Mead strikes twice for rampant Arsenal
For Arsenal, this was job done, an ultimately rampant dismantling of a Liverpool side who by the end of next week will have faced the top three teams four times in 17 days. Initially, Arsenal were below their best, but in their quest to end their seven-year wait for the Women’s Super League title they can always rely on the opportunism of a forward line who have made a significant contribution to a haul of 62 goals in 16 league games.
Goals 58 to 62 arrived without much toil on their part and placed them back in the driving seat.
Still boasting a game in hand, they have leapfrogged Manchester City once more.
For Liverpool’s part, manager Vicky Jepson’s prediction that they would not see much of the ball barely rang true in a first half that was as cagey as they come. But after 20 minutes, Vivianne Miedema picked out Katie Mccabe on the right and Kim Little, with little to no opposition, swivelled to turn in the low cross to the back post.
Arsenal were again invited down the left and Beth Mead met Danielle van de Donk’s delivery to the back post with a sliding finish from an angle so acute that the referee initially signalled for a goal-kick, in the mistaken belief that the ball had hit the side-netting.
Perhaps the game would not have got away from Liverpool had Courtney Sweetman-kirk, latching on to Yana Daniels’s barrelling delivery to go clear, not been denied by Pauline Peyraud-magnin, or if Kirsty Linnett squandered a one-on-one.
“That’s us all season,” said Jepson. “We’re looking to rebuild for next season. We’ve got key players that are out injured like Niamh Charles and Jess Clarke that are clinical and we can rely on them. Courtney normally would finish those. It’s tough when you do create those opportunities and you don’t see them going in the back of the net.”
After the break, Arsenal reverted to type, and the left side that had proved so fruitful would do so once more when Mead’s cross-cum-shot sailed far beyond the reach of Anke Preuss. Then Dominique Bloodworth flew to meet Katrine Veje’s pinpoint cross but still Arsenal’s demolition was not complete.
Liverpool could enjoy a moment of redemption when Veje felled a surging Daniels inside the area and Sweetman-kirk converted from the spot. But there was time for Miedema to bring down a ball from distance, outfox Preuss and Jemma Purfield, and flick a delightful finish from the edge of the area for her 20th of the season.
For Jessica Samuelsson, Arsefound nal’s defender, the match was emotional. The Swede came on for the final 16 minutes in what it was understood was her final appearance for the club following an injuryplagued two years with them.
“[Liverpool] had numbers behind the ball and they were dropping into a 4-5-1,” said Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro. “But we the right solutions, sometimes bringing full-backs inside or wingers inside, sometimes dropping attackers a little bit shorter.”
Still the title race might go down to the final game of the season, when Arsenal host Manchester City, but the Gunners could conceivably have it all wrapped up by then. On a day when, by their own standards, they had wasteful moments but were still able to score this many, the portents were favourable. “The momentum is starting to take shape,” said Montemurro. “We just need to start focusing on the next job and keep hammering home the details. Every game is a final for us.” Liverpool Booked Arsenal Referee
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