Arsenal were consigned to a 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea in the WSL on Saturday afternoon, piling pressure on the increasingly precarious position of Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall.
Three days after getting thumped 5-2 by Bayern Munich in midweek, Arsenal shipped two goals in the opening 20 minutes to a physically dominant Chelsea side. Caitlin Foord reduced the deficit before the break, but an improved second-half performance couldn’t help Arsenal avoid falling to a second consecutive defeat for the first time in almost eight months.
Chelsea, by contrast, extended their perfect start to life under Emma Hayes’ impressive replacement, Sonia Bompastor.
How the game unfolded
Bompastor told her players before the match that “it is about enjoying this moment”. Mayra Ramirez wholeheartedly embraced the occasion, silencing the swollen Emirates Stadium crowd of more than 45,000 within the opening four minutes with an audacious flicked effort. Facing away from goal, Chelsea’s towering number seven managed to hook the ball over her head and everyone else’s in Arsenal‘s crowded penalty area.
Eidevall’s out-of-form side were bullied all over the pitch in a one-sided first half. Chelsea huddled into a compact shape off the ball and constantly found space to canter into when the opportunity presented itself in transition.
Lauren James never needs a second invitation to surge, ploughing through a cluster of red shirts before clipping a ball to the back post. Sandy Baltimore had the freedom of north London to stroll onto the inviting cross, nodding Chelsea into a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute.
One of the few figures in red who had shown any resistance to Chelsea’s crushing start was Foord. The dogged winger tiptoed around Lucy Bronze, turning down the shouts of her teammates to bend the ball around Hannah Hampton from a desperately narrow angle, halving the deficit at the end of an eventful first half.
Chelsea lost their way after taking a 2-0 lead against Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, eventually forced to nervily hang on to a 3-2 advantage. The Blues also endured some shakier moments after the break at the Emirates, thanks largely to a much livelier performance from the hosts – they couldn’t get much worse than those timid opening 20 minutes.
Stina Blackstenius came off the bench to sweep a late effort onto the crossbar from a set piece and Alessia Russo had a volley pawed away during a late flurry of goal-mouth activity. But one week earlier, Eidevall had warned that his team would need to “start quicker next time”. That abysmal opening ultimately cost the Gunners, who have already dropped seven points from the first four games of the new league season.
GK: Daphne van Domselaar – 5/10 – Remained rooted to the spot as Ramirez’s bizarre opener seemingly took an age to arc over her.
RB: Emily Fox – 3/10 – Dragged criminally out of position by Guro Reiten to leave Baltimore all alone for Chelsea’s second goal.
CB: Leah Williamson – 2/10 – Bruised, battered and unmistakably beaten. This was an afternoon to quickly forget for England’s captain.
CB: Lotte Wubben-Moy – 3/10 – Offered little help to Williamson in the fight against Ramirez – although it may have taken an entire team of defenders to stop the Colombian on Saturday.
LB: Katie McCabe – 5/10 – Unusually subdued in both halves of the pitch.
CM: Kim Little – 3/10 – Even Little’s unrivalled composure was compromised on an afternoon which rocked the foundations of the entire team.
CM: Lia Walti – 4/10 – For a player who prides herself on her ability to use either foot, both sides let her down in an unassured performance.
AM: Mariona Caldentey – 6/10 – One of the few bright sparks in a bleak first-half, buzzing around the full width of the final third in search of some way to help her flailing teammates.
RW: Beth Mead – 2/10 – Bompastor bet on Mead’s defensive negligence and it paid off. The Arsenal forward couldn’t make up for it at the other end.
ST: Alessia Russo – 4/10 – Can never be accused of a lack of effort, but efficiency and end product were absent once again.
LW: Caitlin Foord – 7/10 – Unfazed by the physicality of the opponents, Foord stood tall and spearheaded Arsenal’s attempt at a fightback.
Substitutes
SUB: Frida Leonhardsen Maanum (67′ for Mead) – 5/10
SUB: Kyra Cooney-Cross (76′ for Little) – 5/10
SUB: Stina Blackstenius (76′ for Caldentey) – 5/10
Manager
Jonas Eidevall – 3/10 – One of the few things a coach can actively work on is set pieces, yet the Gunners were a scrambling mess at the first corner of the game three days after shipping two goals from dead-ball situations against Bayern Munich.
GK: Hannah Hampton – 5/10 – Foord’s brilliance should not be overlooked, but no goalkeeper would be too satisfied with being beaten by an effort from such an acute angle.
RB: Lucy Bronze – 4/10 – Too easily side-stepped by Foord, who had the better of Chelsea’s five-time Champions League winner.
CB: Kadeisha Buchanan – 6/10 – Kept a close eye on Alessia Russo throughout.
CB: Millie Bright – 7/10 – A commanding presence off the ball who also managed to repeatedly unbalance Arsenal’s rearguard with racking crossfield passes.
LB: Sandy Baltimore – 8/10 – The beneficiary of Chelsea’s lopsided system, Baltimore was constantly encouraged to canter forward, sneaking behind an inattentive Mead to double Chelsea’s lead.
CM: Wieke Kaptein – 6/10 – Pushed high in Chelsea’s press which had mixed success against Arsenal’s buildup.
CM: Sjoeke Nusken – 5/10 – Not entirely composed when pressure was applied.
AM: Lauren James – 7/10 – A barrelling menace in the middle of the pitch, James didn’t shirk her defensive responsibilities either.
RW: Johanna Rytting Kaneryd – 5/10 – Scuttled and scurried on the fringes of the match.
ST: Mayra Ramirez – 8/10 – An adult among children, Ramirez was a brilliant blend of brains and brawn in a dominant display. A knock in the second half was the only thing that could slow her down.
LW: Guro Reiten – 7/10 – Such is the lofty reputation of Chelsea’s dependable star, her mere presence unnerved every red shirt within her large sphere of influence.
Substitutes
SUB: Aggie Beever-Jones (63′ for Ramirez) – 5/10
SUB: Catarina Macario (64′ for James) – 5/10
SUB: Erin Cuthbert (74′ for Kaptein) – 5/10
SUB: Ashley Lawrence (89′ for Reiten) – N/A
SUB: Nathalie Bjorn (89′ for Kaneryd) – N/A
Manager
Sonia Bompastor – 8/10 – Teased Arsenal apart from the touchline with the use of Baltimore as a fifth forward and made the necessary changes to see out a win.
