Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report.
Emma Hayes, the Chelsea manager, speaks.
Sam’s missed a chance at the end but full credit to Arsenal; it is a derby we have beaten them five out of the last six hame. We managed to get a good point away from home. We were poor on our game plan. [On the title race]The first thing to note is that if you have such quality that you have to find stuff in the head to heads.
Joe Montemurro, the Arsenal manager, speaks.
I will sound like sour grapes but we did enough to control the game. What do I say with the goal they scored? It happened. They didn’t really create anything. There are four teams with one point separating them. All credit to the quality of the league. There’s a long way to go.
Beth Mead, the Arsenal scorer, speaks.
It was hard, that is what you want, the competitiveness. It was frustrating, the goal that went in. It felt like a loss at the end of the game. Last week was below our standards and we needed to rectify it. We set out standards. We can compete with Chelsea but we lost two points. Anyone can take points off anyone. It’s wide open at the moment. I just ran as fast as I could and she would have had a go at me if I hadn’t got on the end of it.
Good point, well made. Wubben-Moy had a fine game until that fateful deflection.
@JohnBrewin_ been a while since I've seen England kept so quiet #ARSCHE
— Matt Robinson (@Cattacombs) November 15, 2020
Final score: Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea
Arsenal must have thought they had won it, but then came that own-goal from Wubben-Moy, who had been excellent until then and was unfortunate. Mead’s goal seemed to have broken Chelsea’s unbeaten run and Joe Montemurro’s poor run against Chelsea but then the champions might have won it when Sam Kerr’s shot went just wide in that frantic period of time added on.
90+5 min: Arsenal force a corner. They will take less time over this one than their last. Berger palms it away. Kerr seems to be on the break but she can’t find a pass...and that’s it.
90+4 min: Emma Hayes thought that Sam Kerr shot had gone in. This game now very wide open after all that tactical grind.
90+3 min: Worth saying that five minutes were added on. And there will more. And there is almost a winner when Kerr lobs the ball over the onrushing Zinzberger but just wide....wow!
Goal Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea (Wubben-Moy, 90+1 OG)
Oh no. The ball whipped off Wubben-Moy and over Zinzberger from Harder’s cross from the byline. It was unfortunate for Arsenal.
Updated
90 min: McCabe goes down with what looks an elbow injury. Wubben-Moy is given the player of the match award, and rightly so.
89 min: Arsenal eat up time by forcing a corner. They then concede a goal-kick. Chelsea in a real hurry.
87 min: Chelsea’s long unbeaten run is facing its end. Emma Hayes makes a double change. Off go Ji and Cuthbert, and Fleming and Charles come on.
Goal! Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (Mead, 86)
Here it is! Millie Bright cannot stop Miedema bounding to the line, and her fine cross means Mead can hardly miss.
Updated
85 min: Ji and Kerr try to create something for Chelsea. Wubben-Moy is again the defender to clear the ball.
84 min: This becomes a test of nerve at this point. We are a mistake away from a winner. Or a piece of genius. Miedema works hard to force a chance but Chelsea whack the ball away from the edge of their area.
81 min: Two chances for Arsenal! Foord just misses the ball as it drops at her feet and Miedema slashes wide from the loose ball. It results in a series of corners. The latter ends up with Williamson heading wide. Make that three chances for Arsenal.
80 min: Miedema almost comes between Bright and Eriksson but the latter wakes up to the danger and clears the ball.
79 min: Millie Bright seems to have hurt her knee. The signal to Emma Hayes that she will fine to continue after some strapping goes on the defender’s left leg. She isn’t moving too fluently.
77 min: Arsenal noticeably short of numbers in attack when the ball is launched forward.
76 min: Reiten comes back on for a full complement of players. Chelsea now pushing back up on the Arsenal defence. It looks like one goal can win this.
75 min: A break in play, with Reiten, just on as a sub, down after a clash with Mead. She seems to have hurt her arm, or wrist.
73 min: Ji opens up Chelsea, and Arsenal can only clear to Harder, who takes too much time and has her shot cleared.
72 min: Suddenly, Sam Kerr gets clear, bursting from the halfway line but a tackle by McCabe robs her. It was well timed, vital.
71 min: Arsenal with the head of steam now, but Chelsea defending well again. Mead is trying to make things happen for the home team.
69 min: Another Arsenal corner is cleared. Then Mead forces another. Chelsea have defended deep in numbers. Then Foord drills a cross straight into the arms of Berger.
68 min: Joe Montemurro keeps up the vocal encouragement, as does Emma Hayes. Both teams have been compact, defended well enough but been low on attacking quality.
66 min: Arsenal keep knocking on the door but their final ball has not been up to much. Miedema has only had measly morsels to work with.
65 min: Chelsea sub: off goes England for Reiten, an attacking change.
64 min: The ball is hit low by McCabe and Chelsea concede a corner. It was a tad wasteful but the corner will do for now, or at least until Berger claims it with a good catch.
63 min: Chelsea pressing hard at the front, chasing plenty of shadows. But Mead’s running forces a free-kick in a dangerous position for Arsenal. Ji was booked for the foul.
61 min: Couple of indications that the deadlock may soon be broken. Chelsea look the more likely at this point.
59 min: Ji sends Harder away for Chelsea, but her cross is right at Zinzberger. Then Beth England has perhaps the best chance of the game after an Arsenal mistake. A sigh of relief from the home team when she shanks it into the stand.
57 min: Arsenal seem to have righted themselves after that initial Chelsea wave. Kerr tries a run but Wubben-Moy, excellent today, steps across to clear the danger.
56 min: Respite in what has been a breathless opening period as Ji fouls Little. Mead though almost fashions a chance down the side of the Chelsea box. The ball is cleared after some minor Chelsea panic.
55 min: Chelsea keeper Berger makes a mistake with the ball at her feet and a corner is conceded. Arsenal fail to make much of it.
54 min: Miedema, almost as starved of service as last week, is robbed by Beth England. Then the ball goes up the other end. Chelsea create a chance for England who gets all the way up but has her shot blocked.
52 min: Kerr has a glimmer of a chance but she ends up losing her stride and deflecting the ball behind for an Arsenal goal kick. Emma Hayes seems to have had some harsh words to say.
50 min: Arsenal noticeably on the back foot in these early stages.
48 min: Chelsea on a run of having scored in their last 38 games. They begin with some extended possession but a ball to Kerr goes awry before Ji goes on a surge. Arsenal, somewhat raggedly, clear their lines but Chelsea are pushing up.
46 min: Confirmation of that Chelsea change. Off goes Leupolz and on comes Kerr.
Sam Kerr is coming on for Chelsea, and she has a beaming smile on her face.
Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea
It’s been very tactical. Arsenal have shaded it in terms of chances and snuffing out their opponent but all to play for. Caitlin Foord’s shot against the bar was the closest we have come and it defied gravity into the bargain.
45+1 min: Two minutes added on at the end of the half. Chelsea still reeling from that near miss. Arsenal fancy one before the break.
45 min: Arsenal suddenly push on. Chelsea looking rattled.
43 min: Wow, Arsenal crash the crossbar twice. Foord whacks the ball and it loops off the bar and bounces up and then drops down and back off the bar. Crazy scenes. Chelsea get it clear, and with some relief.
41 min: Chelsea build up a rare head of steam. Ji, quiet so far, tries to take up creative control but the move breaks down when Mjelde’s pass goes awry. Joe Montemurro is urging his Arsenal players to keep things tight.
39 min: Arsenal playing keep ball like it is the end of the match but then spring into action. Little plays in Miedema and suddenly hackles are raised. And yet Chelsea get back in numbers to clear. The shot, when it comes, is blocked.
37 min: Ball punted back to Zinzberger by Arsenal. The caginess continues. Chelsea are similarly reticent.
35 min: The ball is embedded by the touchline by the dugouts at the moment. It’s very bitty. The two managers’ attempts to out-tactic each other has led this to be a sludgy affair.
33 min: Collision between Beth Mead and Eriksson, with Maier booked for a challenge previous to that. Behind the stadium, a double rainbow has appeared. Neither team has yet struck a pot of goal...(apologies).
31 min: Miedema seems OK to continue for now. As with United last week, she’s not had much to work with. Arsenal have been circumspect.
29 min: Miedema is down. The physio is working on her. She got a whack on her lower right leg.
27 min: The rain is heavy in Hertfordshire. Miedema seems to have something of an injury problem though her rather strained gait might be having to run in the weather conditions.
25 min: Harder gets to the byline but her cross is cleared. Arsenal go down the other end and Walti barrels into the box. She goes down but that will not be a penalty. Nor does Walti protest.
23 min: A glimmer of a chance for Miedema? No, Chelsea goalie Berger charges out to clear.
Updated
22 min: Lovely pass from Little to Mead, Miedema is the target but she cannot climb enough to get on to Mead’s cross. Arsenal looking to the counter.
21 min: Cuthbert and McCabe clash, and there looked to be a portion of afters. The foul goes Arsenal’s way as McCabe went down first but she had a little kick at Cuthbert.
19 min: Chelsea are pushing up from the front. Walti, in front of Arsenal’s defence, has been put under regular pressure.
17 min: It’s scruffy. Maier, down the Arsenal flank, tries to start a move, but it’s stopped. Both defences back in serious numbers. Chelsea get a free-kick up the other end. It’s in range but Cuthbert’s shot is blocked after it is taken short.
15 min: Little scampers down the flank, but Chelsea usher her out of danger. Good shape from them. Joe Montemurro can be heard urging on his team. Emma Hayes also rather vocal.
13 min: It’s even. Both teams defending well, and have plans to stop the other as a priority.
10 min: Chelsea look the more determined to seize the initiative. Arsenal are, as Joe Montemurro suggested in pre-match, playing within themselves.
8 min: Andersson speeds down the wing, but the danger is cleared. Arsenal are really on the back foot but Little comes back on. Her first touch is a good pass that almost gets Miedema away.
6 min: Little is still off the field. And Chelsea dominant in possession.
4 min: Long ball from Millie Bright attempts to set up a Chelsea attack but it’s a little bit too long. Little is still bleeding; she has a cut on her mouth. Chelsea pushing on with their personnel advantage.
2 min: Kym Little goes down, having taken a whack on the chops from Ji. She’ll be ok but the physio is required. Quite some way to come back into the starting line-up.
1 min: The players take the knee and off they go. Arsenal start at a heck of a rate and Chelsea have to hack clear.
Updated
Not long now...here we go, here we go, this is it.
Social media corner.
GAME FACE: 🔛@JillRoordNL 🔥 pic.twitter.com/J2umeMSdcn
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 15, 2020
The skipper. © #CFCW pic.twitter.com/n7gxecgk4v
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) November 15, 2020
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes speaks.
How do you know I have made no changes? In terms of personnel, no, but tactically. I respect Arsenal and the quality that they have going forward. We have to get the defensive details right. [On unbeaten run] You would have to ask the players. In our environment discomfort usually does that. Making the right changes is critical if you want to keep top stars on top of the game.
Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro speaks.
We keep getting reminded about the past. Today is another occasion, another chance. We will always approach the game from a structural and tactical point of view. Two teams are very strong. It’s going to be moments in the game. These things happen. It wasn’t right last week. In training this week there’s been a real buzz and a real excitement. Yeah, finally. It’s nice to have our captain back. Jill’s played really well since the start of the season.
Updated
Emma Hayes made a salient point on quarantine and Christmas ahead of this match.
Suzanne Wrack was at yesterday’s draw between United and City.
The teams
🔴 LONDON DERBY TEAM NEWS 🔴
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 15, 2020
💪 Maier returns from injury
😍 Roord and Little start in midfield
🔥 Miedema, Foord and Mead in attack#WomensFootballWeekend ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Pc7IlR8rW4
Today's Chelsea team to take on Arsenal! 💪#CFCW pic.twitter.com/ejy7P805XY
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) November 15, 2020
Premable
Saturday’s 2-2 draw between Manchester United and Manchester City opened the door back open to Arsenal after last week’s defeat at United. That was a disappointing display from Joe Montemurro’s team. They lost their usual fluency and Vivianne Miedema in particular was kept very quiet. Emma Hayes may take a leaf out of Casey Stoney’s book from last week, where United pressed hard on Arsenal and removed them of their rhythm. Title holders Chelsea are back in fourth, but that may be a deceptive position as they have two games in hand on leaders United.
Kick-off 2.30 pm UK time. Join me.
