She Shoots, She Scores

Arsenal drop points for the second week in a row, as Villa score a stoppage time equaliser at The Emirates.

Arsenal hosted their long term rivals Aston Villa for their second home game of the season at The Emirates, and having left Manchester with a 0-0 point shared game last weekend, the girls in red needed a strong win to help their title campaign this early on.

The game began strong for the Gunners, dominating possession and being rewarded when a pass gone wrong from Villa in the 10th minute left the ball at the feet of Ballon ‘Dor runner up Mariona Caldentey, who subsequently passed to Frida Maaumn for a 1-1 goal attempt against Sabrina D’Angelo, which was calmly slotted into the net.

The 1-0 lead continued for the majority of the match, but the game became less comfortable in the second half as Villa came out fighting, and in stoppage time, a scrappy goal from Lucy Parker secured the Villains a point back to return home with.

Arsenal players and fan leave this game disappointed, knowing we can do better. The second half lacked urgency, with too much hesitation when it came to taking shots and planning passes, resulting in too much time for Villa to plan their moves and defend all our attempts.

Attention now turns to next weekend, when the girls return to Manchester, this time to face rivals Manchester City in a must win game if they want to keep their title hopes alive.