Beth Mead finished as runner up in the Ballon d’Or as the winners were announced on Monday night in between Arenal beatinG Reading and getting ready for Olympique Lyonnais Féminin.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 31: Beth Mead of England is awarded with the Top Goalscorer and Player of the Tournament awards after the final whistle of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 final match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on July 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 31: Beth Mead of England is awarded with the Top Goalscorer and Player of the Tournament awards after the final whistle of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 final match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on July 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Arsenal had three players in the running at this year’s awards with Bukayo Saka and Vivianne Miedema also in the running.

In the end, Miedema placed 11th while Saka was placed 9th, both criminally underrated by the respective panels.

As for Mead, she came in behind Alexia Putellas who retained the award, becoming the first female player to win it twice.

 

Arsenal defeated Reading 1-0 away at the weekend to keep their 100% record intact, but are no longer top of the league as Manchester United have a better goal difference.

READING, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 16: Stina Blackstenius of Arsenal celebrates with Beth Mead and teammates after scoring their team's first goal during the FA Women's Super League match between Reading and Arsenal at Madejski Stadium on October 16, 2022 in Reading, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
READING, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 16: Stina Blackstenius of Arsenal celebrates with Beth Mead and teammates after scoring their team’s first goal during the FA Women’s Super League match between Reading and Arsenal at Madejski Stadium on October 16, 2022 in Reading, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

The Gunners still managed to set-up a new record for consecutive clean sheets in the Barclays WSL with a new centre-back pairing due to injuries to Leah Williamson and Rafaelle.

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Jonas Eidevall mentioned it in his post-game presser: “All the players we play are individually great players but partnerships in football take time and because of the international break we only had two practices then we play.

“When you are restricted on time you always know that’s a factor. You have all this communication in defence and offence and you can’t take that for granted in football but i think we were very focused going out and working on it. I am always pleased with a clean sheet, I never take it for granted.”

The starting XI for the game was: Zinsberger; Wienroither, Wubben-Moy, Catley, McCabe; Wälti, Little, Miedema; Mead, Blackstenius, Foord.

Arsenal should have put the game to bed but they never managed to get that second goal which would have given them a more secure cushion.

A combination of poor finishing, including a missed penalty, bad luck with the posts hit multiple times, as well as good goalkeeping from Burns meant the second goal never came.

Then, Reading staged a late fightback while only 1-0 down. Arsenal ended up with Beattie coming on in the last 10 minutes to combat their aerial threat.

Eidevall did rest a few players by doing a triple substitution in preparation for a busy week Lyon and Liverpool away next.

There is no doubt that the starting XI against Reading will be very close to the one that will play against Lyon.

The big news was the new centre-back pairing Wubben-Moy and Catley replacing Williamson and Rafaelle.

They will need a number of games to create a proper partnership and will be tested against Lyon, although they are expected to be without Ada Hegerberg.

Overall, Reading did their usual good job of disrupting our play and could have got a draw in the end. That’s why Zinsberger got the player of the match award from Sky Sports.

Arsenal are now in second place in the Barclays Women Super League behind Manchester United.

Both sides have nine points, but the Red Devils have a +10 goal difference, while we have +9.

The full table:

https://twitter.com/BarclaysWSL/status/1581744288974704647

It is interesting to note that there have been no draws out of 20 games so far this season.

Therefore there are three teams with a 100% record and two teams with a 0% record fighting to avoid relegation.

Four teams with six points and three teams with three points, all those teams are mid-table right now.

Attention now turns to Lyon and the Women’s Champions League with a tough away game against the holders on Wednesday.

Arsenal fans will be happy to see Danielle van de Donk again and Lyon will be missing many players through injury, especially in defensive positions.

Therefore, the Arsenal should be able to find attacking opportunities.

There is no doubt that the team and the players will need to raise their level if they want to bring at least a point back from Lyon.

Being efficient in both penalty areas will be crucial and, hopefully, we will see an excellent performance from the players and coaching staff.

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