And here’s our match report from Meadow Park. That’s all from me - thanks for reading!
And last but not least a grinning Jonas Eidevall: “I was pretty pleased with the first half, it was pretty good, we just need to change some small details to attack the box more efficiently. We knew Brighton would defend with a lot of players. I couldn’t ask for a better group of players and staff. I haven’t had to build anything knew – Joe Montemurro laid a nice foundation.”
A downtrodden Hope Powell: “I think we had a go but they had too much for us today – they basically ran the show. We gave the ball away too quickly and cheaply. We tried, and we ran for 90 minutes, but at the end of the day we were beaten by the better team. We were really pleased at half-time, we really believed we were in the game. But they upped the tempo second half and were a bit too quick and clinical for us.”
And here’s Kim Little: “Going back to Wembley – what an honour. It was a really professional performance, no goals conceded and great goals scored as well. I think we did well first half but just weren’t clinical in the final third. But in the second half I got on scoresheet and from there we controlled game. [Beth Mead] has had a great start to the season, creating chances and scoring. We’ve got a lot of momentum and are putting in solid performances in defence as well as attack.”
Beth Mead speaks: “It was a great team performance and we’ve got ourselves a trip to Wembley. We got a bit frustrated in the first half, we had chances and didn’t finish them, but that’s what we did in the 2nd half. I’m very confident at the moment – I was disappointed [with missing out on the Olympics], but I got my head down pre-season and want to prove to people that I’m good enough. We were disappointing last time in the final [in 2018 against Chelsea] and what a feeling it would be to go and win an FA Cup.”
Full-time: Arsenal 3-0 Brighton
Peep peep peeeeeeep. Brighton will be happy to hear that whistle, the game descending into dead-rubber status for the last quarter-hour. The visitors made life hard for Arsenal during the first half but in the end the gap in quality told, with Mead the real difference maker. The scoreline was a fair one, and Arsenal will meet Chelsea at Wembley in December.
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92 mins: Mead scoots down the right and squares to Kim Little, who whips a shot into the side netting.
90 mins: Walsh is alert to prevent an Arsenal fourth, nipping off her line to gather at the feet of Parris.
86 mins: Nobbs looks to set Parris haring clear, but Kerkdijk steps across to cut out the pass. At the other end Cater has a long-range shot charged down. No one would begrudge her a goal today.
84 mins: Arsenal bring on Patten and Boye Sorensen, Maritz and Beattie going off, and keep the ball for a good couple of minutes.
80 mins: Mead get another Brighton player booked, this time Gibbons chopping her down mid-run. Mead has been sensational today.
78 mins: And that’s that. Brighton send on Symonds for Kaagman.
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Goal! Arsenal 3-0 Brighton (Williamson, 77)
Iwabuchi spins away from her marker and rattles a sublime through-ball to the feet of Maanum, who wins a corner. And from there, the goal is as simple as it could be: Mead’s floated delivery is headed home at the back post by an unmarked Williamson.
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74 mins: Connolly gets the game’s first booking for a crunching late challenge on Mead.
72 mins: McCabe blitzes forward down the centre of the pitch, beating three players before underhitting the shot. Arsenal look set to see this out comfortably
69 mins: The lively Iwabuchi scurries into the box from the left and hit a shot that Walsh gathers with relative ease.
67 mins: Sloppy play at the back from Arsenal sees the ball break to Koivisto, but her cross just evades Carter.
63 mins: Mead curls a shot inches over the bar. End-to-end stuff now. Brighton bring on Ellie Brazil for Williams. Arsenal respond by sending on Iwabuchi and Maanum for Foord and Walti.
61 mins: And another chance for Brighton as Koivisto, who’s just come on, drives towrds goal, nutmegs McCabe on the edge of the box and bends a shot inches wide of the far post.
59 mins: Frustration for Brighton as Carter escapes towards goal but a heavy touch allows defenders to catch her and she loses the ball.
57 mins: A great save from Walsh, who flies across her goal to claw away a guided strike from Nobbs.
Goal! Arsenal 2-0 Brighton (Mead, 54 mins)
Mead gets her goal, receiving a pass from Nobbs, drifting towards goal and rifling an early shot low into the far corner. It was too easy, but very nicely taken.
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Goal! Arsenal 1-0 Brighton (Little, 50mins)
That was coming, and inevitably it’s Mead who carves out the chance with another jinking run from the left. She weaves her way into the box and to the byline, and when she crosses Little reacts quickest, taking one touch to control a tricky bouncing ball and another to prod home from close range.
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48 mins: Nobbs finds herself with some space outside the box and unleashes a rasping long-ranger, but it’s straight at Walsh, who catches.
46 mins: We’re back under way and Arsenal start the second half as they ended the first, McCabe motoring forward from left-back and crossing to no one before Mead thrashes a 20-yarded over the bar.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Brighton
And that’ll do for Brighton, who have largely stood firm so far. Arsenal have had all the possession but only created a couple of truly presentable chances.
44 mins: Parris escapes down the right and thuds in a powerful cross which Walsh flaps at. It gets as far as Mead, who is crowded out of it on the penalty spot. Walsh redeems herself a minute later by storming off her line to snatch the ball from an onrushing Foord.
42 mins: Gibbons again comes away with the ball when Parris when the striker tries to take her on down the right. The full-back is winning that duel as it stands.
39 mins: Carter gets in behind and pulls the ball back. Beattie gets there first and clears as far as Le Tissier, but her shot from the right side of the box is wild.
37 mins: Maritz whips in another superb cross but there’s no one on the end of it. Then when the ball is hooked back in from the left, Parris meets in at the back stick to head the ball into an open goal … but Williams arrives from nowhere to nod off the line. Wonderful defending!
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35 mins: A bit of a lull in Arsenal pressure, with Brighton’s backline doing well to catch McCabe offside and the hard-running Carter seeing a bit of the ball for Brighton.
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31 mins: Parris carries the ball the width of the pitch and plays a one-two with Mead but is dispossessed as she tries to her way into the box.
28 mins: Mead receives a pass on the edge of the box, spins and jinks past two defenders into the area. The path opens up for her but just as she looks set to guide the ball home, a lunging Simpkins gets a toe on the shot. The corner comes to nothing.
27 mins: A rare foray forward from Brighton sees Carter drift a cross into the box which is plucked out of the air by a confident Zinsberger.
25 mins: Same chance, different player. This time Parris heads wide from an inswinging Maritz cross.
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23 mins: Another golden chance for the same player. This time Maritz marauds forward from right-back and bends in a perfect cross. Foord meets it well but directs her header just wide.
21 mins: The best chance of the game falls to Foord, who is alert while Brighton defenders deal ditheringly with a bouncing ball, and finds herself one-on-one with the keeper but shoots at Walsh’s legs.
20 mins: A poor clearance from Walsh arrives at the feet of Parris on the edge of the box. She hurries her shot, trying to get it off before the keeper returns to positions, but thrashes it wide left-footed.
16 mins: Williamson finds Mead with a raking diagonal and the winger eventually wins a free-kick in the corner, Le Tissier handballing as her opponent attempted to flick the ball over her. It comes to nothing.
13 mins: Parris drives forward from the right, eventually crowded out by defenders. Both Arsenal’s wide players are really direct, aggressive dribblers. Brighton’s full-backs are in for a long evening.
11 mins: More good work on the left from Mead, who is looking hungry and confident today, fresh from her hattrick for England in midweek. The resulting corner finds McCabe, who unleashes a top-class fresh air shot.
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9 mins: Parris gets her first chance to run at a defender one-on-one but Gibbons stands firm and shepherds the striker down the outside, eventually winning the goal-kick.
7 mins: A nice pass from Little finds Mead, who drifts in from the left and skips past Le Tissier to get to the byline. She squares across the goalmouth but no Arsenal player is there to tap in and the ball is scrambled away. Brighton are struggling to get out of their half here.
5 mins: Williamson is passing the ball forward with real conviction in the early stages here. She’s a classy presence at the back for Arsenal
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3 mins: Nice interplay from Green and Whelan results in the ball arriving at Carter with her back to goal, but her layoff is too strong for the onrushing Le Tissier.
2 mins: Some early comedy as Kaagman belts the ball against the head of her teammate Simpkins, who drops a well-justified F-bomb for the TV cameras.
1 min: And we’re off. Arsenal kick off and get things going with a bit of keep-ball among their back line. Hope Powell looks on sternly from the technical area.
The teams are out, game faces affixed all round, and we’re just about ready to go.
And a final bit of pre-match reading – an interview with Danielle Carter, who has been through a helluva lot:
The form book augurs well for Arsenal, who have been faultless in the league and nearly-faultless in Europe, though Brighton also come into this game on the back of two wins, with last week’s matchwinner Megan Connolly keeping her place in midfield. The last time these sides met was in April, when Jordan Nobbs scored both in a 2-0 win for the Gunners. She will be up against Connolly in the engine room today.
It’s a bad day for goalkeepers (and a good one for sadistic schadenfreuders). Tim Krul is the latest to have butterfingered one in:
Jonas Eidevall has spoken out about the international calendar, calling for a reform to the schedule that places “quality over quantity”. Sounds sensible to me. More here:
The winners here will face Chelsea in the final after the Blues cruised past Manchester City today on an afternoon to forget for Karima Taieb. Here our report from our man at the Academy Stadium:
Team news ahoy!
Arsenal: Zinsberger, Maritz, Williamson, Beattie, McCabe, Walti, Little, Nobbs, Paris, Foord, Mead. Subs: Williams, Cull, Goldie, Patten, Boye, Iwabuchi, Maanum, Hossein, Hennessy
Brighton: Walsh, Gibbons, Kerkdijk, Le Tissier, Whelan, Connolly, Kaagman, Green, Carter, Simpkins, Williams. Subs: Angel, Koivisto, Lee, Babajide, Bance, Brazil, Robinson, Symonds
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When Jonas Eidevall was appointed manager of Arsenal in June, he spoke of wanting “to turn every stone to see how we can get better”. Five games into the new season, it’s hard to see where exactly any improvements could be made. In the league Arsenal have been pretty much perfect so far, winning five from five, scoring 19 and conceding just two. In Europe they have slipped up once – a 4-1 loss against Barcelona – but have won the rest 4-0, 4-0, 3-0, 3-1 and 4-0. Not bad eh?
It’s early days, of course, but it’s certainly enough to frighten a Brighton side who are no mugs themselves, having won four from five in a bid to improve on last season sixth-placed finish. Hope Powell’s side can take heart, though, from the fact that Vivianne Miedema, the goal machine who has been scoring at a rate of one a game for Arsenal this term, will be rested by today, Eidevall with one eye on the bigger picture.
Up front for Brighton will be Danielle Carter, a striker without the pedigree of Miedema – and only a fraction of the goal – but with a proven track record of making the difference on the big occasion. No club knows this better than Arsenal, whose FA Cup triumph five years ago cam thanks to a goal from Carter. Her decade in north London ended this summer after a string of career-threatening injuries but she is fit again and will be fixated on proving a point to her former club.
“We have more to gain than we have to lose and that takes the pressure off and I’d argue puts a bit on Arsenal,” says Powell. “The pressure is on Arsenal, the expectation is on them to win.
