Arsenal managed to get the job done over London City Lionesses at Meadow Park thanks to goals from Laia Codina and Stina Blackstenius.
A fifth round tie in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup was a far closer encounter than many may have expected as Championship side London City Lionesses tested the Gunners in north-London.
A debut for Jenna Nighswonger and a start for academy star Katie Reid was what head coach Renée Slegers had in store for the fans in Borehamwood, with Katie McCabe taking the armband following her two-match suspension.
The Lineups
ARS: Zinsberger; McCabe, Codina, Wubben-Moy, Reid; Nighswonger, Cooney-Cross, Maanum; Foord, Russo, Mariona
LCL: Orman; Neville, Broughman, Goldie, Campbell; Imuran, Kumagai, Roddar; Jakobsson, Goodwin, Asllani
The Action
Arsenal were awarded a double chance to open the scoring as Katie McCabe sent a visionary ball towards Lotte Wubben-Moy at the back post. The defender’s header looked likely to reach Alessia Russo before a strong intervention by Teyah Goldie headed the ball out of reach. Frida Maanum was hungry to fire home the scraps before the Arsenal loanee put her body on the line once again to deny any entry.
A turnover from Jenna Nighswonger allowed the visitors to catapult themselves up the pitch in a counterattack, but Sofia Jakobsson fired her strike just wide of the right-side post.
Caitlin Foord’s clever cut-back allowed her to locate Russo inside of the box, before a scuffle on limbs saw the striker’s strike fly out for a corner kick. Arsenal held up possession on the edge of the box before a brilliant delivery from Kyra Cooney-Cross found Laia Codina on the backrest, who broke the deadlock with a floating header into the bottom-right corner.
A superb delivery from Kosovare Asllani almost opened the door for the visitors, but Jakobsson failed to make a true connection with her volley in front of goal and missed the target completely.
Proactive goalkeeping from Emily Orman prevented an early goal for the Gunners as she shut down Frida Maanum’s close range effort just seconds after kick off.
Alessia Russo opened up an opportunity for the hosts by locating Mariona in the space, before the Spanish forward cut play back to Maanum inside of the area. Trying efforts from the London City defence saw her shot blocked in desperation.
Arsenal sealed the deal in the 81st minute, as a blunder at the back caused London City to turnover possession in the centre of the park. Frida Maanum’s shot was well saved by Orman, but only as far as Stina Blackstenius who fired home her 50th goal for the club.
Mariona was awarded a chance to make it three in the dying moments of the game, but rattled the crossbar from close range.
The Gunners were able to seal the deal at Meadow in order to put themselves back in the hat and continue their journey toward a 15th FA Cup.
Arsenal Player Ratings
Katie McCabe – 8/10 – An authoritative performance from the stand-in captain, McCabe did well to integrate herself into defensive and attacking motions. Arsenal fans often forget how important she is to the system until she is pulled out, and the side looked far more structured with her back in action.
Laia Codina – 7/10 – Made no real mistakes as London City struggled to threaten the centre-back pairing unless Arsenal turned over possession. Herself and Wubben-Moy did well to navigate an offside trap, keeping Jakobsson and Roddar out of the game up the centre.
Lotte Wubben-Moy – 7/10 – Similar to Codina, Wubben-Moy played her role well.
Katie Reid – 7/10 – Strong defensive showing from the Arsenal academy graduate, however she sometimes misplaced her passes going forward. Grew into the tempo as the game went on.
Kyra Cooney-Cross – 9/10 – The defensive midfielder’s form just continues to soar with another strong showing. The Australian’a ability to locate her teammates across the park makes it look like Andrés Iniesta has joined the Arsenal women.
Jenna Nighswonger – 6/10 – It was a hard fought battle on debut for Nighswonger, often struggling to make an impact from the centre of the pitch. It was clear she was given a role to nullify the threat of Asllani and drop back to fill McCabe’s spot when she pushed up. Subbed off at half-time.
Frida Maanum – 6/10 – A quiet opening half from the midfielder who struggled to break herself into the game in the opening stages. Wasn’t her usual self in terms of acting as a real threat going forward.
Mariona Caldentey – 6/10 – A quiet afternoon for Mariona, struggled to insert herself into the game from the channel. Began to make more of an impact when shifted into the midfield in the latter stages of the second half.
Caitlin Foord – 7/10 – Dynamic and played with pace in order to test the London City defence. Looked the most lively of the Arsenal attackers.
Alessia Russo – 7/10 – Not her game in front of goals, but Russo played her role in other areas. Worked well to hold up play and combine with Foord, but just lacked the finishing touch during the highly physical contest.
Lia Wälti (subbed on 46’ for Nighswonger) – 8/10 – Much like the WSL fixture against Manchester City, Arsenal looked far more composed when Wälti was brought into the action. Has a superb talent of making the game slow down, and injected some patience into the Gunners side during the second half.
Stina Blackstenius (subbed on 70’ for Foord) – 8/10 – A solid finish to secure victory for Arsenal. A much brighter showing from the Swede as she was played in a wider role, allowing Russo to hold the space in the 9.
Emily Fox (subbed on 79’ for Reid) – N/A
Amanda Ilestedt (subbed on 87’ for Cooney-Cross) – N/A
