Roundup
Emma Mitchell’s late long-range strike allowed WSL champions Arsenal to celebrate their title in style – by inflicting a first league defeat of the season on runners-up Manchester City.
City keeper Ellie Roebuck made several key saves in the first half as Arsenal created the better chances, before Sari van Veenendaal, making her final appearance for the Gunners, almost spilled Lauren Hemp’s header onto the post.
The visitors applied more pressure in the second half, with Pauline Bremer denied by Van Veenendaal. Nick Cushing’s side looked set to at least complete an unbeaten campaign, before substitute Mitchell found the top corner from 25 yards out with minutes to go.
In the final day’s other games, Chelsea threw away a two-goal lead at Reading, only for Bethany England to grab the winner and secure third place for the Blues. Birmingham finished fourth after prevailing 2-0 at relegated Yeovil, while there was a post-Wembley hangover for West Ham as they lost 4-0 at home to Brighton.
In the Merseyside derby, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk and Niamh Charles gave Liverpool a two-goal advantage after half an hour. Abbey-Leigh Stringer pulled one back for Everton, but Liverpool held on before Amy Rodgers made sure in the closing minutes.
Arsenal’s celebrations can begin and they can lift the trophy in front of their own fans.
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Full-time: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City
It looked unlikely, but Emma Mitchell’s screamer puts the cap on it for Arsenal. And ends City’s unbeaten record. “We are the champions,” sing the Arsenal fans and their team showed it is the best around today. The game had looked to have become a truce but then on came sub Mitchell to have her say. Well done to Arsenal.
90+2 min: Three minutes added on. This will be a sweet win for Arsenal. Mitchell, at the other end, denies Bremer a sight on goal.
90 min: Well well, City’s unbeaten record is all but gone barring a late miracle. Emma Mitchell pulled off a Big Vinny Kompany to deny them. A great goal.
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Goal! Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City (Mitchell, 89)
Houghton, hurriedly, knocks the ball behind, corner to Arsenal and taken by Mead but cleared...falls to Mitchell, what a strike. Left foot, ping goal!
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87 min: A shot in anger? Keira Walsh has a dig for City but it goes wide. Miedema was booked, by the way, for that show of petulance.
86 min: Stanway is fouled by Miedema, who then has a second go at her. Perhaps a truce has not been declared after all.
84 min: Off comes Dom Bloodworth, for her final game for Arsenal, to a standing ovation, before she joins Wolfsburg. On comes Arnth Jensen.
82 min: Wullaert turns away from Miedeama and goes down heavily. It looks like a nasty one but she is OK to continue.
80 min: Houghton gives the ball away to Little but makes a quick recovery. Arsenal make a sub. On comes Emma Mitchell for Katie McCabe, today’s ersatz left-back.
77 min: The City fans have brought their inflatable bananas down to Borehamwood. “Inflatable banana, it’s going to be the very next phase,” as Donovan almost sang. Meanwhile, Lauren Hemp is booked for a loose tackle, her exuberance getting the better of her.
74 min: Wullaert cuts in to shoot for City, but cannot get it anywhere near goal. City reduced to such potshots. Hemp tries one herself but drags it a yard or so wide.
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72 min: Arsenal play it safe for a while before then deciding to attack, an attack that comes to nothing. City are inviting them on, and look to be trying to save their unbeaten record by defending deep rather than attacking.
70 min: This game has ebbed away and it feels like something of a truce has been declared. City’s subs - all three made at once - don’t seem to have made much a positive effect.
67 min: Arsenal sub. On comes Carter for Schnaderbeck. That’s an attacking move by Joe Montemurro.
66 min: Little has a shot blocked. A goal now would be a shock, it has to be said.
66 min: Van de Donk, who herself seemed to have an injury a few moments ago, is back up and running. That’s good news for the Dutch team.
64 min: Mead escapes down the left but can’t find Little, but Steph Houghton steps out to stop that attack.
62 min: Gemma Bonner receives vocal appreciation from the City fans who sing her name to the tune of the Archies’ Candy Girl.
60 min: Miedema is OK to continue. Both teams slackening off with a World Cup in mind, which begins in four weeks.
58 min: Kym Little finds space and gets a shot in, but nobody chasing that down as Roebuck saves. A worry for Arsenal as Miedema has an injury. Perhaps more a worry for the Dutch national team.
56 min: City concede a cheap corner when Morgan gets in a twist. She makes amends by clearing the ball when Miedema threatens when that is taken quickly.
55 min: Bremer heads the ball down, and the Arsenal keeper makes a fine save. Then there is a scramble from the resultant corner. Steph Houghton attempts a Vinny Kompany but the ball flies wide and over.
53 min: The beginning of this half has not been nearly as helter-skelter as the first. Not long now until the taste of champagne for the champions.
50 min: Those three changes mean that Nikita Parris, out of contract in the near future, will not be getting on today. Has she played her last season for City?
47 min: By the end of that first half, the chances were piling up for Arsenal but City begin this one by forcing a corner. Lauren Hemp gets her head to the ball and it’s only just claimed by van Veenendaal. Stanway, on as a sub, gets in an early shot, but this time it’s saved.
The second half gets underway with City making three changes. Nick Cushing had seen enough, clearly. Megan Campbell replaces Demi Stokes. Pauline Bremer replaces Caroline Weir. Georgia Stanway replaces Jill Scott.
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Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Manchester City
It’s been a little bit end of season at times, but there have been some opportunities for both teams, with Arsenal having the better of them with Ellie Roebuck outstanding in City’s goal. In the dying embers of the 45, Van de Donk went close.
45 min: Roebuck makes a great save. The ball comes to Schnaderbeck and she again has go down low to stop it. The City goalkeeper has been excellent in this half. Jill Scott goes close with a header from a corner at the other end.
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43 min: Half-time approaches but City are still pushing on with their high press before Beth Morgan is penalised for a foul that allows Arsenal to relax.
42 min: Arsenal win a corner. Miedema has continued to be a threat. Mead’s corner is cleared and McCabe lashes a shot that is saved by Roebuck, and saved well, down and low.
40 min: City have a spell of passing the ball around. This game is becalmed.
37 min: Jill Scott surges forward but her pass is awry. She’s had a quiet game so far. Midfield has been largely bypassed by the speed of both team’s attacks.
35 min: Miedema again shows off her cunning in setting up a chance for Schnaderbeck to ping in a shot. It flies over, but it was close. Arsenal making the clearer chances now.
34 min: Both teams pressing high up the pitch and City’s Lauren Hemp in particular has been busy in doing so.
31 min: Arsenal have been a little off the pace here. That’s what Joe Montemurro was referring to in his pre-match comments. His fears being realised? But Miedema is still on her game, finds space and then shoots at goal. Roebuck is equal to that one, but you can’t give Arsenal’s striker that kind of space.
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28 min: Ooof. Hemp’s header is soft and easy for Van Veenendaal but she drops the ball and it almost rolls in, with only the post stopping the goal. Far too casual from the keeper.
27 min: Hemp took a heavy challenge, but is ok to continue. Arsenal try a slow build-up before Mead pings a ball across the box that fails to trouble Roebuck.
25 min: City pile forward now, but can’t stop their move descending into a session of head tennis once Lauren Hemp tries to direct the ball back across goal.
24 min: Something of a lull after that fast start but here’s Miedema on the burst, and Kym Little is released. She might have done better than hit City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck with her shot.
22 min: And now the City fans can be heard. Some calling down on their way to Brighton tomorrow?
20 min: Plenty of singing from the home fans. We have had their appropriated versions of Billy Ray Cyrus and DJ Otzi so far.
18 min: Corner to Arsenal won by Mead but City get that clear and Hemp charged onwards towards the opposing box but couldn’t keep the ball in.
17 min: City continue to push on. They want to place a question against Arsenal’s status as being the best around.
14 min: Gunners goalkeeper Van Veenendaal scrabbles to concede a corner. Walsh fires in a shot but it is deflected behind.
13 min: Beth Mead drives in a corner that Arsenal should have done better with. City’s defenders had been caught cold. Mead, who has been lively, then is thwarted by Steph Houghton, who has been kept busy.
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11 min: Williamson goes close from Beth Mead’s free-kich, heading over as Steph Houghton put the pressure on.
10 min: City looking the likelier though Arsenal hold a latent threat on the break. Bloodworth tries to get Miedema clear on goal but the pass is just ever so slightly overhit.
8 min: Miedema springs into action, and gets a first shot in. Steph Houghton gets in the way. Then Arsenal force a corner which is headed clear.
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6 min: Arsenal get into City territory at last, and Beth Mead steals in on the right after a ball by Williamson. She rattles the side-netting. A reminder of Arsenal’s quality, though they are yet to score against City this season.
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4 min: City continue to attack. Arsenal looking a little distracted but their defence is holding firm for now.
2 min: No Georgia Stanway, so outstanding at Wembley last week for City, or Nikita Parris, who ran her legs off that day. Nick Cushing has shuffled his pack but City look much the more dangerous.
1 min: City go from the gun. Looks like they want to get this done quickly. They win a corner but it is cleared.
And away we go.....
A sell-out crowd at Boreham Wood, and Manchester City’s players stage a guard of honour for Arsenal. “Championes, championes” rings out. Doesn’t that almost translate as “mushrooms, mushrooms”?
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Manchester City manager Nick Cushing speaks.
We have an undefeated record we want to protect, it’s not a nothing game for us....I have said all along that the WSL is getting more and more competitive. Five draws have taken out chance of lifting the trophy. We know [Arsenal] are difficult opponents and worthy champions. They deserved to win the league.
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Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro speaks.
It’s another 90 minutes, an important game. It’s a sell-out crowd, we want to end on a good note...It’s hard to keep a group focused when you win the championship, the players have had smiles on their faces. They will not have this opportunity again, they are going to try to put on a show.
Midfielder Sari van Veenendaal and defender Dominique Bloodworth are joining German Champions Wolfsburg this summer.
Today's game is your last chance to say goodbye to these two 😢
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) May 11, 2019
Thank you, @SarivVeenendaal and @DomBloodworth ❤️ pic.twitter.com/pSECZa2bc8
Scenes from the Hertfordshire metropolis.
The managers having a chin wag pic.twitter.com/HIAf1ePkUs
— Tim Stillman (@Stillberto) May 11, 2019
Also interviewed this week by Suzanne Wrack, Alex Scott.
Read Suzanne Wrack’s interview with a proud Gunner.
Here are the teams.
📝 Here’s how we line-up against @ManCityWomen in our final game of the season…. #WeAreTheArsenal ❤️ pic.twitter.com/yWxcMGY5co
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) May 11, 2019
Here's how we line-up for the last time this season!
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) May 11, 2019
XI | Roebuck, Morgan, Houghton (C), Bonner, Stokes, Scott, Walsh, Wullaert, Weir, Beckie, Hemp.
SUBS | Bardsley, Bremer, Stanway, Parris, Campbell, Emslie, McManus.@HaysWorldwide 🔵 #mancity pic.twitter.com/BYcMQjxbrX
Preamble
This will be a gala day at Boreham Wood for Arsenal. The title is already theirs, they have led the league from almost start to finish and in Vivianne Miedema they have the goal machine who powered them to glory.
This also has the possibility of being a red-letter day for City. Last week, they won the FA Cup at a canter, though only after a first half in which West Ham were the better side. They also won the Continental Cup, beating Arsenal on penalties, and have been through the WSL season unbeaten, handing the Gunners one of their two defeats, a 2-0 win in December.
So, plenty riding on this one, with Arsenal seeking to puncture City’s invincibility, gaining revenge while they do so.
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