Arsenal strengthened their position in the Champions League qualification race with a 2-0 away victory over London City Lionesses.
The Gunners defeated London City Lionesses to close the gap on the three teams ahead of them as Manchester City drew away to Aston Villa, while Chelsea and Manchester United were involved in the Subway Cup final.
It means City are ahead of fourth placed Arsenal by 11 points, United are two points ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea only one point ahead.
Arsenal have a game in hand over Chelsea and United and two in hand on City. Therefore, the runners-up place is firmly in Arsenal’s hands, they just need to win the remaining seven games to guarantee second place and direct qualification for the Champions League league phase.
Arsenal were fortunate to have no players returning injured from international duty. The squad is still thin due to longer term injuries and the three Australian players at the Asian Cup.
Renee Slegers selected the following starting XI, Anneke Borbe, Emily Fox, Leah Williamson, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Katie McCabe, Kim Little, Mariona Caldentey, Frida Maanum, Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo, Caitlin Foord.
Tim Stillman asked Slegers why she picked Borbe ahead of Daphne van Domselaar, who did not play any games for the Netherlands during the international break. She replied, “Anneke’s been doing really well and it was about readiness, who was most ready to perform and our decision today was to give Anneke a start.”
There was no other surprise in the starting XI. The bench was light as Arsenal did not have nine players to put there. The substitutes were van Domselaar, Barbora Votikova, Laia Codina, Taylor Hinds, Smilla Holmberg, Victoria Pelova, and Beth Mead. Sophie Harwood missed out and her status is unknown.
Overall, it was not an easy game against a side that wants to compete for the Champions League places soon.
Stillman asked Slegers about the defensive transitions, as there were many occasions where the Arsenal defence ended up in 3v3 or 4v4 situations. London City Lionesses could have scored had they been more efficient with the final ball.
Slegers said, “I think especially the moments in the first half, we want to have a look at to defend those moments better when teams go vertical against us and attacks are fast. So that’s something we want to learn from and do better.
“I think in the second half, it’s more of a management situation where they make changes, we’ve made changes, they are chasing a goal, so they put more numbers forward and it’s more how we manage those moments better. But especially the first off we want to learn from.”
It was a huge win as it keeps the momentum for the team as they now look at four London derbies in the next four games, West Ham United at home in the league, then Chelsea at home in the Champions League quarter finals, followed by the North London Derby at the Emirates Stadium, and then Chelsea away in the Champions League quarter final second leg.