We remain unbeaten in the Champions League as we saw off Italian champions Juventus at Emirates Stadium on a brisk Wednesday night.
Vivianne Miedema's third goal in as many games gave us our advantage, but it was our defensive composure that brought home the three points home after Juventus piled on the pressure in the second half.
What happened
Despite an early chance from Juventus that warranted an instinctive save from Manuela Zinsberger, we kicked off proceedings comfortably.
Steph Catley came close with a cross-turned-shot after Vivianne Miedema weaved her way through Juventus traffic with ease to find the Australian in space. Shortly after, Stina Blackstenius put the ball in the net after a beautifully-worked team move but the flag was up for offside.
A visionary pass from Laura Wienroither found Caitlin Foord’s surging run but goalkeeper Peyraud-Magnin came out just in time to clear.
We broke the deadlock after fifteen minutes through a wonderful dinked pass from Leah Williamson to unlock Blackstenius down the right wing. Her cross into the box was met by Miedema, whose one-touch strike blasted past Peyraud-Magnin to make it 1-0.
Our Gunners saw out the half with composure, whilst looking incredibly dangerous on the counter through a series of incisive passes through the lines.
Wienroither continued to be a good match for Lineth Beerensteyn down the wing and her timely tackles kept the Dutch attacker at bay.
Rafaelle Souza made her official return from injury after the hour mark, coming on for fellow centre-back Williamson. We did invite the Italian champions back into the game in the second half and they upped the tempo in search of an equaliser, but our backline remained firm to record yet another clean sheet.
What it means
We consolidated our top position in Group C, going into our next Champions League clash with Lyon on December 15.
Lyon thumped FC Zurich 4-0 in the other group clash, but we can secure our place in the knockout stages with a win against the reigning champions next week.
Team news
Arsenal: Zinsberger (GK), Wienroither, Williamson (C) (Rafaelle, 61), Wubben-Moy, Catley, Walti, Maanum, Miedema, McCabe, Foord (Beattie, 90), Blackstenius (Nobbs, 78)
Unused substitutes: Marckese (GK), Maritz, Iwabuchi, Agyemang
Juventus: Peyraud-Magnin (GK), Boattin, Salvai (C), Sembrant, Lenzini, Grosso, Pedersen (Gunnarsdottir, 78), Caruso (Cantore, 65), Beerensteyn, Bonansea (Cernoia, 45), Girelli (Bonfantini, 89)
Unused substitutes: Aprile (GK), Forcinella (GK), Rosucci, Lundorf, Zamanian, Schatzer, Duljan
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