Arsenal’s run of four games without a win came to an end on Sunday, albeit only thanks to an own goal from Brighton’s Marisa Olislagers in a narrow 1-0 victory. The Gunners will be relieved to have avoided extending their barren streak to what would’ve been their worst in 11 years but the same sluggishness in attack persisted, with Daphne van Domselaar’s terrific second half save to deny Carla Camacho proving to be particularly important come the final whistle.

Van Domselaar has been struggling with her own individual form, too, with a high-profile mistake in the Champions League loss to Lyon in midweek highlighting as much. For the Dutchwoman to bounce back with a strong display here, then, will have been one of the most encouraging aspects of the entire afternoon for those of an Arsenal persuasion.

At the start of the game, there looked like there would be more positives, too. The Gunners started well, with Olivia Smith and Caitlin Foord causing plenty of problems in the wide areas before the two then linked up in the build-up to the only goal, which saw Smith’s cross deflect off Olislagers and into the back of the net after 15 minutes. However, neither winger was particularly accurate with their final ball, while the overall slow pace of the Arsenal play failed to stretch a well-organised Brighton defence.

Instead, it was the Seagulls who had the better chances, as Kiko Seike and Fran Kirby tested Van Domselaar in the first half and Camacho started to find her range in the second, only for the goalkeeper to produce an outstanding reflex save on the hour mark to deny the young Spaniard what looked a certain goal. Stoppages in play for injuries not long after that halted Brighton’s momentum, though, while Arsenal’s introduction of Stina Blackstenius helped give the hosts more threat, with the Swede unlucky not to make the end of the game more comfortable for her team when her header struck the bar late on. 

GOAL rates Arsenal’s players from the Emirates Stadium…