CHELSEA, 24 JANUARY — Arsenal took down Chelsea 2-0 in a match of vengeance, breaking the deadlock through the Barclays Player of the Match Beth Mead at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. It marked their first away league win against the Blues in seven years.
After a controversial 1-1 draw at the Emirates the last time the two sides met, the North London team headed to the home of the Blues to finish the derby they started last November.
“We played with a lot of composure, we were clean with the ball,” said Arsenal defender Katie McCabe. “When you’ve got Mariona and Kim Little in midfield, you need to get them the ball and you need to get them ticking so it was a good round team performance.”
The first half displayed high levels of defensive play from both sides, but the moment the teams returned an attacking shift was made on the field as Alessia Russo assisted fellow Lioness Mead to break through Chelsea’s lineup.
Mead returned to the score sheet in the 61st minute to assist Spanish international Mariona Caldentey for a textbook shot past a frozen Hannah Hampton. Five minutes later, Swedish forward Stina Blackstenius found the back of the net for a goal ruled offside.
Chelsea took 19 shots throughout the laboured match, but only found the target once in the 90 minutes while Arsenal locked onto target eight times in their 18 shots.
Head coach Sonia Bompastor tried to change the energy in the second half with four early substitutions, but once Renée Slegers’s side gained momentum Chelsea struggled to rebound until it was too late.
“The last 15 to 20 minutes we were trying with a lot of energy but we couldn’t score,” said Bompastor. “Maybe coming back 2-1 would have been good with the energy of the fans but we could not score and it didn’t work. If you analyse the performance there is room for improvement for sure.”
The Blues stay above the Gunners by one point on the Women’s Super League table, retaining their second place standing before heading north to clash with league leaders Manchester City on February 1st.
