Arsenal suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on a wet and miserable day at Wembley for the Gunners. Goals from Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr’s double secured The Blues the victory in the FA Cup final on Sunday afternoon.
A sloppy start from Arsenal resulted to Fran Kirby running through on goal and punishing the Gunners with a well-slotted finish into the side-netting. If it wasn’t for Manuela Zinsberger producing two brilliant saves the game could’ve been truly out of Arsenal’s reach by half-time.
Chelsea continued their momentum into the second-half, with Sam Kerr wrong-footing Zinsberger and bagging her first of the afternoon.
Kerr’s second goal coming in the 77th minute with a delightful chip over Zinsberger wrapped the game up giving Chelsea a well-deserved 3-0 victory over their London rivals who never really looked up for the contest.
PLAYER RATINGS
Manuela Zinsberger(GK)- 7/10- Arguably Arsenal’s best player of the afternoon with fantastic saves in the first-half to keep Arsenal in the game. If it wasn’t for her the score could’ve easily been doubled. The defence really let her down today.
Noelle Maritz(RB)- 3/10– Caught out of position a number of times, as well as not offering much going forward, very disappointing performance.
Jennifer Beattie(CB)- 3/10- Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr exposing her lack of pace throughout the afternoon. A couple nice challenges were made but she was chasing shadows for large parts of the game. The weakest link out of a poor Arsenal defence on the day.
Lotte Wubben-Moy (CB)- 3/10- Could argue she was to blame for the second goal as she let Kerr cut onto her right foot far too easily. Poor headers and numerous passes lacking conviction. A bad day at the office for the centre-half.
Stephanie Catley(LB)- 4/10- Showed the most promise out of a disastrous defensive display from the Gunners. Tried getting forward but was struggling to build any link-ups with the forwards.
Lia Walti(CM)- 4/10- Chelsea’s high press meant that she was unable to impact the game. Tried to help the team maintain and retrieve possession but The Blues were on a different level.
Kim Little(CM)- 5/10- Often played the ball out wide where Arsenal looked most dangerous for the wingers to create. Some nice turns in the middle of the park but it was just too little(no pun intended.)
Frida Maanum(CM)- 3/10- Lacked her usual physical presence she offers in midfield and played a few poor misplaced passes. She really struggled to get into the game.
Beth Mead(RW)- 6/10- The only real creative spark for Arsenal during the game. Often brought the ball forward for the Gunners but they just couldn’t threaten the Chelsea net.
Katie McCabe(LW)- 4/10- A 4 may be harsh as it was clear McCabe was trying to create, but nothing was really happening down her left flank where she’s normally so dangerous. Poor performance from a usually reliable forward.
Vivianne Miedema(ST)- 2/10- Now there is no doubt that the Dutch striker is a dangerous goal threat, but a very uncharacteristic performance from her. Many loose touches and dispossessed several times throughout the game. A day to forget for her and the Gunners.
SUBS
Nikita Parris- 2/10- Brought energy but made no real impact and got booked within 10 seconds of coming on- Gotta be a new World-Record surely?!
Caitlin Foord- 3/10- The game was out of Arsenal’s reach by the time she was subbed on. Even fresh legs couldn’t improve The Gunners’ performance.
Mana Iwabuchi- 5/10- Some nice touches and got herself involved to make a difference- but it was too little too late for the team in red and white.
A disappointing day at Wembley for the league-leaders, but the Gunners must try to move on from this result as there is a WSL title up for grabs, with The Blues standing in their way.
