This 1-0 defeat of Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium was never going to be a statement of Arsenal\u2019s title intentions \u2013 City\u2019s lead at the top is just too big \u2013 but a result against the likely champions still had huge value, mentally and in terms of the race for Champions League football.<\/p>\n
It would take the most almighty of collapses for City to lose their grip on a second league title, 10 years after their first. They are still eight points clear of Manchester United and 10 ahead of Arsenal, who have a game in hand over those around them.<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e9e Jeglertz, their manager, said he is \u201cnot worried about the future\u201d after this result. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to affect the players. We are fully aware of the situation we are in and we are still in a very good position in the league. We are still confident in what we have done so far. It\u2019s important how you analyse this game and move on as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up until a fortnight ago, Ren\u00e9e Slegers\u2019s side, who held on after Olivia Smith\u2019s goal, had struggled against other top\u2011four teams this season. Until their 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, they had collected three points from four Women\u2019s Super League games against City, United and Chelsea, with a defeat by City in the reverse fixture and draws in the others.<\/p>\n
The Gunners have looked a different side since riding out a slow start to the calendar year, this game against City and the defeat of Chelsea sandwiching their victory in the inaugural Women\u2019s Champions Cup.<\/p>\n
On their rejuvenation, Slegers said: \u201cPlayers getting a rest, a break, mentally, physically, has done us really, really well because of course there was a big tournament last summer with a high load on players. There\u2019s a couple of tactical tweaks that we\u2019ve been working on that have clicked really well. Then, the players\u2019 investment is so high at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things going into why we\u2019re doing well at the moment and we said we want to write it down, make it specific, make it tangible, because then we know what it is and we can keep on going.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was some home wariness before this clash, though, with Jeglertz\u2019s team having humbled the WSL title holders Chelsea last week, with the Brazilian forward Kerolin scoring a hat-trick in the 5-1 win.<\/p>\n
Vivianne Miedema, formerly of Arsenal, is stuck between Lotte Wubben-Moy and Kim Little of Arsenal on a difficult day for Manchester City. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson\/Offside\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
City\u2019s attacking talent is difficult to contain, Khadija Shaw, Lauren Hemp and Kerolin forming a formidable front three and the former Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema shining in the No 10 role.<\/p>\n
The home team started the brighter, snapping at the heels of their counterparts. They were hungrier, quicker to second balls and physical in their press.<\/p>\n
One way to stop City\u2019s domineering attack is to not let them have much of the ball and, for much of the game, that was a super-effective strategy. Defensively, Arsenal were superb, Lotte Wubben\u2011Moy and Steph Catley\u2019s centre-back partnership really starting to flourish, and allowing for Leah Williamson to be eased back in following her absence through injury. She came on with six minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
It was in defence where City were lacking and how they were undone for the only goal. Mariona Caldentey played a one\u2011two with Kim Little before sending a beautifully weighted ball through to Smith. The centre\u2011back Rebecca Knaak could not keep pace with the Canada international, who shrugged clear of her half\u2011hearted challenge and rounded the goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita before rolling into the empty net.<\/p>\n
It was a beautifully worked goal and Arsenal should have extended their lead as time ticked on: Alessia Russo twice went close in quick succession, forcing a smart save.<\/p>\n
They were lucky too, Caldentey inexplicably not penalised for bringing down Lauren Hemp on the edge of the area when the England forward had only Daphne van Domselaar to beat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t seen it afterwards, so I don\u2019t know,\u201d Jeglertz said of the incident. \u201cIn the moment I was very frustrated because I really felt that it was a clear free-kick but the fourth official was saying that it was still played but touched the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was another heart-in-mouth moment with just over 10 minutes remaining. Miedema collected Yui Hasegawa\u2019s through ball only to lose her footing, before pulling back Katie McCabe as she recovered and slid the ball into the net, but it was ruled out for the foul.<\/p>\n
Arsenal rode their luck and the risk of City punishing their early profligacy was constant but, try as they might, they could not find a way through and on the full\u2011time whistle the home crowd rose to their feet and celebrated \u2013 content with temporarily denting City\u2019s run, even if, surely, unable to wrestle the trophy from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This 1-0 defeat of Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium was never going to be a statement of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-456913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}