Match report: Arsenal Women 0-2 Chelsea

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WHAT HAPPENED

Our Vitality Women’s FA Cup journey came to an end on Sunday as we were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea in the semi-finals.

It was a disappointing afternoon with a place in the final at Wembley Stadium up for grabs, but our players fought til the end and will now focus on pushing for the Barclays FA Women’s Super League title.

The game got off to a lively start and we dominated the opening exchanges with a number of promising chances.

Beth Mead wreaked havoc on the left wing and came close to pulling the trigger after finding space in the area, only to be denied by an outstanding interception, before Stina Blackstenius failed to capitalise on a chance from close range.

Shortly after Vivianne Miedema fired narrowly over the bar from distance. Chelsea regained some control before the break pressing high up the pitch and trapping us in from goal kicks, but our defence stood strong to hold their shape and go in at he break level.

We had another golden chance shortly after the restart when Mead fired just wide following some outstanding close control inside the area, but in the next phase of play, the visitors opened the scoring and took the wind out of our sails.

Guro Reiten picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and pushed forward, before curling the ball across goal from the left and into the top right corner.

That goal seemed to dent our confidence and just 10 minutes later Chelsea doubled their advantage through Ji So-Yun, who fired into the top corner after we failed to clear our lines.

Jonas Eidevall went on to make a number of changes in an attempt to wrestle back control, but we were unable to find a way through Chelsea’s defence and spark a late comeback.