In their Continental Cup group opener, Arsenal did a professional job and recorded a 5-0 win away to go top of Group B.

beth mead away
Beth Mead via @Arsenal

As expected Joe Montemurro rotated his squad with starts given to Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, Louise Quinn, Emma Mitchell, Lia Walti, Melisa Filis.

Unfortunately, Louise Quinn pulled out of the game during the warm-up and was replaced by Leah Williamson.

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175742495474540549

Beth Mead opened the scoring in the 28th minute to get the ball rolling:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175764851928514562

Jill Roord doubled the lead five minutes later to send us on the way to three points:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175765168564973568

With the team 2-0 up at half-time, Joe Montemurro withdrew Lia Walti who was starting her first game in nine months and put Jennifer Beattie in:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175773333394284544

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175795650354667520

 

The third goal came via Emma Mitchell who now has two in two, having also scored in her previous game against Manchester City last season. It was Emma’s first start and minutes on the pitch this year:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175775409423704066

Beth Mead then added her second and Arsenal’s fourth with nearly an hour played:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175775989999263746

With the game won, Joe Montemurro gave youngster Ruby Grant her first minutes of the season, while resting Danielle van de Donk:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175778050132381697

 

And the final change was for a slight ankle injury for Leah Williamson:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175780225973653504

Beth Mead got her hat-trick to finish the game on a high and get us to the top of the table:

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175781786477088768

It finished 5-0 win for the Gunners and a good run out for many players who have been starved of game time since the beginning of the season. The top two teams from each group go through to the knock-out stage.

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/1175832632925523968

Coming up next is another two-games-in-a week sequence with the Champions League second leg against Fiorentina on the horizon.

As we are 4-0 up, some squad rotation should be in order as we have an important League game at home to Brighton on Sunday. With the league so competitive this year, we cannot afford to drop any points in our quest to retain the title.

Here are the full results from the Conti Cup Matchday 1:

https://twitter.com/BarclaysFAWSL/status/1175804950422544384

There was a huge cupset in Group A as Liverpool lost 3-2 at home to Championship side, Sheffield United. Things are not going well on the Merseyside with three defeats in three in all competitions along two red cards in two games.

Birmingham City scored their first goal of the season through Rachel Williams and grabbed their first win as well.

Reading got a huge 4-0 win at Tottenham while City beat Championship side Leicester 5-0.

Below you can see the tables as they stand after one game. There is a long way to go with three or four games for each team, but there is a big chance that all the qualified teams will come from the FA WSL, with maybe two teams from the Championship in Group A.