Key events
90+5 min: Late Gunners sub: Mead off, Ilested on. City make a terrible mess of their corner.
90+3 min: Shaw drops deep to attempt a wave of attacks but Arsenal have been rather solid and impressive. They have a corner to defend after Walti smashes the ball behind.
90+2 min: Hasegawa has to clear the danger, and City need far more than that.
90 min: City up in numbers but not creating enough of a threat. Five minutes will be added on.
88 min: Gunners sub: off goes Blackstenius for Rosa Kafaji. Looks like Nighswonger will get that quiet night.
86 min: Lot of noise coming from the Arsenal fans. Their team has a grip on a game that at times they lost control. They’ve made use of City’s rather, er, eccentric defending.
84 min: City up their efforts. There’s talk Leah Williamson might have handled a ball aimed for Shaw but nothing doing there.
83 min: The long ball is launched for Bunny Shaw but so also is the offside flag waved, Yes, getting a bit one-dimensional.
81 min: City have been a little shapeless in this half. Nothing like the same coherence of their play in the first half.
79 min: City’s Casparij is booked for a cynical pull-back on Russo.
Goal! Manchester City 3-4 Arsenal (Blackstenius, 78)
Beth Mead does Beth Mead things, escaping into space on the right, and Blackstenius slots. City will bemoan the defending.
76 min: City keep getting it launched towards Bunny Shaw. This is a different timbre and tone of game now. And with so much to play for.
74 min: Zach Neeley is among many to complain about that penalty:
“Bback to back penalty wrongly given to one team then penalty wrongly denied the other, especially in a big game like this, is a massive screw up. Isn’t it worth some waiting to not swing league standings?”
73 min: Nearly a repeat of that opening seconds goal. Aleixandri loses it and Caldenty steals in, only to make a mess of passing this time.
Charles Antaki: “Apparently, according to the previous manager, it was a choice between keeping Miedema or signing Caldenty. Plenty of fans were unpersuaded, and it’s true that she hasn’t looked quite like the World Cup winner of 2023. But she’s now playing with less stellar footballers than the Spanish team. Anyway. Under Slegers the optics look better. Scoring in the first minute agaist City helps, of course.”
71 min: Free-kick won as Mead clatters Kerolin. Now, who will take? Taken short and zipped to the back post. Arsenal’s goalie collects at the second time of asking.
69 min: Gunners change: Lia Walti for Kyra Cooney-Cross.
67 min: Fowler, how has been excellent, releases Shaw, and then Ouahabi’s ball evades everyone. The ball runs down the other end, and away goes Blackstenius as Keating runs out, way out of her goal. The danger is averted. Breathless stuff.
65 min: It takes some time for the ball to go dead. Keating wallops ball out. It’s Miedema and Park who depart, then Nicoli and Bunny Shaw come on. Nicoli is making her home debut.
63 min: Calm breaking out, perhaps because of those immiment changes.
61 min: Subs are immiment. Bunny Shaw for City among them. Looks like Arsenal might reshuffle their defence.
58 min: To put it politely, this hasn’t been much fun for the defences. Great, aching gaps is where the goals have come from. But, who’s complaining? Who needs an intriguing tactical battle?
56 min: What a ridiculous game. Blackstenius fires wide, and Arsenal say she was fouled. It looked to be after the event. No penalty given. No VAR, either.
Goal! Manchester City 3-3 Arsenal (Fowler, 55 pen)
Wallop, and it’s levels you devils. Fowler kept her cool at least.
Penalty to Manchester City!
It’s madness, utter madness. Did Catey foul Fujino inside the box?
53 min: Well, what happened there? To both teams. Perhaps the only thing preventing another goal was Beth Mead going down injured…
Manchester City 2-3 Arsenal (Maanum, 51)
The defending just as poor for the City goal and Caldentey presents a surging Frida Maanum with a chance to score.
Goal! Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal (Miedema, 50)
An odd goal, City progress the ball and nobody appears to come across to stop the inevitable: Miedema is presented with the ball and scores….non-celebration celebration.
48 min: Blackstenius builds up another head of steam, only for Knaak to shepherd her out.
47 min: Like that first half, Arsenal take up the cudgels and the ball skids into the City box. A chance for Blackstenius? No, she’s offside.
46 min: Back underway, will we see another fast start? No subs made at half-time.
Half-time: Manchester City 1-2 Arsenal
Fujino’s low, grubber of a shot is stopped and that concludes a breathless half of Arsenal scoring two fine goals and then being chased down by City. Next goal wins? Probably.
45+1 min: Two minutes are added on. Miedema is chasing the ball all over the field. Might she drop deeper in the second half with the addition of Bunny Shaw? That might be necesaary.
45 min: The wildness of those opening moments has given way to calm.
43 min: Arsenal attempt to press City into the type of mistake coughed up for that first goal. Next, the pattern is repeated at the other end.
42 min: City keep the pressure on, Arsenal retain their shape. Still so much to play for.
40 min: That free kick is taken rather weakly, with Arsenal showing some aerial prowess, though they did get caught out for that Fowler goal.
38 min: Knaak, City’s New Year’s Day signing, makes a fine intervention. Miedema makes a run, and is tackled by Maanum, a free kick.
36 min: Keating panics as a free-kick is boomed down her throat in the City box. She gets a hand to it, and there is relief when the whistle sounds.
34 min: Miedema is OK, and shows just why when going on one of her runs, though the shot could have been better. She is apologetic to bench and teammates.
Article by:Source: John Brewin
