Arsenal Women 3-1 Birmingham City Women: Five things learned as Gunners continue perfect start

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Arsenal Women’s perfect start to the Women’s Super League continued as they beat Birmingham City 3-1.

The Gunners took the lead just before the hour mark as Jordan Nobbs finally broke down a tough Birmingham defence. But it would last just a minute as the Blues scored almost instantly from the resulting kick-off though Emma Follis.

However, Danielle van de Donk restored Arsenal’s advantage from the penalty spot and Nobbs got her second, extending the Gunners’ WSL start to seven wins from seven.

Here are five things we learned from the exciting match at Meadow Park.

1. Arsenal get the better of the WSL’s stingiest defence

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? The unstoppable force comes out on top as Arsenal Women did with a 3-1 win over Birmingham City Women on Sunday afternoon.

Going into the game, Arsenal were the top scorers of the Women’s Super League having scored 31 goals in their opening six matches – never scoring fewer than four in a single game.

But Birmingham were always going to be a tough test, conceding just three goals so far in the WSL, the joint-best record in the division alongside the Gunners.

In their last game Birmingham showed their ability to frustrate defensively, keeping current WSL holders Chelsea at bay with a 0-0 draw, a game many had expected Emma Hayes’ side to win despite their poor start to the season.

Yet Birmingham caused exactly the same problems against Arsenal at Meadow Park, giving their opponents a lot of time on the ball without actually harming their defenders. Setting out with a 4-2-3-1 on paper, Birmingham became more compact when Arsenal were in attack with a flat five in midfield providing a shield in front of the defence.

And even though Birmingham did keep Arsenal level for the first hour of the match as well as equalising moments after Nobbs’ opener, the Gunners’ attacking quality ultimately shone through, exploiting the rare moments of weakness Birmingham showed in the second half.

2. Formations are just numbers on paper for Arsenal

Arsenal have been brilliant so far this season with their perfect start and this has, in part, been down to the adaptability of their squad when it comes to formations.

At the start of the match it was being reported that Arsenal would line up with a 3-3-3-1 formation of sorts, with Leah Williamson, Louise Quinn and Emma Mitchell forming the central defence. But this quickly switched to a 4-2-3-1 to combat Birmingham’s own formation with Lisa Evans slotting in as right back and Mitchell moving over to the left.

But when Arsenal needed to take control of the game as Birmingham’s defence proved too resolute in the first half, the Gunners switched back to the 3-3-3-1 seamlessly as Evans moved back to her starting position on the right of a second line of three.

And it proved effective as Arsenal finally took the lead after an hour with Jordan Nobbs capitalising on a rare defensive mistake from Birmingham. Even when the Gunners were pegged back almost immediately, they kept to their game plan and exploiting space left by Birmingham’s defenders to win a penalty which Danielle van de Donk converted.

The goal saw Arsenal drop back to a four-woman defence to prevent the counter from Birmingham while trying to add some more goals of their own which they achieved in injury-time.

3. The FIFA kick-off glitch is real

We thought it was just a coding error in the FIFA series, but the kick-off glitch exists and is very much alive in the Women’s Super League.

Arsenal took the lead after 59 minutes against Birmingham and looked to be stepping up their control of the game as a result, having kept five clean sheets in six games prior to Sunday’s match.

But Birmingham City had other ideas, attacking from their kick-off with a diagonal ball towards Follis who had got into space behind Emma Mitchell on the right, finishing well from a tight angle past Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.

A bane for many players of FIFA but Birmingham City showed just how true the cliché of teams being most vulnerable straight after scoring can be.

4. Arsenal’s new manager bounce carries over

The Arsenal men’s team are currently enjoying a good start to life under Unai Emery in the Premier League, currently on a nine-game unbeaten run in the division. But the women’s team are having an even better start to the new campaign, the first full-season under Joe Montemurro’s management.

Montemurro actually took charge of Arsenal Women in November last year, replacing Pedro Martinez Losa who had left shortly before. The Australian led the Gunners to the Continental Cup win over Manchester City Women and also saw them all the way to the Women’s FA Cup final, which they would lose 3-1 to Chelsea.

But, with a full pre-season under his belt in charge of the club, Montemurro has Arsenal on an entirely new level taking the Women’s Super League by storm.

Montemurro has a brilliant playing squad on his books with the likes of Nobbs, Vivianne Miedema and Van de Donk to call upon, but he also has them playing as an unstoppable team – something which looked more like a pipe dream last season.

5. Arsenal are going to get even better

The Gunners are already a scary side in the Women’s Super League, looking unstoppable even at their worst, as they were for periods against Birmingham City.

But things are only going to get better for Arsenal as they reach their full strength, with Tabea Kemme finally entering the fray.

Signed from Turbine Postdam in the summer, Kemme has been hailed as one of the most versatile players in the world making 140 appearances for the German club winning the Women’s Champions League and Frauen-Bundesliga.

Kemme has also won 41 caps for the German national team, but has not been able to make her Arsenal debut until Sunday due to a long-term knee injury.

But coming on as a late substitute, Kemme will be ready to help Arsenal dominate the WSL.

The post Arsenal Women 3-1 Birmingham City Women: Five things learned as Gunners continue perfect start appeared first on Squawka News.



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