Good morning, Arsenal Women aficionados!
Before getting back to the North London Derby played at a sold-out Emirates Stadium, I would like to take a minute to celebrate getting into a second consecutive Conti Cup final.
I know it is the “minor” trophy in the range of silverware we were aiming for, when the season started, but we earned our rights to defend our title on March 31st, at the Molineux stadium, and we should celebrate this feature – regardless of the expectations we all had at the beginning of this campaign.
Luckily, the crowd filled up Meadow Park very early and helped build the “big night” atmosphere that pushed the team from the very start, and in return they got a scintillating, aggressive, exciting performance, and a big result from the team.
Once again, the crowd was able to lift the team and vice-versa, confirming the unique, limitless bond between the team and its fans. The moment we take it for granted, or the moment we consider normal filling up the Emirates Stadium for an Arsenal Women’s game or filling up Meadow Park for a midweek league cup semi-final, we lose perspective about the magnitude of these achievements. Nights like Wednesday night will allow the Arsenal to show the rest of the country – and beyond – how big of a club they are and allow their fans to see how far away any other fan base is in terms of following and commitment.
That’s quite a reason to celebrate, isn’t it?
Going back to the team itself, it was nice to see Jonas Eidevall fielding a very strong team despite being without the unavailable Emily Fox, Cloé Lacasse, Sabrina D’Angelo, Vivianne Miedema and Amanda Ilestedt and despite benching Kim Little, Victoria Pelova and Caitlin Foord. From the very first moment, the game was a one-way traffic affair, and it was over by half-time already, with Stina Blackstenius netting a hat-trick and Frida Maanum scoring a trademark wonder goal from just outside the penalty area.
Aston Villa simply couldn’t cope with our aggression, slick passing, and movement upfront and should consider themselves lucky to get away from Meadow Park with a somehow respectable scoreline.
At the time of writing, we are yet to know whether the final will be a replay of last year’s, or if this time it will be Manchester City who will try to take the league cup away from us.
Regardless of the opponent, this team now looks far better equipped to defend its crown, compared to its form a month ago, when I genuinely thought that our season was over, so there is room for optimism going into the final – also thanks to the supporters and their unconditional support.
Speaking of unconditional support, how big did it feel to see the Emirates Stadium fully packed for the North London Derby, last Sunday? First Manchester United and now Tottenham Hotspur: it is now two consecutive sold-out games at the Emirates Stadium for the Arsenal Women team, while other teams are struggling to fill their grounds dedicated to their Women teams…that’s what you call a big club!
The game wasn’t as exciting as the sight of a full Emirates Stadium (by half-time, at least), but the team played very well, given the conditions: Spurs came and played a very low block, trying to hurt us on the counter, so the players had to be patient and smart in balancing the willingness to score with the need of remain compact and focused.
Nothing new, for sure, but if you throw in the fact that we were missing some key players, that we were playing under pressure because Manchester City won their weekend game, that it was the first game after the international break and that we were playing an opponent who recently learnt how to frustrate us, I feel that the team was very good.
It was not long ago that any game against our neighbours was a formality, a matter of winning by how many rather than winning or not, so this game felt like a gigantic banana skin, and we avoided it expertly. We could have done better in the opening minutes, when we had a handful of consecutive corner kicks, and especially in the final fifteen minutes, but overall, it was a deserved win, and a good one.
After the game, Jonas Eidevall insisted on the importance of individual quality, listing all the little details that made the difference in the build-up of the sole goal of the afternoon, but I feel it was a bit reductive of the team efforts: Manuela Zinsberger’s key saves were as important as Alessia Russo’s final touch, and so was Lotte Wubben-Moy’s presence at the heart of our defensive line, next to the inexperienced (at this level, of course) Laia Codina, who was making only her fourth league appearance of the season.
The focus now turns to the mother of all games, the last chance to stay in the title race and fight until the very end: the away game at Chelsea.
Next Friday night, we will take on the reigning champions and league leaders at Stamford Bridge and hope to emulate Manchester City, who won at the home of Emma Hayes’ team a fortnight ago to blow open the title race. I must be honest, though: our chances feel slim now. Despite losing our nemesis Sam Kerr for the rest of the season, the Blues signed Mayra Ramírez from Levante and have just welcomed back former Lyon superstar Catalina Macario, who obviously scored within two minutes of coming off the bench after two years away from the pitch. They have the collective quality, individual talent and experience to put down any challenger coming for their crown – not to mention a clear desire to get their revenge after the 4-1 humiliation of the reverse fixture.
On our side, we have some momentum, the belief is coming back and we have the desire to overcome the odds. We did in the league cup last final, we did it plenty of times last season during our unforgettable and unfortunate UWCL run – why shouldn’t we believe we can do it again?
Jonas Eidevall, his staff and the players have plenty of time to prepare for the big showdown of the season, while on our side we can only sit down and wait, hopeful that another forgettable night is given to us. This match already brings with itself a distinct aura, a feeling of “coming of age” for a group that started their journey together with a remarkable home win against Chelsea and look much more mature, much more accomplished than they were then.
It’s the ultimate test, the ultimate chance to go from wannabes to champions material and prove that these players can go all the way, after suffering some very damaging defeats in crucial moments.
We will talk again after the make or break of our 2023/24 Women’s Super League campaign.
Speak to you soon!

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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