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12 hours ago
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Manchester City moved up to second in the Women’s Super League table as a late strike from the substitute Iman Beney earned them a hard-fought victory over Arsenal in a game that started poorly but turned into a five-goal thriller.
The result means Arsenal, who dropped points at home to Aston Villa last time out and are now winless in three WSL games, slipped five points behind the leaders, Chelsea, after five games, while Manchester City are now only a point behind the defending champions thanks to Beney’s low finish into the bottom corner.
It is not the sort of form the north London side would want to take in to the start of the defence of their Champions League title, when they host the Lyon on Tuesday, but there will now be a bit of pressure building around the club before that difficult-looking game against the eight-time European champions. It was nearly a very different narrative, though, as it looked as though Chloe Kelly had come back to haunt her former club by scoring an 83rd-minute equaliser that had made it 2-2.
Kelly felt frozen out of the Manchester City team last winter before joining Arsenal, on January’s transfer deadline day, initially on loan. She pointed to the badge on her shirt as she celebrated her leveller in front of the travelling supporters, but Beney had the last laugh at the other end.
City, who have now won four consecutive WSL games and five in a row in all competitions since their opening loss at Chelsea, are beginning to click into gear under their new head coach, Andrée Jeglertz. They were good value for their victory, particularly with their first-half performance as they created the stronger of the opportunities.
The game was being played in high winds that must have been awkward for both goalkeepers to contend with, indeed Storm Amy almost played a part in a goal midway through the first half, as Arsenal’s Daphne van Domselaar could only turn Yui Hasegawa’s corner on to her bar. Vivianne Miedema also had a header well saved against her former club, as the home side looked strong. They did eventually take the lead when Khadija Shaw headed in Kerstin Casparij’s cross, after great work from Aoba Fujino to release Casparij down the right.
The hosts should have doubled their lead when Shaw was played through on goal but she hesitated too long and when her eventual shot was diverted to Casparij to put the ball in the net, the Netherlands international was offside. Arsenal then drew level moments into the second half when Mariona Caldentey lashed in a classy strike.
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Poor defending at a set piece, though, undid Arsenal for the second game running as they did not deal with Alex Greenwood’s corner and Casparij was able to bundle the ball in to make it 2-1. Arsenal upped their game in response and looked as if they had rescued a point with Kelly’s clinical strike into the corner, but Beney was ruthless on the counterattack after Shaw’s knockdown.
Shaw had also seen a half-volley well saved, while Stina Blackstenius missed two good late chances for the visitors, but it was the hosts who were celebrating after a tense finale.
