Kyra Cooney-Cross earning Player of the Match came as no surprise to Laia Codina, who was the beneficiary of our Australian midfielder’s accurate delivery to the far post in the 32nd minute of our 2-0 win at home to London City Lionesses on Sunday.
Laia was in the right place to head the ball back across goal and in to give us the lead.
“I was looking like, who got me the assist? Who did the assist? But she's growing a lot with the ball and off the ball,” Laia said. “That is the most important thing. And I always try to help her. And if she helps me with that assist, that's perfect.
“I think that was a hard game. We knew that we were coming from a hard block. Chelsea, City away, City home. And today, London City, they are doing well in the second league, so we knew what we were expecting and I think that we did well.
“Some changes in the team and I think that the team reacted well in everything. And we go through, that is the most important thing.”
Defending alongside Laia was one of our own, Katie Reid, who looked more than capable at this level.
“Same as Kyra,” Laia said. “I think that they are young players, that they are growing a lot in this team. We try to help them a lot. Katie Reid is one of them. You can see that she plays like one more. It looks like she has been playing for a long time in this team and this is the best thing for her. And I hope that she can stay here for a long time.”
Laia was also asked about how January signing Jenna Nighswonger is settling in to her new surroundings after she made her debut for us in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
“So good, to be honest,” Laia said. “She speaks a little bit of Spanish, so it's nice to speak with her. But yeah, she can play in the sixth position and also as a full-back. So it's nice also to have players that can play in different positions. She's one of them, and I'm sure that she will help us in the rest of the season.”
Lastly, Laia was excited to look ahead to the north London derby next Sunday, which we’ve sold over 50,000 tickets for at Emirates Stadium.
“Incredible,” she said. “We've heard that it's almost sold out, so we just hope that people keep buying tickets because we really hope for that game. When we lost against City, we know that now what we want to do is play this game, but also looking forward to the game against Tottenham at home.
“I think that all of us are going to have a lot of family, but also the fans. Their support is always amazing. I can't wait for the derby. It will be incredible for sure. Thank you very much.”
Copyright 2025 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.
