Arsenal Ladies 0 - 2 Chelsea Ladies Meadow Park
WSL 1 LEADERS Chelsea landed a huge blow against title rivals Arsenal with a convincing victory at Borehamwood yesterday (Sunday).
In a report on the match from Arsenal Ladies, who train at London Colney, it says that the Blues started on top, as a nervous punch from Sari van Veenendaal landed in front of Gemma Davison who launched it back at goal.
England striker Eniola Aluko helped the ball on and though it was cleared, from the resulting corner Vicky Losada put Gilly Flaherty’s header through her own goal.
The Gunners tried to hit back with a one-two between Losada and Natalia, allowing the latter to get clear, but her effort was tame.
Chelsea continued to control the tempo, with Ji So-Yun and Drew Spence missing good chances to double the lead.
Just before half-time, Fran Kirby and Ji exchanged passes, with the former narrowly firing wide.
Arsenal started the second half positively – switching to 4-3-3 after the restart – but Chelsea still had the better of the chances, with record signing Kirby narrowly firing over from 18 yards.
England’s Kirby was dangerous throughout and she drew a penalty after a lunge from Emma Mitchell, which Davison converted.
Katie Chapman had the chance to make it three, but Marta Corredera cleared off the line before Chelsea completed a confident display.
Sari Van Veenendaal said: “We weren’t good enough; we didn’t keep the ball long enough and in the second half, we were better, but not good enough overall.
“But it’s not over because we have three more games. Perhaps we can look at our league position after the last game, but not right now.
“We let them play too much and they had a higher level of pressure and we lost too many duels, and they created more chances.
We kept losing the ball after two or three passes and it’s difficult to create chances and to make goals when that happens. We have to learn from this game.”
The attendance was over 1,500 - nearly double the pre-World Cup attendances.
Arsenal Ladies: Sari Van Veenendaal, Emma Mitchell, Casey Stoney, Vicky Losada (Carla Humphrey 77), Natalia Pablos Sanchon, Danielle Carter (Jordan Nobbs 64), Marta Corredera, Jemma Rose, Dominque Janssen, Lotte Wubben-Moy (Chioma Ubogagu 46), Jade Bailey
Subs not used: Emma Byrne, Vyan Sampson, Rachel Yankey, Chloe Kelly
Bookings: Jade Bailey 67, Dominque Janssen 88
Red cards:
Chelsea Ladies (4-2-3-1): Hedvig Lindahl, Hannah Blundell, Gilly Flaherty, Niamh Fahey, Gemma Davison (Laura Coombs 87), Eniola Aluko (Ana Marques Borges 75), Ji So-Yun (Millie Bright 83), Claire Rafferty, Fran Kirby, Katie Chapman, Drew Spence
Subs not used: Marie Hourihan, Jenna Legg, Jodie Brett, Atlanta Primus
Bookings: Katie Chapman 44, Claire Rafferty 81
Red cards:
Referee: Ashvin Degnarain
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