Arsenal Suffer Another Blow: Arsenal 1 – 2 Chelsea
The 2024/25 season has not gone to plan for Arsenal, with the Gunners picking up just five points from their first four matches of the WSL. Having suffered a 5-2 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich in midweek, a tricky fixture with their rivals Chelsea followed.
With draws against Manchester City and Everton in their previous games, Arsenal went into the game needing to gain ground on last season’s WSL champions Chelsea. However, Chelsea inflicted further pain on their London counterparts. USWNT head coach and former Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, watched on from the stands as her former team plied more misery on her old adversary Jonas Eidevall.
It took just four minutes from Chelsea to capitalise from a corner, through an audacious backwards looping flick from Mayra Ramirez. Van Domselaar stood rooted to the ground as the ball flew into the top corner.
Baltimore makes it 2-0
Just 12 minutes later, Chelsea grabbed another. This time, Lauren James ripped through the Arsenal defence to put the ball on a plate for Baltimore to head into a hugely exposed net. At this stage, Gooners started to fear that Chelsea might run riot.
The shell shocked Arsenal team were able to gain composure to carve out some good chances, with a McCabe corner being guided wide by Williamson. Shortly before the half-time break, a moment of individual brilliance from Caitlin Foord pulled one back for Arsenal. Scoring from an almost impossible angle, Foord powered her shot in off the post.
Blackstenius was millimetres away from claiming an equaliser, hammering the ball against the underside of the crossbar. Ramirez proved to be a constant threat and when she was withdrawn due to an injury, you could almost hear the Arsenal defenders breathe a sigh of relief.
Arsenal go close to getting an equaliser
Arsenal searched in vain for an equaliser, with Hannah Hampton denying Russo late on. Despite a rallying second half display from Arsenal at the Emirates, Chelsea took the three points.
Even this early in the season, Arsenal’s title chances look slim. Chelsea’s form in recent seasons shows that you can’t afford to give them a lead in the table. Arsenal now sit five points behind them, having played one game more. Chelsea’s immaculate form of nine points from nine, puts them in second place behind Manchester City who have played one game more.
Arsenal fans have been growing increasingly frustrated with Jonas Eidevall, with rumours that a change of manager could be an option in an attempt to get their season back on track. This Arsenal team looks a shadow of the earlier glory days and Eidevall has failed to meet the expectations for a team of Arsenal’s calibre.