Arsenal take early exit in FA Cup

A tough game for the Gunners as they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Liverpool on Sunday, ending their journey in the FA Cup. 

The game was frustrating from both sides, with efforts being dismissed by woodwork and no goals to reward either side for the majority of the game. Daphne Van Domselaar made some excellent saves throughout, with shots from Liverpool’s Marie Höbinger and Sophie Roman Haug going straight into the hands of the Arsenal keeper. 

Arsenal’s Steph Catley took a shot from a corner, but was just wide of the target. Unfortunately for Arsenal, Rachael Laws was on the ball and made some great saves to stop the home side from scoring. 

The visitors refused to give up, despite frustration, and a good ball from Höbinger fell at the feet of Roman Haug, who took a shot, sneaking it past Van Domselaar and breaking the deadlock with just 10 minutes of normal time to go. The goal went down as an own goal from Van Domselaar, but the visitors celebrated with Roman Haug, excited to have gotten the all important goal. 

With 9 minutes of extra time, Arsenal pushed to equalise, with many subs being made in that time, but their efforts were not good enough, knocking them out of the FA Cup. 

After the game, Arsenal manager Renée Slegers expressed her disappointment in her post-match interview, saying “The girls are very disappointed at the moment and they might be tomorrow as well. They wanted so much more. But then we'll just reset and go again and we'll have a game again on Friday."

Arsenal have a second chance against Liverpool, where they play them at Emirates Stadium on 22nd March. Despite the game being a WSL match and not related to the FA Cup, the Gunners will be hoping for revenge after what was an extremely frustrating game for both players and fans. 

Arsenal XI: Van Domselaar, Fox, Williamson, Catley, Caldentey, Mead (Maanum, 46), Little (C) (Blackstenius, 82), McCabe, Foord (Ilestedt, 88), Russo, Cooney-Cross (Walti, 82) 

Subs not used: Zinsberger, Reid, Nighswonger, Pelova, Kafaji

Liverpool XI: Laws, Hinds (C), Bonner, Fisk, Matthews (Evans, 62), Kapocs, Kerr, Holland, Hobinger, Roman Haug, Smith

Subs not used: Micah, Nagano, Enderby, Clark, Bartel, Daniels, Bernabe, Shaw