Arsenal Women 2-0 London City Lionesses: FA Cup report by Layth Yousif at Meadow Park

A first half header by Laia Codina, and a late strike by Stina Blackstenius helped Arsenal ease past battling London City Lionesses to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.

In the week when Arsenal's hopes of a third consecutive League Cup victory were denied by Manchester City on Thursday night at the same venue, the Gunners ensured continued progression in this tournament.

No team has won more FA Cups than Arsenal's 14, but yet the North London giants hadn't lifted the trophy since 2015-16, beating Chelsea 1-0 in the final.

In a bid to attempt to rectify the situation this term, Slegers opted for Alessia Russo upfront after two games in which Stina Blackstenius led the line. Katie McCabe was pushed up onto the wing with debutant Jenna Nighswonger lining up at left-back next to teenager Katie Reid.

London City have genuine hopes of realising WSL football, and currently sit one point behind league leaders Birmingham City at the top of the Championship, with a game in hand.

In the previous round the visitors travelled to the west of the capital to beat lower league Fulham 5-0 in the fourth round, while Arsenal beat Bristol City by the same score.

It was instructive to note that Arsenal loanee Teyah Goldie started against her parent club for the Championship side, even if there was no place in their squad for fellow Gunner Freya Godfrey.

However, in their starting XI, the visitors boasted Sweden legend Kosovare Asllani and five-time Champions League winner Saki Kumagai - who won the 2011 World Cup with Japan.

In front of 2,483 fans at a bitterly cold Meadow Park it was Codina with an excellent header from the far post who finally broke the deadlock for the Gunners against their obdurate opponents, to put Slegers side 1-0 up in the 32nd minute.

Seven minutes later Asllani sent in an inviting cross into the box but Sofia Jakobsson couldn’t adjust to fire off a shot on target as the home side went into the break ahead.

Sixty seconds into the second half, Frida Maanum got in behind the visitors backline but her outside of the right foot shot was saved by Emily Orman.

On 51 minutes Katie McCabe fed Russo before the ball was sent over to Kyra Cooney-Cross, who drew a save from the busy Orman.

Despite the Gunners dominating it wasn’t until the 81st minute that the home side ensured victory, after Maanum’s shot was parried, prior to Blackstenius following up to make it 2-0, which was also her 50th goal for the club.

Here’s Laia Codina’s @ArsenalWFC goal shot by Suzy Lycett for the @GoonerFanzine here at Meadow Park @Boodlepim pic.twitter.com/fzFFD0h505

— Layth (@laythy29) February 9, 2025