Live Blog: Arsenal Women travel to Manchester City in WSL showdown
Arsenal can hinder City's title hopes with a win over the league leaders
Live BLog Sunday May 5th
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Stina Blackstenius has come off the bench to score a dramatic late brace to win the game for Arsenal! The Gunners take second place off Chelsea at least until the evening, and dent Man City’s title hopes!
FULL TIME: Man City 1-2 Arsenal!
90+6' Fowler destroys Arsenal's left side but can't get a shot away- Zinsberger claims. 1-2
90+5' Fantastic block by Codina to deny Kelly on the edge of the box. 1-2
90+3' GOOOOAAAALLL! Stina Blackstenius might have just won it for Arsenal! Incredible drama. Chelsea will be absolutely ecstatic! 1-2
90+1' Nine added minutes. 1-1
89' Goal!!!!! Corner for Arsenal thanks to Russo's tenacity, City fail to clear and Blackstenius hooks the ball past Keating for another late goal against Man City. 1-1
87' A change for City as Kennedy comes on for Casparij. 1-0
85' Mead's cross/shot flashes wide of the far post. 1-0
82' Final Arsenal change as McCabe goes off for Wienroither. 1-0
81' Both sides take a drinks break whilst Russo receives treatment. 1-0
78' Fantastic tackle on Foord to stop her getting a shot away after she combined well with Blackstenius. The Arsenal subs have made things happen. 1-0
76' Excellent free-kick that requires two Man City heads to clear for a corner. Mead's left-footed cross is straight into Keating's hands. 1-0
75' Yellow card for Ouahabi after she fouls Mead. 1-0
73' Blackstenius tries a half-volley from a narrow angle and it flies over the bar. 1-0
69' Zinsberger gives the ball away inside her own box but ultimately her blushes are spared as Angeldahl's tame shot is blocked. 1-0
65' Good chance for Mead but she fires straight at Keating. Game starting to open up a bit more now. 1-0
63' Cooney-Cross, Fox and Lacasse are replaced by Blackstenius, Catley and Foord. 1-0
62' Lacasse makes a clever run behind and picks up the ball from Russo, but it was obviously not smart enough as the flag is raised. 1-0
57' Arsenal look to break but Russo is cynically stopped by Casparij. City make a change as Coombs is replaced by Angeldahl. 1-0
54' Mead wins the ball back in the box and crosses for Russo, but nothing comes of the move. 1-0
51' Lacasse is yellow carded after fouling Casparij. 1-0
48' Good save by Zinsberger, using her legs to deny Fowler after Arsenal failed to clear two Jess Park efforts. 1-0
47' What a chance for Laia Codina. The ball drops kindly for her in the box but the defender can only fire wide. 1-0
46' The second half is underway. 1-0
Back come the teams after half time.
Kim Little is ready to come on after warming up.
Lauren Hemp with the only goal in quite a one-sided first half that City have dominated. Arsenal have been restricted in attack but can build in the second half. being only a goal down.
Half time: Man City 1-0 Arsenal.
45+2' Headed away. 1-0
45+1' Good cross by Mead wins Arsenal a corner... 1-0
45+1' Two added minutes. 1-0
44' Arsenal build patiently but Mead's cross can only find Kheating. Russo got into two good positions but wasted the opportunity to go for goal. 1-0
41' Russo gets a part of her head to Lacasse's flighted cross but it only skims away from goal. 1-0
38' Should have been a second for the home side- Kelly's shot doesn't have the power to beat Zinsberger after Park slid the ball into her path. 1-0
37' Correction- it was Laura Coombs in the book for the tackle on McCabe. The City fans cheers seemed to suggest that they presumed McCabe had been carded. 1-0
36' Katie McCabe is booked, can only be for complaining to the ref because Arsenal won the free-kick. 1-0
34' Good defending by Williamson after Coombs was played over the top by a brilliant long ball. 1-0
31' Kelly has the ball in the back of the Arsenal net a few seconds after the offside flag was raised. 1-0
29' Lacasse breaks forward down the left but only had Russo ahead of her and lost possession. Arsenal are really up against it here. 1-0
26' Pelova slides through Mead but the offside flag is raised. 1-0
23' A breathless first quarter of the game sees Arsenal fall behind, and City's relentless pressure has put the Gunners up against it. 0-0
20' Kelly gets in behind but Codina and McCabe do well to snuff out the danger. 1-0
18' Goal! Lauren Hemp finds space in the box to turn and quickly get a shot away and she buries the ball into the far corner. 1-0
16' In the 14th minute, both sets of fans joined in applause in memory of young Arsenal supporter Daniel Anjorim. RIP. 0-0
13' Arsenal come forward and Maanum springs in behind before her shot is beaten away by Keating. 0-0
11' Maanum fouls Park on the right side and City have a free-kick. Fox half heads it away before blocking the resulting shot from Park. 0-0
8' Both City wingers have caused problems for Arsenal's full-backs, who at one point swapped sides. 0-0
5' First chance of the game for City, who build down the left and Ouahabi is in the box to shoot wide. 0-0
4' Russo does well to win an early corner for Arsenal. McCabe's delivery is headed away. 0-0
2' Hemp's first cross of likely many is claimed by Zinsberger. Chloe Kelly starts upfront for City with Fowler on the right wing and Hemp on the left. 0-0
1' Underway at the Joie Stadium! 0-0
Katie McCabe is leading Arsenal's pre-match huddle. Leah Williamson wears the captain's armband and meets England teammate Alex Greenwood for the coin toss.
City are in sky blue and white, with Arsenal in red and white. The Gunners will kick towards their away fans in the second half by the looks of it.
A brilliant pre-match atmosphere with City doing all they can to whip up the crowd and get everyone excited.
Here come the teams!
The teams are in the tunnel!
McCabe has had her battles with Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp, and various referees in previous meetings between these two sides, so we can only wonder what kind of havoc she might cook up from left-back today!
Big boos for Katie McCabe from the home fans as her name is announced over the tannoy.
If Manchester City beat Arsenal and Chelsea lose to already-relegated Bristol City, Gareth Taylor's side will be crowned champions. In other words, an Arsenal win will do Emma Hayes a massive favour!
Both sides are back down the tunnel after their warm-ups.
City beat their namesake (if that works) Bristol 4-0 last weekend at Ashton Gate, whilst Arsenal drew 1-1 away at Everton in a below-par display.
Arsenal beat City 2-1 at Meadow Park back in November, with Stina Blackstenius capitalising on a Khiara Keating error to score the winning goal.
Crucially, City are without the WSL top goalscorer Bunny Shaw, who is out for the rest of the season with a foot injury having scored 21 goals in 2023/24.
Four former Arsenal players in the Man City squad: Laura Coombs, Chloe Kelly, Steph Houghton and Ruby Mace.
Arsenal go into the game two points behind second-place Chelsea, who play Bristol City in the evening kick-off.
It's a lovely sunny day in Manchester but a little chillier in the shade of the press box. The fans are enjoying the warmer weather with a fun atmosphere building.
It's a lovely sunny day in Manchester but a little chillier in the shade of the press box. The fans are enjoying the warmer weather with a fun atmosphere building.
Arsenal are also warming up in front of their loyal travelling fans. A Battle of the Bands will be our matchday entertainment...
Steph Houghton leads Man City to warm up in her final game at the Joie Stadium before retiring at the end of the season.
The reason behind some of these updates seemingly being posted twice is that the WiFi here is not particularly fast...
Lotte Wubben-Moy is again not included in Arsenal's squad. Kyra Cooney-Cross, Laia Codina and Cloe Lacasse replace Kim Little, Steph Catley and Foord.
Lotte Wubben-Moy is again not included in Arsenal's squad. Kyra Cooney-Cross, Laia Codina and Cloe Lacasse replace Kim Little, Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord.
Man City subs: Startup, Stokes, Houghton, Angeldahl, Morgan, Pritchard, Blindkilde Brown, Mace, Kennedy.
Man City subs: Startup, Stokes, Houghton, Angeldahl, Morgan, Pritchard, Blindkilde Brown, Mace, Kennedy.
Arsenal subs: D'Angelo, Catley, Little, Foord, Blackstenius, Wienroither, Goldie, Agyemang, Reid.
Man City: Keating, Aleixandri, Greenwood, Coombs, Fowler, Kelly, Hemp, Ouahabi, Park, Casparij, Hasegawa.
Michelle Agyemang has been registered by Arsenal and is on the bench.
Arsenal: Zinsberger; McCabe, Codina, Williamson, Fox; Pelova, Cooney-Cross; Foord, Maanum, Mead; Russo.
The Arsenal away end is already filling up!
Both sides have arrived and we fill find out who starts in ten minutes time.
Good afternoon and welcome to the Joie Stadium! It's Manchester City against Arsenal in the Women's Super League, and Freddie Cardy will take you through all the action from the blue side of Manchester.