On Sunday afternoon, Selhurst Park hosted the Women’s League Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea. The final saw a record breaking ticket sale, with over 20,000 tickets being sold. This was over double the amount of tickets sold for last years final which was 8,004, which saw Manchester City beat Chelsea by three goals to one.
History repeated itself again for The Blues yesterday, as they were beaten by Arsenal by three goals to one.
It was a promising start for The Blues as leading goal scorer, Sam Kerr, opened up the scoring in the second minute of the match. However, it wasn’t enough to take Chelsea to victory. The match would go onto see goals from Blackstenius and Little to take Arsenal over the line.
Sam Kerr struck the first blow in the second minute of the game. It came from a Reiten cross into the box down the left hand side, where Sam Kerr's header went off the crossbar and in.
However, Arsenal did not give up and with them dominating possession, an equaliser was coming. The equaliser came in the 16th minute from Blackstenius. She was left unmarked on the edge of the penalty spot, which allowed for her to burry it home.
Not even ten minutes later, Ingle brought down McCabe on the edge of the box. McCabe's quick feet were too much for Arsenal, providing them a chance to go into the lead. Kim Little took that just chance from the spot, and sent Berger to wrong way, sending Arsenal a goal in front.
Just on the stroke on half time, an own goal from Niamh Charles managed to secure the cup victory for Arsenal.
Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes was very disappointed with Chelsea’s performance, saying that it was one of Chelsea’s worst performances in a very long time. “We played a team that haven’t won a lot and it showed. They dominated on and off the ball and we’re much more psychical than us today as well.”
She continued to say, “Today should serve us as a reminder, you’re not too good to loose football matches.” She proceeded to express her anger stating that Arsenal dominated every blade of glass and that duel after duel was won by The Gunners.
On the other hand, Arsenal manager, Jonas Eidevall, was delighted with the ladies performance. “If you want to win things, you need to handle difficult moments, and we did that today.”
Eidevall went on to continue to say about how the dressing room was after the match. Arsenal women got a surprise from legend, Ian Wright. He stated that it was amazing to see the team morale in the dressing room and how much it meant for the players and staff.
The question now is, after winning the Women's League Cup, what else can Arsenal achieve? With the WSL back in action Wednesday night, and the Champions League returning soon, it is still all to play for.