Match report: Arsenal Women 2-0 Brighton

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WHAT HAPPENED

Jordan Nobbs scored twice as we secured a sixth consecutive Barclays FA Women’s Super League victory by beating Brighton & Hove Albion.

Our vice-captain delivered an impressive performance on the left wing, scoring twice, and there was further positive news on the bench, with Steph Catley returning to our matchday squad for the first time since September.

Heading into this fixture full of confidence, we started strong at Meadow Park and carved out two openings for Vivianne Miedema, who was unable to convert from the edge of the area.

We targeted the left side of Brighton’s defence all afternoon and with just 27 minutes on the clock, we grabbed our reward as Danielle van de Donk broke free down the wing and crossed for Nobbs, who fired home with a first-time volley from just inside the box.

An organised and well-drilled defensive unit, Brighton continued to sit deep in their own half and frustrated us for the remainder of the opening 45 minutes, maintaining their shape and failing to get sucked into our patient build-up play.

But following the restart, we had a golden opportunity to double our advantage when Miedema raced through on goal. Our No 11 searched for the bottom corner, but she dragged her driven effort behind for a goal kick.

There was a moment when it looked like we’d pay for squandering so many of our chances, as Manuela Zinsberger was caught outside of her box and invited a long-range effort, but it thankfully drifted just wide of the far post.

By this stage, Brighton had pushed further up the pitch in an attempt to salvage a late equaliser, but this created space for us to attack in behind, and Nobbs went on to take full advantage, applying the finishing touch to a sweeping counter-attack.

Our defence stood strong for the remaining 15 minutes too, extending our impressive clean sheet run across all competitions to over 630 minutes.