Post-Match Report

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal: How it happened

Arsenal Women at Sunderland

Sunderland -

Mariners Park
Barclays Women's Super League
Barclays Women's Super League
  Sunderland
   crest
Sunderland
0 - 2
  Arsenal Women
      
                  Little (10)
                   Mead (31)
            
   crest
Arsenal Women
Little (10)
Mead (31)

WHAT HAPPENED

We beat Sunderland on Wednesday evening to keep our hopes of Champions League football alive until the final day of the season. 

First-half strikes from Kim Little and Beth Mead were enough to see off the Black Cats, as we kept pace with Manchester City in the race for European competition. 

Sunderland started the brighter side but after failing to beat Anna Moorhouse from a tight angle, we hit back clinically. Little collected a loose ball and fired a deflected shot past Rachel Laws to give us the lead.

Moorhouse was then forced into a routine stop by Mollie Lambert before Katie McCabe found Mead with a low cross and the former Sunderland striker made no mistake from close range to double our advantage. 

We continued to look for a third after the break and after Danielle Carter’s shot was blocked by Bridget Galloway, Danielle van de Donk’s strike was held by Laws.

There was enough time left for Shannon Cooke to be handed a first-team debut as we held onto our clean sheet to ensure the battle for second place would go until the final day of the season.

WHAT IT MEANS

Women's Super League table

WHAT’S NEXT

Our final game of the season sees us travel to seventh-placed Bristol City on Sunday, with the game kicking off at 12.30pm.

Manchester City, meanwhile, host eighth-placed Everton at the same time. If City slip up, we just need to make sure we better their result to qualify for European football.