Without a controversial penalty and a red card Arsenal could have held Chelsea Women to a draw

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·27. Januar 2025

Without a controversial penalty and a red card Arsenal could have held Chelsea Women to a draw

Arsenal Women suffered their first defeat in 13 games on Sunday as they played Chelsea in a WSL London derby at Stamford Bridge. With a late penalty, Chelsea snatched a 1-0 win.

Going into this game, there was so much hope about what our Gunner women had to offer, with captain Kim Little saying “We need to beat Chelsea really, it’s as simple as that.” Unfortunately it was Little that gave away the controversial penalty – controversial because a VAR check would probably not have awarded it.. In my opinion, having replayed that moment many times over on Youtube, Kim didn’t take Lauren James down. Kim had slid in for the ball then James ‘did the trip’. Really interested to hear your thoughts on this, though obviously it won’t change the outcome..

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Kim Little of Arsenal (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

The girls had managed to go unbeaten against some of the finest teams: Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Tottenham Hotspur. In 13 games, Arsenal had picked up 12 wins and a draw (1-1 against Manchester United. Our Gunners were flying high, scoring goals for fun and keeping clean sheets as if their lives depended on it. Arsenal were back competing, and we certainly believed we could beat Chelsea.

So, some of us Gooners were confident going into that clash with Chelsea, and we really did give a good account of ourselves—the stats suggest so.

Our girls dominated possession, 54% to 46%. They were defensively sound, making the most blocks (5), and Daphne van Domselaar made the most saves (8)—6 more than Hannah Hampton. It’s just that the Arsenal Women’s attack had a bad day at the office, not taking advantage of their dominance in possession, especially in the first half. Our girls only had 10 goal attempts (Chelsea had 21), and managed 2 shots on target (Chelsea had 9), and didn’t have a big chance (Chelsea had 6).

Renee, in her post-match press conference, perfectly summarized her team’s performance. She said they really competed, hence Chelsea only needing a penalty for the win. She felt if they’d buried their chances, things would have been different (she was so confident about that she felt if only they were afforded a rematch, they would have shown it).

She said of how close she thought they pushed Chelsea:

“I think we’re improving as a team, definitely in how we handle different phases of the game. I think we do that better and better, and that we’re psychologically in a state where we can stay in the game, whatever happens in the game. I think that’s important in top games like this. So I’m very happy with that development and if I could play the game again today, I would want to play the game again, because I think we are good enough to do more against Chelsea. So if we’d been more clinical with the chances, I think we can definitely measure up to them. So we’re disappointed with the loss.”

I don’t know about you, but I feel that game, if not for that controversial penalty and the red card, Arsenal would have avoided a defeat to Chelsea. In fact, one would have looked at Mariona Caldentey or Alessia Russo to snatch a late winner for Arsenal, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

What are your thoughts Gooners?

Michelle M

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