MAN CITY WOMEN 1, ARSENAL WOMEN 2
Arsenal super sub Stina Blackstenius put a dent in Manchester City’s bid for the Women’s Super League title,
There was a dramatic twist as the Swedish international scored two late goals as the Gunners came from behind to snatch a dramatic victory at City whose record-equalling run of 14 straight WSL wins came to an end.
City, needing four points from their last two fixtures to win their first WSL title since 2016, will probably have to win in their last match at Aston Villa – assuming Chelsea do not slip up in their last three fixtures.
And there is every likelihood the title could be decided on goal difference with City having an advantage of seven as things stand at the moment.
City manager Gareth Taylor said: “We’ve always reacted well from negative results. I thought it was tough on us today, a draw was probably a fair result. The girls will be fine.
“We wanted to be in control. We’ve lost a little bit of that, but we still have one more game and we look forward to that.”
On what winning the title will mean, Taylor added: “It would be amazing. It would complete the set for me domestically. But it’s not easy, you saw today how momentum is in your favour and then can quickly be taken from you.”
On not bringing on Steph Houghton in her final home game before retirement, Taylor added: “It’s really difficult. We are going for a title and have to make the right calls on the pitch.
“If we are in a different situation we would hopefully celebrate Steph in the right way. In five or 10 years, people won’t remember Steph for this game.”
Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall said: “Our performance was very strong today. I think we got the result we deserved. Not many teams can do what we did here today, and I think we should be very proud.
“I think there was a lot of good things at earlier stages of the first half and earlier stages of our build-up, we just didn’t really connect the things together when we turned them around, but that’s small details.
Embed from Getty Images“We had a lot of the foundations that were good in the second half already in place in the first half.
“We showed it’s a real squad game, because we knew before that it’s important we start well, but it’s also really important that we finished well and I think we had some real quality coming off the bench as well.”
Taylor made just one change to the City side that beat Bristol City in their last WSL game.
Alanna Kennedy dropped to the bench with Kerstin Casparij returning to the back four.
Houghton, who is playing her last game on home soil before retiring, was on the bench.
Jonas Eidevall made four changes to the Arsenal side from their 1-1 draw with Everton the last time out.
Frida Maanum returned to the starting line-up, replacing Kim Little in midfield.
Laia Codina was in for Steph Catley at the back, while Kyra Cooney-Cross replaced Caitlin Foord. Stina Blackstenius dropped to the bench with Cloe Lacasse starting.
Leila Ouahabi scuffed an early shot wide for City when she ought to have found the net.
City keeper Khiara Keating made a decent save to beat away a shot from Frid Maanum.
A round of applause from the Arsenal fans in the 14th minute for Gunners’ fan and 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin who was killed in the sword attack in north-London.
There was a similar tribute made by the men’s team in yesterday’s Premier League win over Bournemouth.
The breakthrough came in the 17th minute when Ouahabi cut the ball back for Hemp to sweep home a low shot, her 11th goal of the season.
It was the defining moment of an opening half in which both sides largely cancelled out one another.
Laia Codina had a great chance to equalise soon after the restart but fired narrowly wide while City would have doubled their lead but for Arsenal keeper Manuel Zinsberger keeping out Mary Fowler’s shot with her legs.
Arsenal were far more of a threat in the second period and substitute Caitlin Foord fired agonisingly wide with 12 minutes left.
The Gunners equalised in the 89th minute through Blackstenius. There was head tennis from a corner before Foord nodded the ball to the Swede to slide home.
The home fans were stunned further when Blackstenius hit the winner in the third of nine added minutes.
A move down the left ended with Blackstenius slipping marker Alex Greenwood before firing home as City failed to make it 15 straight wins and shatter the record they co-hold with Arsenal.
There was a guard of honour and moving tributes at the end to mark Houghton’s retirement – this was her last game at the Joie Stadium.