We made it six wins in a row in all competitions with a confident 3-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Barclays Women's Super League at Broadfield Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Stina Blackstenius, back in the starting line-up, opened the scoring 12 minutes into the first half before Caitlin Foord made sure of the three points with a fantastic finish from distance in the 81st minute. Frida Maanum added our third in the fifth minute of added time.
What happened
We looked lively right from the off, Blackstenius having a shot blocked and Lotte Wubben-Moy heading wide from the following corner.
In the 12th minute, Katie McCabe's cross was cleared, but only as far as Blackstenius who actually had time and space to fluff her initial effort before swivelling and having another go, shooting into the top left for 1-0.
Wubben-Moy, who looked cool and composed at the back alongside Amanda Ilestedt throughout the first half, again headed wide at the other end from a Beth Mead corner.
Brighton had their first shot of the game in the 27th minute, when Vicky Losada shot high and wide from long distance. Julia Zigiotti was next to slice the ball far wide for the Seagulls.
There was more danger from the home side on the brink of half-time as Elisabeth Terland got the wrong side of Wubben-Moy before shooting straight at Manuela Zinsberger from a narrow angle.
Zigiotti then had a cross caught by our number one, before Losada's corner was headed by Zigiotti and Zinsberger got down to her left to make a save that kept us 1-0 up going into the half-time break.
Brighton began the second half the brightest, Maria Thorisdottir finding Charlize Rule who had a sight of goal, but remarkably it was Alessia Russo who was our saviour from a defensive point of view, making a great tackle to concede a corner, which was subsequently headed over by Guro Bergsvand.
With just over half an hour remaining, we had our first effort of the second half, Kyra Cooney-Cross finding Victoria Pelova, who struck over the bar from distance.
We came agonisingly close to doubling our lead as Wubben-Moy played a fantastic ball over the top for Blackstenius to run onto. She turned back onto her right foot and teed up Mead, whose shot just evaded the top right corner.
Jonas Eidevall then made a triple change, replacing McCabe, Mead and Blackstenius with Steph Catley, Cloe Lacasse and Maanum respectively.
While the scoreline remained precarious, we were the side that looked most like getting the next goal of the game, Foord having a shot deflected just past the near post following tidy build-up between Catley and Russo.
Pelova then drifted into the penalty area and crossed for Maanum, who couldn't quite stretch enough to make any contact. Cooney-Cross, who had showed class on the ball throughout the game, was then replaced by Lia Walti.
With nine minutes to go, we got the second goal our performance deserved. Brighton gave the ball away to Foord, who took time to drive forward and pick out the bottom left corner from distance.
Kathrine Kuhl came on for Pelova in the 86th minute in our final change of the match, before Maanum curled the ball just wide of the top right corner.
Poppy Pattinson's corner came out to Katie Robinson, who volleyed over the bar, as Brighton searched for a late glimmer of hope. We stayed strong though, holding on for our first clean sheet in the league this season.
In the 95th minute, we finished the game in style, Russo crossing for Kuhl, who set the ball up for Maanum to pick out the bottom right corner precisely.
What's next
We travel to St. Mary's Stadium to face Southampton in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Thursday night, before returning to WSL action against West Ham United at Meadow Park on Sunday.
Team news
Arsenal starting XI: Zinsberger (GK), McCabe (C) (Catley 64), Wubben-Moy, Ilestedt, Maritz, Cooney-Cross (Walti 80), Pelova (Kuhl 86), Russo, Foord, Mead (Lacasse 64), Blackstenius (Maanum 65)
Subs: Williams (GK), Walti, Hurtig, Codina
Brighton starting XI: Baggaley, Thorisdottir, Bergsvand, Losada (Symonds 64), Bremer (Lee 64), Zigiotti, Terland (Pinto 72), Carabali, Li Mengwen (Rule 46), Kullberg (Pattinson 84), Robinson.
Subs: Evrard, Sarri, Hawkesby, Startup.
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