Arsenal Women back to winning ways although it was harder than it seemed!
For the second time in less than a few days the Arsenal women were put to the test.
After the points were shared in the North London derby on the weekend Arsenal got back to winning ways but it was a less than impressive, yet hard fought, performance against the Danish Women’s league leaders HB Koge.
Having gone 1-0 up in the first 16 minutes, thanks to another Beth Mead assist, after she crossed the ball in from the left and Caitlyn Foord tapped in for Arsenals 100th Champions League goal, it seemed like it would be another goal fest.
Yet 1-0 it was for the rest of the first half and most of the second until the 82nd minute, another Beth Mead assist this time getting past the first player from a corner, and nodded in by Lotte Wubben-Moy.
HB Koge tested and frustrated Arsenal for most of the game and were still in the game up until the 82nd minute where all the dominance in possession from Arsenal finally paid off.
It soon became 3-0 on the 87th minute, a lovely ball from Steph Catley, played over the top that fell into the space for Vivianne Miedema to wrap it up for the Gunners.
The scoreline doesn’t do justice to the work HB Koge did up to the 80th minute and had Arsenal been more clinical it would have been a goal fest much earlier.
But sometimes it’s nice to show they can win ugly and it shows the character in the team. To keep going and never give up until that final whistle and they got their rewards with two goals in the final 10 minutes.
After the first 80 minutes the worry is that it seems as though Arsenal’s early season dominance and energy has wained. Despite finding a way to score a couple more goals.
Or could it be that they are trying to conserve their energy yet win ugly to go all out against Barcelona and Chelsea in the Champions League group stage and FA Cup final next month.
Well it remains to be seen why the energy has dropped but I for sure hope it is because they are saving themselves for those two games but they need to be careful because if they continue playing the way they have in their last two performances then they will be walked all over!
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
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