Arsenal exposed by England’s double
On afternoons like this, it is easy to remember that Chelsea were the side who cruised, almost with a sense of entitlement, to the league and FA Cup double last season.
This was ultimately a demolition of an Arsenal side who, despite their first-half dominance, rarely got a sniff of the ball in the second and shivered in the face of Chelsea’s relentless aggression. That the home side did most of it without Women’s Player of the Year Fran Kirby – who did not make an appearance until the 70th minute – shows their depth of talent.
Emma Hayes’ team have been less consistent this season but this was the most compelling evidence they will at least retain the Cup.
They defended stubbornly in a first half in which chances were at a premium, but in the moments that mattered they were clinical. Together with Scotland international Erin Cuthbert, Chelsea’s top scorer Bethany England ran the show and the pair opened the scoring on their first foray forward. England met Cuthbert’s clipped ball across the box after her darting run left Arsenal chasing shadows.
“They were just more clinical with the chances that they had,” Joe Montemurro, the Arsenal manager, said. “We created numerous chances in the first half after they scored. When we were on the ball, we started squaring back and restarting the play, instead of winning it back and being more positive.”
Arsenal pummelled their opponents early on. Chelsea were penned in their own half but keeper Ann-katrin Berger gave an accomplished showing and Cuthbert provided enough of an outlet to relieve the pressure until Jonna Andersson’s fizzing strike from the edge of the area extended their advantage at the break.
Ji So-yun’s marauding runs caused Arsenal’s defence no end of problems and they never found a way of nullifying England, Karen Carney or Cuthbert. Nothing embodied Chelsea’s swagger better than their third goal, when England sauntered into the box and scored with a wonderful flick.
Arsenal’s dreams of a domestic treble have been dashed but they will know the damage could have been greater had Kirby not been denied by Pauline Peyraud-magnin at the death. However, they will rue Beth Mead’s lack of composure when she found herself one-on-one in the second half.
“They wanted to get into the spaces with deeper runs and draw us out of areas that I didn’t want the team to get drawn out of,” Hayes said. “We made adjustments and the team adjusted well to the flow. We frustrated them and left players in possession of the ball that didn’t really want to be on the ball.”
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