Arsenal put on an exceptional fight to come out on top after a fabulous goal from Mariona Caldentey put Manchester City 1-0 down after just 42 seconds in today’s first WSL clash of the day.
Starting in 3rd and 4th in the WSL table, Manchester City were hoping to move further up the table in their home game against Arsenal at the Joie Stadium today. Both teams set themselves up with excellent starting lineups, and were ready to take on the challenge. The rivalry between the two teams was heightened earlier this week, after City’s Chloe Kelly released a statement ahead of her loan move to the Gunners, expressing her feelings towards the way she had been treated by Manchester City in previous months. Despite Kelly being ineligible to play today, it was bound to cause some tension between the two top sides and their managers.
Arsenal were 2-0 up by the 8th minute mark, after lifelong Gooner Lotte Wubben-Moy scored a cracker of a goal from a corner, after spending a long period of time on the sidelines due to concussion and other injuries.
Despite being two goals down, Manchester City refused to give up, and continued pushing before breaking their deadlock in the 20th minute, with a goal from Mary Fowler. Fowler later scored her brace in a controversial penalty, which came from Fujino going down after a tackle from Steph Catley. The decision was controversial, as replays showed that Fujino did not go down in the box, but Fowler still managed to score to make the score 3-3, after a goal from former Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema for City, and Frida Maanum getting one back straight afterwards.
Arsenal had another opportunity to go ahead with a good ball from Stina Blackstenius, but it was just wide. Both sides made changes just after this, with Arsenal bringing on Lia Wälti for Kyra Cooney-Cross, and Manchester City took off Vivianne Miedema and Jess Park to bring on Bunny Shaw, and new signing Kerolin Nicoli, making her debut for the club today.
Despite battling to equalise once again, Manchester City did not manage to get the all important goal, with the game ending 4-3 to Arsenal. This now means that Arsenal have moved up to 2nd place in the WSL table, while Manchester City fall to 4th.
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