Arsenal’s Subway Cup semi-final defeat has sharpened the focus on what comes next, with silverware still available but squad issues and margin-for-error football continuing to bite.
Two trophies are now gone, the league and the League Cup, but three more can still be won, the FIFA Women Champions Cup, the UEFA Women Champions League and the FA Women’s Cup.
Second place in the league is also a must because it offers direct qualification to the Champions League league phase, and Arsenal trail Chelsea by four points.
Olivia Smith’s one-game ban, coming after her harsh two-yellow red, is costly and has come at the wrong time. Arsenal are short of players and losing one option on the wing leaves the team with only two starters, Beth Mead on the right and Caitlin Foord on the left.
It means Pelova will surely come on as a substitute for one of them. Chelsea away is the hardest test in the league, and going there already short of options, with Smith suspended, will make it very tough.
Smith is reffed differently by referees, and it was the same when she was at Liverpool. She gets fouled and does not get the decisions, or it is given as just a normal foul, while she picks up many yellow cards.
Bukayo Saka, Granit Xhaka or Katie McCabe come to mind when talking about players targeted by referees.
Anneke Borbe made a mistake and it led to the winning goal. I have seen discourse among fans scapegoating her and saying she is not good enough since her pre-season friendly error. The way she controlled the ball and misdirected her pass was bizarre, but it carries the same weight as the forwards who did not score.
At the end of the day, the forwards made mistakes too, and should receive the same amount of criticism as the goalkeeper and the defence get.
Arsenal created chances but did not capitalise on them, and it has been a recurring problem for a while now. Games are won and lost on small margins, and they are not going Arsenal’s way. Clearly, the quality of the performance in the final third, the final ball and the finishing is not good enough.
There were not enough attacking options on the bench, and Chloé Kelly’s injury has not helped. Stina Blackstenius and Frida Maanum have been rotated to play alongside Alessia Russo. Russo and Mariona Caldentey look tired and need a rest, after accumulating heavy minutes across the last two seasons, if not more.
At some point, the body has to say stop.
Saturday at Chelsea is a must-win game, but the club might have only 16 senior players available, with a lack of options outside of defence and goalkeepers.
The team will need to perform at 100% to get a win against a Chelsea side that is slowly coming back to the level reached in previous seasons.