Arsenal put in their best performance of the season so far on Friday night, beating Brighton 5-0 at the Emirates. Brighton came to the Emirates having lost each of their 12 WSL encounters against the Gunners, and on this occasion their fortunes did not change. Goals from Beth Mead, Caitlin Foord, Frida Maanum, Lina Hurtig and Alessia Russo ensured the three points remained in North London.
For her fourth match in interim charge, Renée Slegers made two changes to the side that drew 1-1 in Manchester last week, with Mariona Caldentey and Daphne van Domselaar replaced in the starting XI by Beth Mead and Manuela Zinsberger. Caldentey, who finished 8th in the Ballon d’Or voting was missing from the squad, was listed as unavailable.
Brighton made three changes from their 1-0 victory over Leicester City with Rachel McLaughlan, Bruna Vilamala and Marisa Olislagers dropping out of the starting XI. Dario Vidošić opted in their place to return Kiko Seike, Maisie Symonds and Maria Thorisdottir to the line up. Michelle Agyeman, on loan from Arsenal was unavailable for Brighton against her parent club.
The Lineups
ARS: Zinsberger; Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe, Wälti, Little, Maanum, Mead, Foord, Russo
BHA: Baggaley; Pattinson, Thorisdottir, Bergsvand, Carabalí, Symonds, Losada, Haley, Seike, Kirby, Parris
The Action
Arsenal welcomed Brighton to the Emirates on Friday night in front of a crowd of 22,467 and immediately, both sides looked to wrestle for territory in the early exchanges.
Before the quarter of an hour mark, Arsenal were ahead as Little and Maanum combined effortlessly in the middle of the park before the Norwegian played the ball out to the right. Mead, receiving the ball, dummied the cross, cut back onto her left foot and fired the ball in off the far post.
As the age old chant goes, 1-0 to the Arsenal. After falling behind, Brighton looked to gain some confidence with possession, former Arsenal forward Nikita Parris dropped deep to try to get involved in a game that had largely been played in the Seagulls half.
While in possession in her own box, Poppy Pattinson tried to shield the ball out for a corner but Emily Fox used her physicality to win the ball and recycle possession for Arsenal. Fox played the ball cunningly to Little who made no mistake in stroking the ball across the six yard box for a grateful Foord to make it 2-0.
Before long it was 3-0, as Maanum picked up the ball just outside the box on the right hand side. Without facing a challenge, she settled herself before finding the top corner with a precise looping effort. The game was threatening to get away from Brighton in just the 25th minute.
Brighton huddled after conceding the third, appearing as a side desperate to regroup. They continued to attempt to pressure Arsenal’s right side with Pattinson and Kiko Seike combining well going forward in one of the few bright sparks in a dire first thirty minutes for Brighton.
In the defensive respect, Pattinson was struggling as Arsenal pushed on. Foord capitalised on a mistake before rattling the post from distance, before Maanum threatened to add to the lead before half time only to be denied by Baggaley.
The second half
Brighton timidly made their way into the Arsenal half a couple of times early in the second half, but did little to trouble Arsenal’s backline. It was not until the 64th minute that Brighton could claim their first shot on the Arsenal goal. Bright wing play from Seike opened up the angle from which the Japanese winger could strike a curling effort on goal which was well stopped by Zinsberger, out for a corner. Shortly after, Seike tricked her way into the box again with wonderful close control, cutting inside once more, this time her effort found the crossbar with the Arsenal defence caught sleepwalking.
However Arsenal would have their fourth before the 75th minute, Lina Hurtig’s goal bound header from a Katie McCabe corner helped Arsenal to add to their biggest WSL win of the season so far. The goal from Hurtig, who had just returned from a prolonged spell on the sidelines was greeted with jubilation from the North London crowd.
Arsenal threatened to add to their tally in the remaining minutes and with 93 minutes on the clock won a penalty after Stina Blackstenius was taken down in the box. Russo stepped up found the back of the net to put the cherry on top of a five star display.
Worryingly, Aisha Masaka went down after a challenge from Laia Codina with minutes remaining and had to be stretchered off the pitch.
With the emphatic victory, Arsenal climb to fourth. Next up for the Gunners is a trip to Turin to face Juventus in the Women’s Champions League before travelling away in the North London Derby. Brighton will now turn their attention to next weekend when they welcome West Ham United, hoping to put defeat on their own trip to North London behind them.
The Halfway Line Player of the Match: Frida Maanum
Maanum was a constant thorn in Brighton’s side, finding space, the right pass and the back of the net more often than not. She typified Arsenal’s desire and energy in the high press, a player on form performs again.
