Extra time heartbreak as Villa Women lose to Arsenal
The third game week of the new Women’s Super League season saw Aston Villa Women face Arsenal Women at the Emirates Stadium. Like the final game of last season, fans were hoping to see the girls beat Arsenal again. With neither team performing well so far this season both teams were desperate to see some points on the board and show a better performance than they have managed to do so far this season.
With both sides looking for their first win of the campaign, it was sure to be an exciting one for the spectators.
The game’s biggest talking point was from an Arsenal and England perspective, Beth Mead. The forward was named in the matchday squad making her return following an unfortunate ACL injury last November. Although the return made Arsenal stronger, it was good to see her back.
Report: Arsenal Women 2-1 Aston Villa Women
As expected the game started with Arsenal dominating the possession which is to be expected with the quality of their squad, however, they struggled to create anything of note.
Carla Ward chose to play a back 5 for this game with Maz Pacheco coming back into the starting line-up at a left wing-back position. The Villa defence stood strong throughout and was able to cope with everything the home side threw at them. And then against the run of play, the visitors took the lead after 25 minutes.
Lucy Staniforth delivered the ball into the box and found Pacheco, one of the smallest players on the pitch, who headed into the bottom corner. She was left unmarked in the box and managed to score only her second WSL goal of her career.
Villa very nearly doubled their lead before half-time when Rachel Daly got her head on to the end of a Sarah Mayling cross but the Arsenal keeper, Manuela Zinsberger was equal to the effort.
As expected Arsenal came out fighting in the second half but Villa remained strong at the back. Daphne van Domselaar continued her bright start to her Villa career with a strong of top-quality saves while Rachel Corse threw her body in the way of everything coming her way.
However, as time went on Arsenal proved why they were one of the top teams in the league as substitutions began to make a difference. With Villa bringing on former Arsenal favourite Jordan Nobbs, Ebony Salmon, Adriana Leon and Alisha Lehmann throughout the rest of the match proved that they were still looking to win this game by a higher margin.
Villa managed to remain in control of the game throughout the full 90 minutes and was shocked when the officials announced 12 minutes of added-on time.
And that’s when it happened, Arsenal got themselves level through a controversial equaliser when Olivia Mclaughlin was seemingly fouled in the middle of the pitch to lose the ball. To many people’s amazement, the home side was awarded the advantage with the ball finding Katie McCabe who scored a fine finish.
The home side grew in confidence and with Villa’s defence tiring it was always a matter of time. Substitute Mead (who was applauded by both sets of fans when she picked up the ball) carried the ball into Villa’s box before laying the ball off for Alessia Russo to fire home and score her first goal of the season.
Villa tried to push forward but Arsenal remained solid and looked to exploit Villa on the counter-attack, forcing van Domselaar to make a finger-tip save to deny Stina Blackstenius as her effort was pushed onto the post.
This is the best I have seen Villa play so far this season, and they were very unlucky not to come away with at least a point. However it was obvious as fatigue began to set in, Villa seemed to sit back and become too passive inviting too much pressure from a strong Arsenal team.
The team once again seemed to miss the attacking threats of the still-injured Kenza Dali and suspended Kirsty Hanson who is still out for one more match. With performances like this Villa can prove a challenge for any team in the league including the top 4.