BEING England’s most decorated women’s club of all time, you would think Arsenal would find competing in the league not that difficult, however it doesn’t seem to be the case for this season and it is only game week three.
Arsenal hosted Everton at Emirates Stadium and with their squad depth and talent, it was thought they would run riot over the Merseyside club but the game ended in a 0-0 draw, there was no goals in this fixture for the first time in 15 years.
After the game, it was registered that Arsenal had 21 shots in comparison to Everton’s 5 shots with a possession rate of 69% to 31%, plus many other stats in Arsenal’s favours. If going off the statistics, Arsenal should’ve hands down won the game.
Arsenal put in a lot of work over the summer – signing Barcelona star, Mariona Caldentey, young prodigy Rosa Kafaji and young goalkeeper Daphne Van Domselaar who is already shining between the sticks for the North London club. Yet the only real success they have got so is qualifying for the Champions League knock out stages,
Last season, Arsenal crashed out of the UEFA Champions League in the qualifying rounds and the season before that, Arsenal got eliminated at home in the Quarter-Finals by Wolfsburg.
In the opening game of the season, Arsenal drew to Manchester City, 2-2 with goals coming from Frida Maanum and Beth Mead. The following week, Arsenal had a narrow win away to Leicester City with the only goal of the game coming from again Frida Maanum.
Last season, Arsenal won at home against Manchester City 2-1 and won away to Leicester City, 6-2, so what has gone wrong?
Arsenal lost star forward, Vivianne Miedema and pacey winger Cloe Lacasse in the summer transfer window which some critics have argued cannot be replaced.
They have also had an injury crisis at the club, in the last two seasons losing, Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema, Leah Williamson, Kaylan Marckese Laura Wienroither and Teyah Goldie to ACL tears who have now all returned to play, Arsenal are just waiting for midfielder Victoria Pelova to make her return from the same injury.
For the past two seasons, Arsenal Women have only won the Continental Cup, beating Chelsea both times in the final – now renamed the Women’s League Cup.
Since being reformed as the Women’s Super League, the club has only won the WSL title once in 2018/19 and have been seeming to fall short ever since.
In regards to the FA Cup, Arsenal have won the competition more than any other club, last winning the cup in 2016 and in the last two seasons, the team have exited the competition in the fifth round.
Arsenal next face Chelsea at home in the Emirates Stadium – their London rivals have been in immense form, winning 1-0 against a very strong Aston Villa side and then putting seven past newly promoted Crystal Palace.
Arsenal sit in sixth in the table, with the likes of Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion sitting above them, if Arsenal register that win against Chelsea they have a chance to jump back up that table and potentially get themselves back on track in the league.
