Following a run of four games without a win, Arsenal finally got back into a positive mood with the 1-0 defeat of Brighton.
A lone own-goal from Marisa Olislagers deflecting an Olivia Smith effort was enough to get the three points on the day.
With Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City also winning, it means Arsenal were not able to close the gap on the top three teams, but they did manage to come within one point now of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea are five points clear of the Gunners at the top, Manchester United three and Manchester City one point ahead.
Renee Slegers made three changes to the team that was defeated by OL Lyonnes on Wednesday: McCabe returned at left-back, and Foord and Smith came in for Mead and Kelly on the wings.
What that means is that for the seven games played so far, Slegers has started the same eight players every time: van Domselaar; Fox, Reid, Catley, McCabe; Little, Caldentey and Russo, with the exception of Wubben-Moy for Reid at City and Hands for McCabe against OL Lyonnes.
I think Fox and Caldentey are showing signs of fatigue, tiredness and are not as sharp as they could be, and it does impact the team’s play.
The three points were really needed after that winless streak stretching for four games, but it leaves a lot of question marks around form. The next game is a must-win at Benfica in the Champions League, with a nice return to Lisbon where the fans had so many great memories.
Next will be the international break, with the players travelling all over Europe and the world. Some players will play friendlies, while others will be playing the UEFA Nations League semi-finals and will probably not get a lot of rest before the next block of games, with three League games and two Champions League games to be played in 17 days.
We spoke to Daphne van Domselaar who received the Player Of the Match award for keeping a clean sheet and getting many crucial saves on the day. I asked her about the new 8-second rule that has been introduced this summer for the goalkeepers. “It is new, we all have to get used to it still, but I think it is a good rule, we do not want to have time wasting, so I get the rule. It means we have to be switched on all time, you cannot switch off, it is hard but we are getting used to it more and more.”
I also asked her if it was impacting the team’s build-up play, as the team usually does a slow build up from the back and now there is a certain obligation to rush on the ball: “It depends, if the opposition puts a lot of pressure on you, of course you need to act fast, you have to to let the team set up to be ready to play the ball. So of course it is different”
Daphne had such an exceptional season in 2024/25, so a little drop in performance level has seen some fans questioning her, but she was clearly back to a very good level yesterday. Hopefully, she will be able to be that consistent again. She was my Player of the Year last season ahead of Caldentey because she was so clutch time and time again.