Goals from Vivianne Miedema and Kim Little helped the Gunners take advantage of their game in hand over Manchester United Women, opening up a three point gap between the two with two games to go.
This midweek fixture in the WSL presents two sides fighting for results at opposite ends of the table. Arsenal came into this game level on points with Manchester United in the race for the final Women’s Champions League place, with this being their game in hand over the Red Devils.
While West Ham travelled to Meadow Park knowing an upset win would all but secure their safety in the WSL but whatever result they would be able to get would only be as important as the Second City derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa taking place alongside this game.
On paper, it would appear to be an uphill battle for the Hammers to grind out a result against their fellow Londoners as Arsenal welcomed West Ham for this game off of the back of a six-game winning streak in the WSL, with zero goals conceded over those games.
Early on, Arsenal would try to break down their opponents by patiently playing out from the back, but West Ham would press the Gunners well, and the hosts were seemingly left to resort to playing multiple lofted through balls for their high-flying attackers to run onto.
It was not a fruitless strategy however, as the trio of Caitlin Foord, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema looked threatening in their ability to create space but were foiled repeatedly by the well-timed interceptions of West Ham’s centre-halves, particularly Hawa Cissoko.
Miedema would almost create the opening goal however, as with less than ten minutes played, she would chip a cross towards the carving run of Katie McCabe. The Irish international would not get the connection that she would have wanted on the volley though and it would fly past the far post.
Throughout the first half, Miedema would try to create space from the visitor’s defence in the box, but as a result, she wasn’t able to generate the necessary power on her strikes to trouble West Ham goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
That would change just after the half hour mark as a throw-in on the right wing would find the Dutch international and she would run the ball towards the centre of the pitch outside the area and unleash a long-range effort off of her left foot that beat Arnold and gave Arsenal a deserved one-nil lead.
The goal was Miedema’s eighteenth of the season and draws her level in the golden boot race with Chelsea’s Sam Kerr.
The visitors would not be out of this game however, as their high press would trouble the Gunners at points when they were playing the ball from their defence and on the stroke of halftime, they almost found an equaliser as a cross would find Dagny Brynjarsdottir wide open at the back post, but she couldn’t steer her header on target, leaving West Ham trailing at the break.
The Hammers would come out of the break with vigour, however, putting much more pressure on Arsenal at the back and trying to get to the subsequent loose balls.
The hosts would always seem to recover their possession though, Joe Montemurro’s side playing with the defensive discipline that has seen them not concede in the WSL since the tenth of February.
The Gunners would soon have a ten-minute period where they had three clear chances to double their lead. The first came just before the hour mark as a cross from the left wing found Mead inside the six-yard box, but her effort would be saved at close range by Arnold, who also drew a free kick from the Englishwoman in the process.
The second would come from some excellent hold-up play from Miedema as she would find Mead with a through ball, bearing down on goal. Mead would elect to try to square the ball for Foord at the other side, but Arnold was again equal to it, latching onto the pass and leaving the hosts empty-handed again.
Just a matter of minutes later, it would be Foord who was played in behind, but the pass was just ahead of her and despite the fact that she tried to slide to flick the ball ahead of Arnold, the Australian goalkeeper had the effort covered to deny Arsenal once more.
However, with just ten minutes to play, Arsenal would finally establish a two-goal cushion over their opponents as captain Kim Little received the ball just outside of the penalty area as a result of a Beth Mead dummy.
Little would bring the ball into the box, hold off the challenge of a West Ham defender and strike her effort just inside the far post to put her side in complete control.
Similarly, to the end of the first half, West Ham would threaten late as two of Olli Harder’s substitutes almost set up a nervy finish. Anouk Denton would cross into the area and would find the head of the Hammers’ top scorer Martha Thomas; Thomas’ header would be parried away by a perfectly-timed diving save from Arsenal ‘keeper Lydia Williams.
Arsenal would secure a two-nil win, a result which puts them three points ahead of Manchester United in fourth with two games to go, leaving the Gunners in control in the race for the final Women’s Champions League spot.
Conversely, after the events of this game and the Second City derby, West Ham drop below Birmingham into tenth after the Blues salvaged a very late draw against rivals Aston Villa.
The Hammers are only two points ahead of Bristol City at the bottom of the WSL and play Villa in their next game, knowing victory would secure their safety but a loss would leave them with the Robins breathing down their necks going into the final day.
The Inbound Observer 