intensity, with little chances created from either side, as Arsenal carry the game out and attempt to bag the 3 points as well as a clean sheet. Arsenal outplayed Brighton, with many dangerous attacks and 10 shots on target.
Brighton manager after the game said “obviously I am disappointed with the result. I think Arsenal showed their quality in the first half and when we had the ball we needed to keep it better”. She chose a young lineup, and stated “they will learn from the experience, so all in all some positives for us”. They currently sit 8th in the table, with Everton 5 points behind them, but with 2 games in hand.
