Another win
Another day, another win for our girls, who fought off a determined Aston Villa side to claim the three points at Villa Park.
Despite falling behind within six minutes in an artic night, Katie McCabe & Co. managed to stay composed, keep their heads cool and see out a very assertive four-one win away from home.
Jonas Eidevall made two changes to the team that defeated Everton at home: Rafaelle started the game in place of Leah Williamson and Noëlle Maritz replaced Laura Wienroither at right-back. As mentioned, the team didn’t enjoy a great start and quickly fell behind, when Hanson found the far post with a nice finish from the edge of the box, but then took over Villa Park and started creating chance after chance. It took an own goal from Corsie to bring the score level, but we had two great chances right before the Villa defender’s unlucky deflection, first with Caitlin Foord and then with a beautiful free kick from Katie McCabe. We deservedly get ahead a few minutes later, when Vivianne Miedema was the first to react at a loose ball in the six-yards box and smashed the ball home, past the helpless Villa goalkeeper.
Stand in skipper McCabe superb
For those familiar to the men’s team, watching Aston Villa defending our corners triggered a familiar yet unpleasant feeling of déjà-vu as our players surrounded the opponent’s goalkeeper just like Stoke City and Birmingham City used to do to Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski, back in the day. I might be wrong here, but I cannot recall any other game where our players were so aggressive and close to the goalkeeper, when attacking a corner kick. As much as targeting the right flank was a clear strategy – brilliantly pointed out by Tim Stillman – surrounding the goalkeeper could have been one, too. Katie McCabe and Jordan Nobbs added the third and fourth goals in the second half, making sure that we would head home with three points in the bag and a chance to go on level with Chelsea at the top, when the league resumes in January. Emma Hayes’ team, who has played one extra game, are currently three points ahead but will visit the Emirates Stadium on January, 15th in what sounds like an early title decider.
The league might take a break now, but the UEFA Women’s Champions League doesn’t and we will face Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday, next week. We need one point to make it to the knock-out stage, but a win will see as go though as group winners. The reigning champions will come to the Emirates Stadium to avenge their worst defeat ever (1-5) and keep the advantage over Juventus, so it will be a very tense affair – again.
To win against Lyon we must be compact at the back and clinical upfront, the good news is that we are getting much better at finishing our chances, compared to a few weeks ago.
We’ll talk again on Friday, after the big European showdown. Stay steady, Gooners!
Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
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