A double from Vivianne Miedema took her tally to 53 goals for the calendar year but Arsenal’s victory against Everton was marred by injury to Beth Mead.
Miedema scored either side of Kim Little’s penalty to ensure Arsenal lead the Women’s Super League table into the new year. A late goal from former Gunner Chloe Kelly was not enough to trouble the visitors but hinted at the resurgence taking place under Willie Kirk.
“Arsenal have got so much quality, when you go a goal behind they’re a tough team to play against because they retain the ball so well,” said Kirk. “We showed a bit of character in the second half. If you go three goals down against Arsenal, if you’re not careful it can quickly become four, five, six. I thought we dug in and tried to claw our way back into the game.”
It is one year since Kirk, having spent six months as Casey Stoney’s assistant manager, made the move from Manchester United to Everton and the team’s turnaround has been impressive. Having picked up just three wins in the league last season, Everton already have five this term with nine games played.
Kirk was rewarded for his side’s wins against Liverpool at Anfield and Tottenham with the manager of the month award for November.
“Over the nine games we’re pretty happy where we are,” continued Kirk. “It’s a lot better than last season. But we won’t stop there, we’ll continue to improve this group. It’s a young group, we’ll strengthen in January and we’ll come back and be ready to have a really positive second half of the season. Arsenal are a team that we’re striving to be as good as.”
For the visit of the champions he put three at the back, hoping to halt the swagger of a side who have scored 23 goals in their last three games. The strategy failed, with the team pushed back into a back five. Despite some early pressure from the Blues, the Gunners eased into their flow.
Chelsea slipped to third in the Women’s Super League after Liverpool held them to a draw for what was the Merseysiders’ third point of the season.
Niamh Charles scored early for Liverpool but Beth England grabbed her sixth league goal to preserve Chelsea’s unbeaten record. They now sit a point behind Manchester City and four points behind Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand over both their title rivals.
Manchester City overcame their disappointing defeat at Chelsea with a five-goal thumping of Brighton. Captain Steph Houghton scored from a free-kick inside the box in the third minute before Ellen White, Lauren Hemp, Georgia Stanway and Pauline Bremer also struck.
Reading came from behind against Tottenham to earn three points that saw them leapfrog their opponents into sixth. Siri Worm had given the visiting side a 52nd-minute lead but Reading scored twice in 11 minutes to turn things around and Amalie Eikeland added a third.
Bristol City’s game against West Ham and the visit of Manchester United to Birmingham were postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Suzanne Wrack
It took 14 minutes for them to break through. A cross from Little on the far right was inch-perfect on to the head of Miedema who turned it powerfully through the hands of Tinja-Riikka Korpela. The pressure did not stop. Wave after wave of Arsenal attack pushed at the Everton defence.
Last October, despite a win, Jordan Nobbs ruptured her ACL and the Gunners left the north-west with their heads bowed. Just past the half-hour mark, injury struck again. The England forward Mead collapsed to the ground after a tackle by Gabby George and screams reminiscent of Nobbs’s echoed up the stand as physios rushed to hold Mead’s gashed lower leg.
With the forward carried off, and eight minutes added on, Arsenal’s momentum was lost. Everton, though, could not capitalise.
In the second half, with news that the injury may not be as bad as first thought, Arsenal regrouped and Daniëlle van de Donk, who stood over the injured Mead while she clutched her face, forced a fine save from Korpela after cutting on to her right foot and firing low.
Four minutes later they doubled their lead. Kelly tripped Little in the box and the Arsenal captain stepped up to slot home confidently from the spot.
Miedema added a third, scoring in her sixth consecutive league game to equal Little’s club record, when she met a low cross, which crept under Korpela, from Leonie Maier at the far post.
With 12 minutes left, Kelly pounced on a loose ball and drilled it past Manuela Zinsberger to reduce the deficit – her fifth goal in eight league games.
“It was very positive,” said Aaron D’Antino, who with fellow coach Leanne Hall is standing in for Joe Montemurro who has retuned to Australia for personal reasons.
“I’m just proud of the fact that nothing’s changed, we did the business as usual, got a result midweek and today. Top of the table at Christmas, that was what we wanted and we got it.”
