A moment of brilliance from Jordan Nobbs was enough for us to claim all three points in a 1-0 win at Manchester City.
The hosts had not lost in 17 home games - last tasting defeat on April 26, 2015 in a 1-0 reverse to us.
We were unfortunate not to take the lead early on, when Danielle van de Donk had rounded Marie Hourihan, only to see Megan Campbell clear her goalbound strike off the line.
The goal did eventually come, and in stunning fashion too, as Nobbs thumped home a free-kick which was perfectly placed into the top-right corner.
SETTING THE SCENE
Losa once again opted to continue with Anna Patten and Lotte Wubben-Moy in central defence, with Alex Scott and Dominique Janssen playing as full-backs.
Sari van Veenendaal returned to the team, while Nobbs and Leah Williamson once again lined up together in midfield.
Beth Mead was given another opportunity to start in attack.
She was supported by Danielle Carter, Van de Donk and Heather O’Reilly.
FIRST HALF
We were forced to withstand some early pressure, with Steph Houghton’s header from a corner cleared off the line.
Van de Donk then rounded Hourihan only for Campbell to clear, as the pattern of the game began to shift.
We went close again when Mead got in behind, but she fluffed her lines in a one-on-one and failed to test Hourihan.
She responded strongly though, forcing a save out of the City goalkeeper just moments later as we headed in at the break with the game goalless.
SECOND HALF
Neither side made any changes at the break, with the game increasingly seeming to swing in our favour.
Despite a slip from Patten, Toni Duggan could only find the side-netting and moments later, Jill Scott sent a free header straight into the arms of Van Veenendaal.
With 15 minutes left on the clock Nobbs smashed a free-kick beyond the reach of Hourihan to threaten to end the hosts’ proud home record.
There was to be one final change for the Citizens, but after excellent work from Scott, Duggan wasted the opportunity with a tame effort.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
