Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City: How it happened

WHAT HAPPENED

We kept our hopes of reaching the Champions League alive by beating Manchester City 2-1 at Meadow Park on Saturday. 

After battling from behind in the final home game of Alex Scott’s glittering career, Beth Mead scored the winner to move us within one point of Nick Cushing’s side with just two games to play.

Despite a positive start which saw Jordan Nobbs test Karen Bardsley into an early save, the visitors took the lead when Nadia Nadim slotted a low strike past Sari van Veenendaal.

We had plenty of opportunities to equalise before half-time. First Nobbs fired over from 20 yards following a good run by Louise Quinn, before Kim Little tested City’s keeper once more. 

But after the break we made our pressure count. Nobbs was once again at the heart of things as she carried into the box to tee up Danielle van de Donk, who curled an unstoppable strike into the bottom corner. 

We were in the ascendancy and we turned the game on its head just 10 minutes later when Little broke forward and found Beth Mead with an inch-perfect through ball, and our striker fired a first-time shot into the far corner.

Van de Donk and Vivianne Miedema then squandered opportunities to extend our lead, before Isobel Christiansen headed a clear-cut chance over from six yards.

With just one minute of added time to play, Scott was introduced for her final Meadow Park appearance to a standing ovation and helped us secure an important three points in the race for Champions League qualification.

WHAT IT MEANS

WHAT’S NEXT

We have a big week ahead of us as we prepare for Wednesday’s match against Sunderland before our final game of the season, away to Bristol City on Sunday.