Since Arsenal were the ones holding the advantage from the previous match, they were happy to invite Chelsea Women onto their half. We were also happy to take on the opportunity, which led to Sjoeke Nüsken setting an unfortunate tune to the Blues’ performance with a missed chance that would haunt us for the remainder of the game.
It would be unfair to single out Nüsken as Alyssa Thompson eventually followed suit. And Arsenal were the team who got shots on target, making Hannah Hampton sweat a bit
in the first half just to keep us in the fight for a semi-final spot.
The Gunners returned from the tunnels in the second half looking for a goal to settle this once and for all, and they almost got. Luckily for us Stina Blackstenius was also in the business of wasting big chances.
We recovered our senses and Sam Kerr almost broke the deadlock at the Bridge with a long-range attempt. The rest of the team tried to make the most out of this change in momentum, but the Australian striker isn’t surrounded at the moment with teammates that can rival her finishing skills on a good day — as it was the case a season or two ago.
Things kept swinging back and forth, which greatly benefited Arsenal who were still two goals up in the aggregate score. It seemed they would make matters worse by scoring via Blackstenius, but the goal was correctly disallowed by VAR.
Not that it mattered. Arsenal did their job and Chelsea — who did get a consolation goal at the very end of the match — weren’t up to the task today. As it’s been the case way too often this season.
- Sam Kerr leading the way once again.
- Squandered Chances FC.
- This squad needs deep rebuilding. Issue is, we don’t know what “rebuilding” means in the great minds of our technical directors.
- Next up: Tottenham at home in the Women’s FA Cup quarter-final.
- KTBFFH
