Match report
Arsenal got back to winning ways with a win in which the scoreline belied the difficulty of their afternoon. When Vivianne Miedema scored in under two minutes, her 16th of the season making her already the highest ever goalscorer in a single WSL season, the former leaders looked on course for an easy victory.
But in a game played in a not particularly friendly sprit, with yellow cards stacking up, and amid a furious hailstorm, Arsenal only secured their win via a questionable 81st minute penalty, awarded for a foul on Danielle van de Donk by Jade Moore, and scored by Kim Little. Katie McCabe’s long-range shot in injury time sealed the points and a scoreline that was more than a little harsh on Reading.
Assistant coach Aaron D’Antino was in charge of Arsenal, due to manager Joe Montemurro being laid up in bed at home with the flu, and saw his team secure a vital three points, laying down a marker for fellow title challengers Chelsea and Manchester City, who both kicked off later. Arsenal, who had lost 2-1 to Chelsea a fortnight ago, could assume a temporary leadership of the table.
Miedema achieved her record with seven matches still left of the season to play.
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That's full-time: Reading 0-3 Arsenal.
A handy win for Arsenal, in which Vivianne Miedema broke the all-time season record for the WSL, and they never had to get out of second gear. Reading have cause to complain about their opponents’ strong arm approach and what looked a very soft goal for the second. With both Chelsea and Manchester City looking on course for three points, this was vital. This title race is very much alive, and Arsenal are back on track, even if they did appear a little underpowered by their long injury list.
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Goal! Reading 0-3 Arsenal (McCabe, 90+4)
Filis gets a touch almost instantly, and sets up McCabe for a crashing finish from long range, fully 25 yards out, and that rounds it all off.
90+3 min: Arsenal sub: On come Filis, for her debut, for Veje.
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90+3 min: And another! Honnundottir fires straight at the goalie, after a fine dummy from Remi Allen. Good work, but a disappointing shot.
90+2 min: Yet another Reading chance on goal. Arsenal are clearly tired. Jo Potter hits from distance.
90+1 min: Another Williams chance, as Reading go in search of a consolation. That came as a result of Peyraud-Magnin, in Arsenal’s goal, being too quick to get the game restarted.
90 min: Another Williams free-kick, but this one is not good, and it dips and swerves in entirely the wrong direction. Four minutes have been added on to this game.
89 min: A Reading attack - it’s been a while. Honnundottir shows neat control and awareness in setting up a chance for Fara Williams.
87 min: Another Reading change. On comes Jade Bailey for Chaplen. This is, though, a lost cause.
86 min: On the sideline, Moore, who made that penalty challenges, appears to be trying to explain what happened. Innocence is being protested. Let us recall that it was Moore whose contact lens slipped, too.
85 mins: Reading change and on comes Rakel Honnundottir for Moore, the Icelandic player making her debut.
83 min: Another look at the penalty and it might have been an arm, or a thigh obstructing Van de Donk.
82 min: That looked a lucky penalty for Arsenal. Van de Donk fell over, but was it a foul or her losing her balance? They’ll take it, not least because Chelsea are now leading Birmingham.
Goal! Reading 0-2 Arsenal (Little, 80)
Calm as you like, Little steps up and scores low to her right.
Penalty to Arsenal!
Van de Donk turns in the box, and Jade Moore is ruled to have fouled. Had, though, the Dutch player instead tripped on the ball?
78 min: Mead’s long ball is flicked into the path of Miedema, who looked to be tripped but no foul. Mead then gets the ball down the wing, Kim Little looks favourite to score but Pacheco’s tackle stops a certain goal.
76 min: Van de Donk tries to get away in midfield, but loses the ball. Allen is booked for kicking the ball away after a foul is given.
75 min: Another Arsenal yellow card, with Beth Mead leaving some afters on Harding. There is an undercurrent bubbling under this match.
73 min: Arsenal’s need for a win is doubled as Manchester City have taken the lead already against Brighton.
72 min: The Reading bench looks unamused, faces as dark and gloomy as the skies above them. The word is that they are not happy with Arsenal’s persistent fouling.
70 min: Reading pushing on far more than Arsenal. Van Den Donk has barely had a sniff of the ball. It’s been a bitty game.
68 min: McCabe, another one on a booking, is penalised for a foul on Bruton, but no second yellow. She is, though, surely on sudden death now
66 min: Harding, on a yellow, clatters into Mead, goes straight through her, in fact. But that is ruled a fair challenge. In the men’s game, there might have been a bit more writhing from the victim.
65 min: Reading’s Jade Moore is down and the problem appears to be her contact lens. That’s a painful one, and not easy for the physio. Thankfully, the problem is sorted soon enough.
63 min: Another Arsenal free-kick on the left. Mead again takes, Bloodworth is free in the box but her header is poor when she had the freedom of Buckinghamshire to nod the second.
61 min: Mead’s corner comes in, and Louise Quinn comes forward to head over.
60 min: Veje is brought down by a scrabbling Natasha Harding. A yellow card, and deservedly so. McCabe takes the free-kick, but can’t beat the first defender. It’s a corner.
58 min: Chaplen tries another Reading shot from long range. That is either the limit of ambitions or the belief Peyraud-Magnin is weak from distance.
57 min: Arsenal’s great start to this half, just like the first, has faded fast, and they don’t have a goal to boast this time, either. Reading looking more likely? Their problem is the final ball.
55 min: Peyraud-Magnin looks winded but will be fine. Fara Williams takes a corner that Allen gets to but cannot keep down.
53 min: Pacheco is tripped and Reading have another free-kick. Potter takes and Williamson gets the ball clear. But Reading eventually get the ball back, and Fara Williams’ shot is headed goalwards until Peyraud-Magnin makes a fine, and brave, save. The goalie is down hurt after that.
52 min: Arsenal make a sub. On comes Danielle van de Donk for Kuyken, whose debut is at an end. That should increase Arsenal’s threat level.
49 min: Veje forces a corner. Mead takes it short and gets the return, and then pings the ball into the box. Moloney beats it away. Arsenal piling it on, colour-coded notes being adhered to, and Miedema is again the target for a pass into the area.
48 min: Another chance for Miedema, but the ball was just a little too high for her as she ends up heading the ball behind her. Then, Mitchell, from left-back, swings the ball in for Mitchell, and McCabe’s header is smothered.
47 min: Arsenal seek another quick start to the half but the ball is cleared by Reading’s defenders when Miedema was again the target.
46 min: We are back underway.
Miedema’s goal, her 16th of the season, is an all-time record for the WSL. And there are seven games to go. Prolific, as the Opta lads might say in their single-word conclusion to tweets.
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This is the top tune that has been belting out of the Adams Park PA for the entirety of the break.
Half-time reading. Both Chelsea men and women’s team play later. Here’s one for the men’s team on the strikers’ graveyard Stamford Bridge can be.
Half-time
After that early Arsenal goal, this has been an even contest, with Reading giving a couple of scares to the team looking to go back to the top. Aaron D’Antino delays his entry into the dressing room; he probably has plenty to say, and his colour coding has perhaps run in the fierce rain.
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45 min+3: Arsenal’s Bloodworth makes a sliding challenge on Bruton that might have resulted in a penalty. Bruton hurdled it, perhaps too honest for her own good.
45 min: Four minutes were added on at the end of the half, after a couple of injuries. There is time for Remi Allen to turn and hit a shot at goal that has Peyraud-Magnin scrabbling. That was as dangerous as Reading have been this half.
44 min: Arsenal play some delightful link-up play in midfield, before McCabe tries to find Miedema, before a desperate ball is cleared. On the bench, the Arsenal coach, and manager for the day, Aaron D’Antino, is piling on the notes, and is even changing the pen colour. That’s fastidious stuff.
43 min: Arsenal’s Williamson steps up from central defence, and tries a shot. It’s a little too high and wide to be worth her while.
41 min: Arsenal by far the more threatening team here, if Reading have had more of the ball. Mead, who has been a star on the flank, surges on from the right and has space to shoot on goal. Her attempt misses, skewing just wide.
39 min: Miedema again on the scene as there is panic in the Reading box. Moloney can only claw the ball to Kuyken, whose attempted lob is cleared. That was close to a debut goal for the 17-year-old, but she couldn’t get enough on it.
37 min: This time, Fara Williams’s kick is launched deep into the Arsenal box, but is cleared with ease. There were not enough bodies in the box, to go all Mick Channon in 1986.
36 min: Harding shapes for a Reading long throw, but again goes short. And another chance for a free-kick after McCabe is booked for what seems to be a case of totting-up.
35 min: It has to be said that the feared deluge has not arrived, in goal terms at least. Both defences have done well, aside from that early goal for Arsenal.
33 min: Remi Allen is clearly made of stern stuff. There seems to be no question of her not carrying on.
32 min: This looks nasty. Arsenal’s Little went for the ball and Remi Allen jumped over her, and took a very nasty landing. Looks like her neck could be the problem, which is a worry. Dazedly, she gets back up. And a thumbs up to the manager suggests she is OK.
30 min: Chaplen is fouled by Bruton. Chance for another free-kick, taken by Potter. The ball worms out to Molly Bartrip, whose shot is blocked. Arsenal were back in numbers.
28 min: Miedema limps off, but looks to be coming back on, though her right hip seems to be the problem.
27 min: Close for Arsenal! Little, out to Mead, and then a header from Miedema, which is well saved by Grace Moloney in the Reading goal. Bad news for Arsenal is that Miedema is receiving treatment.
26 min: A replay of that incident suggests Arsenal got a little lucky. The hail, which has now stopped, looked even more brutal in slo-mo.
24 min: Reading build from the back, and play it slow, but are not being helped by a wind that is clearly blasting into their faces. They do have a free-kick as Mitchell is booked for Arsenal. Fara Williams hits this into the wind, but decides to dink the ball in. Lauren Bruton was clattered into for what looked a possible penalty. Miedema cleaned her out completely. But, but got the ball. Just. Maybe.
21 min: Kuyken, the teenager, comes back to sweep up some Reading danger. The home team are being held at arm’s length. And the hail and rain keeps coming. It’s brutal.
18 min: Miedema takes up the ball and goes on a windy solo run; she had nobody in support. A backheel to close it reveals her lack of options and a bit of tiredness. Meanwhile, it is hailing, and the hailstones look as big as pebbles. Grim conditions perhaps the reason for a game that has not caught fire just yet.
16 min: Reading win a throw on the right flank. They line up for this one like a rugby line-up. Harding then launches it behind her, and the ball finds its way back to Peyraud-Magnin too easily.
15 min: Kelly Chambers is wrapped up warm, and her subs are sat under a blanket. It’s 5 degrees in Wycombe together and a little windy.
13 min: A foul on Little results in a quickly taken free-kick but Arsenal do look to be taking things slow, happy to retain the ball. Bartram has to come across to stop the ball getting to Miedema.
11 min: That was Miedema’s 23 goal in all competitions this season, and she is hunting more.
10 min: Reading’s build-up is somewhat slow, and Arsenal are defending with some comfort.
9 min: Reading, at last, have an attack and Brooke Chaplen was given a brief sight of goal before the ball was cleared.
8 min: Meade and Veje, who supplied Miedema for the goal, are finding far too much space on the flanks for Arsenal.
6 min: Miedema again looks to be causing problems, but Beth Meade’s pair of crosses are cleared, and hurriedly. Then Williamson is penalised for a foul.
4 min: That was exactly the opposite of the start Reading manager Kelly Chambers, who expressed her worries about her team before this game, didn’t want. Brings back memories of that 6-0.
Goal! Reading 0-1 Arsenal (Miedema, 2)
Miedema finds space in the box to collect a cross from the left, takes the ball down and scores with ease. That didn’t take long.
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1 min: Reading have lined up with a diamond formation, while Arsenal are playing 3-4-3. Looks like they fancy goals.
Kick-off: Adams Park, Wycombe, looks resplendent if not exactly full. The sound of Faithless’s Insomnia booms out. If I am not mistaken, Faithless are local heroes from the Thames Valley. Anyway, away we go.
Reading have lost not won a match since November, and lost 6-0 in the last WSL meeting between the teams.
The major team news for Arsenal is the absence of manager Joe Montemurro, who laid up in bed with the flu. Aaron D’Antino, also an Australian, will be masterminding matters from the dug-out.
Preamble
It is getting tight at the top. That 2-1 Chelsea win at Arsenal a couple of weeks ago removed all margin for error for today’s away team. They have played a game less than current leaders Manchester City but two recent defeats removed the advantage they once held. And Chelsea, who had previously given up on the title, are lurking with serious intent, and host Birmingham later this afternoon. Arsenal have to steady themselves before there is another fortnight off for the FA Cup.
Reading, in fifth place, but way off the battle for the title, welcome new signing Rakel Hönnudóttir to the squad, though the striker only begins today’s match on the bench. And here are the teams.
⚡️ Team News ⚡️
— Reading FC Women (@ReadingFCWomen) January 27, 2019
New Signing Rakel Hönnudóttir is named on the bench! pic.twitter.com/0byneCBy85
📝 The teams are in! Here’s how we line up against @ReadingFCWomen...
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 27, 2019
STARTING XI: Peyraud-Magnin; Williamson, Quinn, Mitchell; Bloodworth, McCabe, Little, Kuyken; Mead, Miedema, Veje
SUBS: van Veenendaal, van de Donk, Arnth, Grant, Filis, Dawbarn, Hazard#WeAreTheArsenal 🔴 pic.twitter.com/h3tiFuoDNj
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