Key events
Arsenal will be ruing those misses – and there’ve been plenty of them. It didn’t look like it was going to matter, but they can’t complain that it did.
FULL TIME: Everton 1-1 Arsenal
Well! Arsenal now trail Man City by five points, having played a game more with only two left. As the Spice Girls almost sang, three becomes two.
90+8 min Everton send on another 16-year-old, Settle for Bissell.
90+6 min Tell you what, Everton have earned that. They’ve defended well, ridden their luck – or Arsenal’s finishing incompetence – and looked nasty from set-pieces all day.
GOAL! Everton 1-1 Arsenal (Hobson 90+5)
SIXTEEN YEARS OLD AND PLAYING FOR HER HOMETOWN TEAM, IZZY HOBSON HAS SNATCHED THEM A DRAW! The corner comes in, a defender makes first contact but sends the bal into the middle, and Hobson wants it more than anyone has ever wanted anyone, soaring early and above Fox to willpower an equaliser into the net! Arsenal’s title hopes are evaporating!
90+3 min Arsenal win a dodgy free-kick down the right, Mead to swing out … and she misses everyone in the middle, then Russo’s cross from the other side is kicked away by Stenevic. However! Arsenal sustain the attack, Mead winning a big header then, when the ball comes back to her, poking into the middle and Russo is there! But on the stretch, she scythes over the top and now Dale, who’s made a big difference for Everton, wins a corner…
90+2 min In the men’s game, the North London derby has got off to a gentle start…
90+1 min We’ll have seven additional minutes.
90 min Everton make first contact too, Wheeler winning the header, but in the middle, Hope can’t do anything with it and Arsenal clear.
89 min We’re watching a replay then cut to play to see Dale, who’s been dangerous, attacking the box and pursuing a bouncing ball. But it’s bouncing away from her and McCabe blocks her shot behind for a corner.
89 min Kim Little is named player of the match for her second-half effort, which is fair enough.
88 min Zinsberger flaps a hand to send the ball away from immediate danger and Lacasse – who’s also made a difference, which is to say Eidevall’s changes have been good – humps clear.
87 min Also worth noting: Mead hasn’t been in the game as much as she’d like, but her quality and threat are unarguable. She’s made a difference in the second half, but Everton have just won a corner…
86 min Russo has played much better since half-time and looked more dangerous since Blackstenius departed. I’m not sure those two work as a partnership.
85 min Russo takes a throw and diddles the two players on either side, darting through the gap between them, beating another, and cutting back, but when it goes one more to little, she can only drag her shot wide.
84 min Hobson lets Mead know she’s there, catching her in the face with a forearm. It wasn’t deliberate I don’t think, so there’s no action taken.
82 min Now then! A suicidal pass into her own box from Fox, and Dale seizes on to it, swishing a shot and wearing a late tackle from Little in the process. Zinsberger saves, but is that a penalty? I wonder if VAR might’ve found so, but on the pitch, the officials say no.
81 min Change for Everton, the 16-year-old Hobson on for Piemonte.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Arsenal (Russo 80)
And there it is! McCabe down the line to Lacasse, who clips a lovely reverse-pass to the back post, and Mead is there! She stretches into a volley, Brosnan saves well with her feet, and Russo tidies up with a tap-in. Arsenal’s title challenge remains alive, just.
79 min Lacasse wriggles across the face of the box – that’s good work – finding Mead, but Dale is in sharply to challenge. Arsenal are ramping it up, or trying to.
78 min More fun here:
77 min Mead’s movement is really good, she’s just not being given the ball often enough, but she pulls wide here, sends in another fine cross, and Vanhaevermaet does superbly to block Maanum’s shot.
76 min I forgot to note that Dale came on; she replaced Holmsgaard K.
75 min Everton sit in shape, inviting Arsenal to break them down. So Fox goes at Dale on the outside, who slides in to cede yet another corner.
74 min Further change for Arsenal, Cooney-Cross replacing Pelova, and Miedema remains sat at the side. She mustn’t be fit, because firing her is exactly what her team need.
72 min The game is drifting. Arsenal still have players able to create chances, but it’s not an onslaught or anything like it.
70 min It’s so good to see Maanum back after her collapse at Molineux. If her presence forces Russo into the box more, or at least gets her into the game, it might be enough for Arsenal to conjure a winner.
69 min I meant to say, at half-time I’m pretty sure Fara Willams called Pelova “Pavlova”. Perhaps it was a comment on her finishing, but Arsenal could really do with getting her on the ball more often.
69 min Wheeler is down with some kind of leg nauseation, but she’ll be fine.
67 min Arsenal are getting closer, feet from Russo moving it nicely across the face of the Everton box before Fox finds Mead who curves in a delectable cross … and Lacasse is there! But she mistimes her flick, misses her header, and the ball trickles wide. Another chance spurned.
65 min Two further changes for Arsenal, Maanum and Lacasse replacing Foord and Blackstenius.
64 min “I find it strange that Blackstenius gets that much flak,” emails Björn Isaksson. “She is not clinical but she has the best average per 90 minutes of all the Arsenal players in the WSL, Russo has the same number when combining goals and assists. Blackstenius is the one that scored in this year’s League Cup, the only attacking player that scored in the one last year, scored three goals in the four knockout matches in last year’s Champions league and so on. She has done the same for Sweden for years now too. In this game Foord had the best chance for Arsenal in the first half and fluffed it, but as usual that is not mentioned when you summarized the first half but instead complained about Blackstenius. Of course, I am a Swede but when the numbers say that she is the best striker they have, that other players have much worse numbers, then it is strange to complain about Blackstenius.”
I don’t think she’s the class of the better players around her, but is still a very good player. Is that controversial?
63 min And it’s another good delivery, Vanhaevermaet up highest and first … but bundling straight at Zinsberger.
63 min Holmsgaard S wins a corner, and Everton will fancy themselves to cause issues here.
61 min Arsenal come again, Russo pulling wide and slipping a clever ball into Foord, who tees-up Dox, unmarked inside the box! But as a challenge comes in, she’s forced to hurry, shoving a tame sidefooter that bobbles past the post. Another big chance missed.
58 min Lovely reverse-pass from Mead to set Fox away down the right, but her cross is poor and Everton clear. On the Arsenal bench, meanwhile, Maanum readies herself, returning from injury following the Conti Cup final.
57 min Maybe Everton growing in confidence will help Arsenal, leaving gaps for them to attack, because make no mistake, the home side are passing with purpose now, looking to spring their attackers in behind.
56 min There are fans singing a version of Bella Ciao; anyone care to apprise us of the lyrics?
54 min But here they come now and what a miss this is! Catley feeds McCabe down the left, she crosses low, and Blackstenius is there! but from close range, she sweeps with the direction of the ball, sending is past the far post! She’ll be feeling extremely poorly round about now, because that was very bad behaviour.
53 min It’s been a really poor start to the half from Arsenal, though they’re against the wind. They’re playing without conviction and haven’t looked 25 points better than their hosts or anything like it.
51 min I wonder if it might help Arsenal to get an extra player in midfield to release Pelova; Blackstenius and Russo have hardly been involved, so more players closer to one of them, with the other taking a blow, might help. Or, in other words, just get Miedema on already.
51 min When the corner comes in, though, Brosnan collects easily enough; she’s looked pretty solid so far.
50 min Vanhaevermaet takes a cross to the coupon and needs a breather, but she’ll be fine.
49 min Looking again at that Holmgaard header against the bar, Vanhaevermaet was up against Mead and close in; physically, she ought to have done more to reach that second ball, taking everyone with her through the net if necessary.
47 min Here come Everton again, Hope down the line to Bissell, whose cross is collected by Zinsberger easily enough. But the home side have started well here, whatever Eidevall said at half-time yet to take effect.
46 min Now with the wind at their backs, Everton drill a ball forward that Fox can’t control, Holmgaard K picking up to cross … but Piemonte can’t get over her header.
46 min And Arsenal make a change, Williamson replaced by Codina. She must be hurt, so let’s hope it’s nothing serious.
46 min We go again.
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