Exactly 24 hours after watching the men’s side need stoppage time heroics to avoid dropping points against Leicester, Arsenal’s women’s team headed up to the King Power Stadium on Sunday hoping for a less eventful afternoon but the same outcome, that being a victory and three points towards a title chase – and that’s exactly what they got. In a cagey game of few chances, it was a backpass pounced on by Alessia Russo and a simple finish from Frida Maanum that downed the Foxes on this occasion, in a 1-0 win for the Gunners.
Unlike Saturday’s Premier League fixture, for a while, it looked like Arsenal could have some trouble in getting the goal needed for a victory in this one. Russo hit the side netting from an angle with what was little more than a half-chance, while Lia Walti brought the best out of Leicester goalkeeper Liza Kop with a powerful strike from range. That came just a few minutes after Jutta Rantala had done the exact same at the other end, with Arsenal debutante Daphne van Domselaar tipping her effort onto the crossbar.
That these were the most notable incidents of the first half illustrated how tight it was, the kind of affair that, as the old cliché goes, would be decided by a moment of magic or a mistake. Unfortunately for Leicester, it would be the latter, with Russo alert to a short pass back to Kop and able to cleverly tee up Maanum for a tap-in that, thanks to two big saves from Van Domselaar in the closing stages, would secure Arsenal’s first win of the new Women’s Super League season.
GOAL rates the Gunners’ players from the King Power Stadium…