That’s the lot from me. Don’t miss Suzanne Wrack’s report. Good night and see you for more tomorrow.
Holders Arsenal take a two-goal lead into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea next week after a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium, with the quality of the goals, two disallowed Chelsea goals and the Blues’ injury woes the talking points.
A Stina Blackstenius header and Chloe Kelly long-range effort made it 2-0 after the visitors had twice hit the post before Veerle Buurman’s header was ruled out for a very soft foul on Laia Codina, but Lauren James was on hand to reduce the margin in style, curling in from outside the box. Alessia Russo restored the Gunners’ cushion but there was drama at the close, when Kadeisha Buchanan’s goal was ruled out after she ploughed her foot into Anneke Borbe as she put the ball over the line.
It is no exaggeration to describe the next seven days as the most significant week of fixtures in the history of the Manchester United women’s team, as they contest their first European quarter-final with a crucial derby in between.
Debutants in the Champions League main draw, Marc Skinner’s side now have three box-office matches in huge arenas, starting with the first leg of their quarter‑final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday at Old Trafford, as the runaway Frauen‑Bundesliga leaders arrive in England hoping to illustrate their own European title credentials. The stage is set for a thriller.
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Arsenal took their chances but Chelsea will feel aggrieved to have lost so emphatically. The decision to disallow Buurman’s first-half header was certainly harsh, and the Blues also hit the post twice early on. (James’s effort, that cannoned off the inside of a post, was a far luckier escape for Arsenal than Thompson’s deflected shot from an angle.)
Buchanan’s disallowed effort, much later, was less controversial as she did appear to bundle Borbe into the net in the act of scoring.
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Note: Google informed me the second leg next week is at Wheatsheaf Park, but it is in fact at Stamford Bridge.
That was a cracking game tonight, and the second leg will likely be more of the same.
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Full-time: Arsenal Women 3-1 Chelsea
Advantage to the Gunners. But Chelsea will feel they can expose them in the second leg.
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90 min +6: Wubben-Moy has a sight of goal and sidefoots a shot – Rytting Kaneryd blocks it! That was brilliant defending.
90 min +5: Arsenal have a corner to finish …
90 min +3: So that’s two disallowed goals to go with the two efforts against the woodwork for Chelsea. Arsenal have ridden their luck. Bompastor will have something to say about the refereeing, I feel sure.
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90 min +2: Disallowed goal for Chelsea! (Buchanan)
Chelsea’s Buchanan bundles the ball into the net from the corner. Borbe is knocked over and into the goal in the process. VAR will check it. Was there a high foot? Yes, I guess there was, but was it fair? The VAR will surely rule this one out.
The VAR rules it out.
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90 min + 1: We will have three minutes added. Another corner for Chelsea … and another goal?!
90 min: Sjoeke Nüsken heads goalwards from the corner. Borbe gathers it comfortably.
88 min: James’s impact on this game continues to be enormous. She spins away from Caldentey on the edge of the box and forces a save from Borbe with a rasping shot that is flying in. Corner for Chelsea.
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87 min: Rytting Kaneryd bursts down the right for Chelsea and crosses. Arsenal clear. Rytting Kaneryd comes again. More decent defending from Arsenal.
84 min: James plays a smart one-two and wins a corner with an attempted cross from Chelsea’s right flank.
82 min: Wieke Kaptein, the Dutch international, comes on for Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert. Smilla Holmberg of Arsenal came on for Mead a couple of minutes ago.
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80 min: Chelsea, you sense, are willing to throw everything but the kitchen sink at this to grab another goal back for the second leg.
Blackstenius feeds Russo on the edge with the Chelsea defenders backpedalling. The England forward takes two devastating touches in quick succession, getting the ball out of her feet with the first, then smoothly and instantly taking her right-footed shot early, tucking it into the corner. That looked effortless, but was nothing of the sort. Brilliant finish.
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Goal! 76 min: Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea (Russo)
Forget I spoke. What a finish by Russo!
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75 min: You fancy that a 2-1 defeat is not a bad result for Chelsea to take back to Stamford Bridge for the second leg …
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72 min: Blackstenius makes a run down the Arsenal right. The ball is worked back from near the byline and James commits another foul, this time on Wubben-Moy, providing the Gunners with a decent set-piece chance. Chelsea clear their lines after McCabe’s delivery.
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70 min: James is everywhere. Now she’s fouled in midfield making another mazy run.
Chelsea have a corner. Arsenal half-clear it. James is lurking 30 yards out. She nonchalantly controls the ball, takes her time to pick her spot, and bends a looping, dipping left-footed shot imperiously into the top corner. Borbe had no chance – James started the ball’s trajectory firmly off-target but judged it perfectly to whip it handsomely into the corner. What a stunning hit – even better than Kelly’s in the first half.
Game on, tie on.
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Goal! 66 min: Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal (James)
WHAT a goal that is.
65 min: “Personally I’d rather have Arsenal’s 5-2 advantage in shots on target to having more total shots and possession,” emails Zach.
62 min: Wind and rain is rolling in at the Emirates Stadium.
60 min: More top work from Lauren James. She shows lightning-quick feet to leave Russo standing on the Chelsea right and crosses, looking for Erin Cuthbert.
Kelly is taken off for Arsenal, Olivia Smith comes on. Renée Slegers perhaps fancies more goals.
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57 min: Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is on for Chelsea. Naomi Girma goes off. Bompastor is rolling the dice by introducing a forward for a defender.
I think it’s a good move: Arsenal have looked vulnerable at the back. But then of course they can hurt you in an instant at the other end …
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54 min: Russo threatens again! She turns Walsh inside-out, inside the box, then belts a shot straight at Hampton. If Chelsea were to lose this 3-0 or 4-0, it would be a pretty inaccurate reflection of the play. Chelsea had eight shots in the first half to Arsenal’s six, with 61% possession, 227 passes to 148.
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52 min: Russo is a constant handful for the Chelsea backline. She makes a darting run one moment, then the next, does well to recycle possession after taking the ball to the byline. The pace of the game has dropped a little after a frantic first half, though.
49 min: Arsenal have a corner. Kelly and Hampton, the England teammates, appear to share a joke as the Gunners forward stands next to the Chelsea glovewoman. From the set-piece, taken short, Caldentey curls a shot well wide.
48 min: Lauren James does Lauren James things for Chelsea, embarking on a twisting, skilful run nearly to the byline, and banging an on-target shot straight at Borbe with her left foot. Is she completely two-footed?
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Second-half kick-off!
Allez! Taylor Hinds is on for Arsenal, in place of Laia Codina. Seems like McCabe may slot in at centre-back, as a result.
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“That was a pitiful decision to disallow the Chelsea goal,” emails Redmond. “Truly awful.”
Half-time: Arsenal Women 2-0 Chelsea Women
The Blues were in the ascendancy early doors, and hit the woodwork twice, but it’s Arsenal who lead thanks to a header from Blackstenius and a long-range stunner by Kelly. It’s been extremely open and entertaining, both teams playing with intent, and surely we will more goals after the interval.
Here is some half-time reading, listening and watching:
45 min +1: Walsh shoots from just outside the area after the corner. It’s blocked by an Arsenal body.
45 min: James causes more problems for Arsenal down the Chelsea left. She wins another corner.
40min: Disallowed goal for Chelsea! (Buurman)
Chelsea have the ball in the net after a free-kick! But the referee, Alina Pesu, has disallowed it for a push by Buurman, who nodded it in! Borbe, the Arsenal goalie, came for the free-kick but got nowhere near it and Buurman tucked in a header at the far post. The VAR is checking it … and this may very well be given … but it is not. No goal. Never a foul, for me. Game’s gone etc. etc.
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38 min: Walsh nicks the ball off Russo’s toes in midfield. Thompson of Chelsea shoots from distance but it’s deflected and Borbe is able to prevent the ball going out for a corner.
37 min: James is on the run again for Chelsea, down the left. She tries to cut a cross back but Lotte Wubben-Moy cuts it out for a corner.
Mead feeds Kelly, a good 30 yards from goal. The England forward is given half a second to tee up a shot, and hammers a right-footed effort unerringly into the far corner of the net, beyond the despairing dive of Hampton. The low shot skims off the turf in the vicinity of Hampton’s net but I don’t think you can argue the goalie is at fault, such is the quality of the strike. Fantastic goal. Chelsea hit the post twice but they are two down. It’s a funny old game.
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Goal! 32 min: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (Kelly)
What a hit!
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31 min: Russo crosses hard and low for Blackstenius, who hits a right-footed shot first-time, but it’s straight at Hampton.
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29 min: Chelsea’s James is booked for a foul in midfield on Blackstenius. It was a hardly a foul, really – Blackstenius knew she was coming, and looked to back into her opponent, and James just nipped around the side and nabbed the ball. Very harsh decision.
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27 min: Thompson chases a long ball down the right wing for Chelsea. It’s a hopeful pass – but Thompson’s pace means they make something out of it. Chelsea work the ball back to their left flank and James bends a good-looking cross towards the far post but it goes out for a goal-kick.
Goal! 22min: Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (Blackstenius)
McCabe bends in the free-kick and it’s a superb delivery, bending viciously towards the far post. Blackstenius nods it into the far corner of the net with little fuss, the merest of touches with a glancing header, and the celebrations begin. Brilliant goal and somewhat against the run of play.
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20 min: It’s certainly not been a classically cagey first-leg vibe thus far. Both teams are going for it. Now James of Chelsea is penalised for a foul on Caldentey, about 10 yards outside the Blues’ area. A handy set-piece situation for the hosts.
18 min: Stina Blackstenius and Mead link down the middle for Arsenal, working the ball into the area. Kadeisha Buchanan, recently back from a lengthy layoff with an ACL injury, tries to shield the ball but ends up in a heap. Blackstenius’s shot is saved, and thankfully, Buchanan is able to jog off, and looks able to continue.
16 min: “The Arsenal women’s team owe absolutely nothing to the men’s team,” points out Charles Antaki on email.
“But! What a tonic it would be if they win, and especially if they play the kind of attractive football that they’re capable of. Shame that Olivia Smith isn’t in the starting XI, but there’s plenty of other talent in there. Just watching Alessia Russo at work is enough (or almost) to dispel some of yesterday’s gloom.”
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13 min: Thompson’s pace is tearing Arsenal apart down the right. She has McCabe on toast after a perfectly-weighted ball by Lucy Bronze down the line. Thompson gets to the byline and cuts the ball back, but the Gunners manage to scramble the ball clear.
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10 min: Thompson, again, is threatening on that right flank for Chelsea. She beats Katie McCabe, cutting in, and her shot is blocked by an Arsenal body.
8 min: Now Lauren James thumps a shot against the same post for Chelsea! She took possession around the edge of the area and ghosted past the cover to shoot, low and hard and right-footed. It looked for all money like that was the opener, cannoning back off the inside of the post.
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6 min: A defensive slip allows Alyssa Thompson in down the Chelsea right. Her deflected shot from an angle looks unthreatening but it flicks off the far post with Anneke Borbe beaten! Laia Codina had slid in with a tackle and the ball flicked off her studs and nearly into the net.
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4 min: Around halfway, Lauren James does superbly to take a ball to feet, turn away from two or three would-be tacklers, and spread the play from Chelsea’s left to right. The move fizzles out but it’s a reminder, if Arsenal needed one, of James’s spectacular talent.
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2 min: Arsenal start on the front foot, penning Chelsea in on the left wing for a spell and eventually winning a corner. Chloe Kelly bends in a good cross when the ball is worked out right, following the set-piece taken by Beth Mead. The Blues keeper Hannah Hampton dives on it, and Chelsea pass their first defensive test.
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First-half kick-off!
Go.
Here we go, then. The teams are out, the pre-match pleasantries are taking place, and kick-off is seconds away.
I should mention that Ellie Carpenter is indeed on the bench for Arsenal post-Asian Cup final.
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Manchester United v Bayern Munich and Real Madrid v Barcelona are on the menu in the Women’s Champions League tomorrow night.
Wolfsburg 1-0 OL Lyonnes is a result from earlier today, Lineth Beerensteyn with a 14th-minute winner at the Volkswagen Arena.
“There will be a lot of intensity,” Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach, tells the BBC. “Hopefully we will have fresh legs and fight until the end.
“We want to hurt Arsenal. We know they are strong. They are on a good run. But we want to make sure we have a good result coming here.”
Keira Walsh of Chelsea also had a natter with the Beeb: “We know each other quite well, we’ve played each other a lot over the years … but being a Champions League game it’s a bit different, a bit more special. They’re a top team and we know what they bring. Hopefully it’s going to be an exciting game.
“We know the game plan. It’s controlling those emotions, trying to stay calm, and just doing the gameplan … there’s been a lot of talk around it but we’re feeling positive.”
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Mariona Caldentey of Arsenal has a chat with the BBC: “It’s the type of game everyone wants to play. We are really lucky to play in the Emirates, in the Champions League. It’s a big game, against a big team.
“It’s two legs, but right now, we’re only thinking of the game tonight in front of our fans. We are in a good moment. We feel confident. We will go for the win, we are at home and we are Arsenal, so that’s what we have to do.”
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Arsenal have lost just once in 19 matches. Chelsea may have dropped points in the league against London City Lionesses at the weekend, but nine days ago, they beat Manchester United to win the Women’s League Cup.
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Kick-off is about 40 minutes away. You’ve got plenty of time to enjoy this excellent interview with Alessia Russo of Arsenal, by Suzanne Wrack:
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Teams
Three changes for Arsenal: Beth Mead, Emily Fox and Katie McCabe come in after the 5-0 WSL win against West Ham on Saturday.
For Chelsea and Bompastor it’s five changes: Lauren James, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh, Sandy Baltimore and Naomi Girma all return.
Arsenal Women (4-3-3): Borbe; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Codina, McCabe; Mead, Little, Caldentey; Russo, Blackstenius, Kelly. Substitutes: Votikova, Van Domselaar, Maanum, Smith, Pelova, Hinds, Holmberg, Harwood.
Chelsea Women (3-5-2): Hampton; Girma, Buchanan, Buurman; Bronze, Cuthbert, Walsh, Nusken, Baltimore; James, Thompson. Substitutes: Peng, Spencer, Carpenter, Kaptein, Kaneryd, Potter, Shooter, Storey, Sarwie.
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Seismic news from the men’s version of association football:
Preamble
Arsenal Women won the big prize last season, but after a fifth-placed finish in the league phase this time around, the holders were subjected to the relative indignity of needing a playoff for a place in the quarter-finals. A 7-1 aggregate success against Leuven was duly delivered and now Chelsea, their Women’s Super League rivals, stand between the Gunners and a place in the last four.
Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach, felt it necessary to deny that her team are facing a full-blown injury crisis after just eight players took part in an open training session before the first leg tonight. “This is what it is when you are Chelsea,” Bompastor said. Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter were not considered for selection having returned from Australia’s Asian Cup final defeat by Japan on Saturday – Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Caitlin Foord of Arsenal were also involved and will play no part at the Emirates Stadium this evening.
This is the first time in the history of Uefa Women’s club competitions that teams from the same city have faced each other. While Arsenal, as holders, may be considered favourites, Chelsea have never lost on any of their previous six occasions they have reached the quarter-finals. Something has to give.
Kick-off: 8pm UK GMT
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