What happened
Vivianne Miedema scored twice as we returned to winning ways in the WSL by beating Liverpool 3-2 in a closely-contested game on Thursday night.
We started brightly and almost took the lead inside the opening minute when Danielle van de Donk won back possession and teed up Jordan Nobbs, whose powerful effort from the edge of the box was saved well by Anke Preuss.
Against the run of play, the hosts took the lead when a long ball evaded our midfield before it fell into the path of Rinsola Babajide, who used her pace to shrug off Louise Quinn and slot low past Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.
With 15 minutes remaining of the first half we equalised when Nobbs found Miedema, who fired in off the underside of the crossbar.
We immediately went back on the offensive from kick off and were rewarded when Lisa Evans kept the ball alive on the touchline before crossing into the box, and Nobbs lost her marker to plant a bullet header into the back of the net.
On the stroke of half-time the Reds were level when Rachel Furness fired an unstoppable half-volley into the top corner.
Miedema created our first real chance of the second half when the ball broke to her inside the box, and she took a touch before seeing her curling effort thwarted by a fine reaction save from Preuss.
Liverpool’s defence was standing strong but we snatched the winner with 13 minutes remaining when Leonie Maier collected the ball on the wing and whipped an inviting cross into the box, and Miedema found space to head home from close range.
WHAT IT MEANS
WHAT'S NEXT
We next face Lewes at home in the Women’s FA Cup on Sunday, February 16 at 1pm (UK time).
By Sam Cox
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.
