Arsenal make no sense – and defiant Mary Earps proves why
Alone in an empty penalty box, Mary Earps dropped to her knees and yelled into the cold night air. With an eight-save, player-of-the-match display, the ‘Queen of Stops’ properly marked her return from exile and the Women’s Super League with an outstanding performance between the posts for the London City Lionesses in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal, a reminder to anyone who needed it that the former England No 1 is not done yet.
“Tiring,” Earps exhaled when asked to sum up a night where she did it all, including a sensational late stop to tip Frida Maanum’s dipping strike onto the bar and earn her side a point. There was agility, presence, bravery, but how about the timing, as well, to produce such a performance in front of the biggest crowd of the season at the Emirates and keep the disrupters London City above Arsenal in the race for the Champions League positions. In front of Sarina Wiegman, too.
But Earps and London City also managed to ensure that Arsenal’s miserable wait without a home win this season continued, with five successive draws at the Emirates to begin their campaign. It will be little consolation to Renee Slegers that her side showed more intent and direction that in their previous draws against Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Birmingham City and Aston Villa this season: this was billed as a must-win for Arsenal and the sight of the goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez going forward for a corner in the final seconds of stoppage time, at 1-1, revealed as much.
That Arsenal’s corner failed to even reach the box, with Smilla Holmberg’s outswinging delivery instead drifting out of play, summed up how perplexing their season has become. A team who started the season with title aspirations, to go along with the club’s wider ambitions, are left sitting sixth in the WSL after 10 games, 12 points off leaders Chelsea and six points off London City, the holders of the final Champions League place. Arsenal are simultaneously a team capable of going to Barcelona and the Camp Nou on Wednesday and drawing 1-1, while also failing to register a victory in front of the biggest women’s football crowd in the country in the last six months.
In a way, London City were the sort of opponents Arsenal should have enjoyed facing. The plucky upstarts, with the billionaire owner and Ballon d’Or holder in midfield, are expansive in possession and have interesting ideas about what to do on the ball. They arrived at the Emirates with a plan and ambition to do more than just nullify their opponents and it was a measure of their ability to dictate that Arsenal, at times, did not even attempt to press. London City had more possession and more passes, which for Arsenal at least allowed them to break out of the sterile, side-to-side patterns of play that had defined their previous stalemates here.
And there was a reminder, too, that Arsenal can be dangerous when they are presented with space, to attack in a way where they can move up the pitch and have a shot within seconds. Earps was kept busy, after all, and a lot of Arsenal managed to find made sense, at last: using Alessia Russo’s ability to work the channels and her awareness to bring others into play, looking to release Lisa Baum on the right and instructing her to be direct when she had a clear line to goal.
Maanum’s goal, after just 10 minutes, was an example of that. Emily Fox was invited to drive forwards and was directed to find Russo’s bending run off the shoulder of the last defender. There was a synchronisation to the way Russo didn’t even need to look up to know that Maanum would be arriving on the edge of the box, if she could find the right angle on the pull-back. There was a sense to Slegers leaving Olivia Smith and many of her summer signings on the bench and trusting the understanding between players like Russo and Maanum.
But then Arsenal this season have usually displayed a way of shooting themselves in the foot, too. As Maanum celebrated and her team-mates huddled around her, Leah Williamson was pointing to her head and telling them they still needed to stay switched on. Yet within 98 seconds London City were level due to a moment, a glitch in the system. It came from Williamson, failing to match Izzy Goodwin’s run, stepping in at the wrong time in the box. The England captain was horribly bypassed by a centre-forward who offered a sharp contrast by simply being in total control of what she was doing.
The frustration from Arsenal is their errors keep piling on top of each other, the scrutiny too. It is now just three wins from 10 in the WSL. Earps, in her defiance, sensed her opportunity to ensure there would be no respite.
