Manchester City Women vs Arsenal Women. Women's Super League.
City Football AcademyAttendance4,922.
Manchester City Women 3
- M Fowler (20th minute, 55th minute pen)
- V Miedema (50th minute)
Arsenal Women 4
- M Caldentey Oliver (1st minute)
- C Wubben-Moy (8th minute)
- F Maanum (51st minute)
- S Blackstenius (78th minute)
Man City Women 3-4 Arsenal Women: Stina Blackstenius' late goal seals thrilling WSL victory for Gunners
Match report and highlights as Arsenal moved up to second in the WSL after a dramatic 4-3 victory at Man City; Stina Blackstenius' 78th-minute goal secured all three points for the Gunners, who bounced back from defeat to Chelsea last weekend
Sunday 2 February 2025 18:21, UK
Stina Blackstenius' late goal saw Arsenal edge Manchester City 4-3 in a Women's Super League thriller.
In a rollercoaster of a game, Arsenal held on for all three points in a result that boosts their hopes of securing a top-three finish and a place in next season's Women's Champions League.
For City, defeat sees them drop out of the top three and it ends a turbulent week, during which Chloe Kelly completed a dramatic loan move to Arsenal before the transfer window closed.
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The Gunners made the perfect start to the game, racing into a two-goal lead inside eight minutes.
Mariona Caldentey opened the scoring after dispossessing Laia Aleixandri before Lotte Wubben-Moy punished yet more poor defending from City to head home Kyra Cooney-Cross' free kick.
After a disastrous start, Aoba Fujino was Man City's bright spark and she helped the home side get back in the game, crossing for Mary Fowler to pull a goal back before the break.
City were back on level terms straight after the interval, former Gunner Vivianne Miedema capitalising on some poor defensive work from Arsenal before firing past Daphne van Domselaar.
Parity lasted just a minute as Caldentey picked out Frida Maanum, and the Norwegian fired a low finish past Khiara Keating to restore the Gunners' lead.
The drama continued to come as City were fortunate to get back on level terms again. Arsenal defender Steph Catley was adjudged to have pulled down Fujino in the penalty area by referee Cheryl Foster, but replays suggested the infringement actually took place outside the box.
Fowler converted from the spot to level the game again but there was one final twist as Blackstenius converted Beth Mead's inch-perfect cross to seal a big win for Renee Slegers' side.
All the drama, all the goals...
'We needed a win after Chelsea defeat'
Arsenal midfielder Mariona Caldentey to Sky Sports:
"We needed a win today after what happened last week. We want to be on the top and to try and win every game.
"Sometimes it doesn't work but today we gave everything and I'm happy to score of course but that's about the team and I think we deserved it today."
'You can't give a team like Arsenal a head start'
Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor to Sky Sports:
"It was [close] but we make a poor start, to give away a simple action for us, a simple goal and we know when you come up against this team you don't need to give them a head start we did that.
"We showed good character finding a way back and I thought the margins were quite tight. Too many duels we lost against a team like them, physicality, we need to be better in that sense. That always gave us an issue."
On getting back to their best, he added: "I think the team need a bit of help, support and we are trying hard on the training ground to improve that every time but we bounce back - that's what we do. I think the life of a footballer is tough, not always winning every week, we've done that a lot and we need to try to get back to that, the more we try to get players back and we start to find our confidence again and we get that by supporting each other and working hard on the training pitch."
