Aston Villa 0-4 Arsenal

villa – Hampton, Pacheco, Asante, Sargeant, mcloughlin, N’dow, Arthur, Petzelberger, Allen (C), Boye-Hlorkah (Hayles 58 mins), Lehmann (Davison 80 mins)

A tough test for Carla Ward’s team with Arsenal coming to visit and on a ground that isn’t a normal home ground as the game was on a big pitch that was Villa Park which i think showed in the end. A defensively display by Villa not shown by the final score but on the play of the game not a surprising one.

A first half that saw Villa’s tactics of contain and break showed to be working well by the half time whistle with the score at 0-0. Villa were looking like they could get the first goal when Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah’s effort looped towards goal on the 15th minute but the Arsenal keeper was equal to it. It was Arsenal that maintained the ball well and looked to push the opening goal. Between Hannah Hampton, Elisha N’Dow, Anita Asante and Meaghan Sargeant was some last ditch defending and hard work to stop Arsenal scoring.

Hannah Hampton was in the thick of the action throughout the first half ethier stopping, parrying or running of her line to stop the Arsenal attack. Alisha Lehmann and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah were trying to turn defence into attack to relieve the pressure with Chloe Arthur and Ramona Petzelberger both working extremely hard in the middle as well. The half time whistle went with the score at 0-0 but you did wonder how long we could withstand the pressure from Arsenal.

The second half took the same route as the first half but Arsenal got their account open 5 minutes into the second half. A very well taken goal by Kim Little as she turned and picked out the corner as Hannah Hampton had no chance as it went in off the post to give the visitors a 0-1 lead. Villa were trying to create something but in honest spent alot of the second half trying to get forward and stop the Arsenal pressure with some great defending.

Villa managed to keep the score at 0-1 with Hannah Hampton being called into action alot until Arsenal made their changes with the likes of Mana Iwabuchi, Tobin Heath, Etc. Ramona Petzelberger was working so hard to break up the play fighting for the ball and being fouled to get her off the ball. It led to a free kick by Maz Pacheco but the free kick was over the bar. On the 80th minute Arsenal’s pressure told as the Tobin Heath picked out Mana Iwabuchi who’s deft touch found the far corner to give Arsenal a 0-2 lead.

I think the big pitch came into account as well as the substitutes as Villa seemed to tire when Arsenal only got strong in the final minutes of the game. A mistake by Hannah Hampton saw the ball fall to Katie McCabe who surely be in running for goal of the season as she scooped the ball into the open net from a distance to make it 0-3 on the 83rd minute. And Arsenal rounded off the game in injury time with a second goal by Kim Little to see the game end 0-4 to Arsenal.

The reality is that we are improving all the time and will only grow and become a better team but Arsenal are still a class apart. You only have to look at their bench and the changes they could make and didn’t even bring on Jordan Nobbs who for me was a massive part of becoming a women’s football fan. Arsenal have been free scoring and won 9 games in a row so for 80 minutes to hold them was an incredible feat but I do believe the big Villa Park pitch and the Arsenal pressure tired out the Villa players in the final minutes.

I’ve seen people say we didn’t deserve to lose by the amount we did and in a way that is correct but stats don’t lie and Arsenal deserved the win but we will grow, learn and be back on Sunday when we travel to play Reading away at the Madejeski Stadium with a 2pm kick off. We still remain unbeaten on the road and hope to keep that up and bring 3 points back with us.

Great to team up with those at UTV Podcast again as you can see my players ratings on the link below –

https://utvpodcast.co.uk/2021/10/02/wsl-player-ratings-aston-villa-0-4-arsenal/

UP THE VILLA!!

All photos are from @AVWFCOfficial