Birmingham struggling to find home comforts at St George's Park as Arsenal win with ease
Birmingham City 0 Arsenal 4
It was clear Birmingham knew the reality of the task facing them against Arsenal during Carla Ward’s pre-match press conference. When asked about “getting back to winning ways” in this contest the Birmingham manager chuckled, smiled and replied: “have you seen who we are playing?”
The match itself played out largely how it might have been scripted on paper. Arsenal, with the movement of Caitlin Foord, the swagger of Vivianne Miedema and the array of world-class players sitting on their bench, were too strong for Ward’s team and barely reached top gear as they powered to victory.
It was Arsenal’s second consecutive 4-0 away win, while it was the second time in a row Birmingham have lost 4-0 at ‘home’, yet they are most certainly not at home at St George’s Park, the national football centre. Ward’s side were playing there again after the Football Association said their usual home ground, which they share with Solihull Moors’ men’s side, did not meet the WSL’s requirements. The issue is understood to relate to drainage, following a plethora of postponements for Birmingham over the winter.
Ward expects they will play at St George’s Park again when they host Everton on Thursday but she is “praying” that will be the last time, adding: “You’re playing on the biggest pitch in England, a ‘Wembley double’. Who wants to go and play Arsenal on a pitch as large as Wembley? Nobody. It’s a lovely pitch and a lovely setup but I don’t want to play here again.”
Undoubtedly, Arsenal made better use of the wide, pristine playing surface, creating a stream of chances in the first half, but they were initially thwarted by several last-ditch blocks from Birmingham, while Miedema headed onto the post and Foord missed from six yards.
Then Australia forward Foord scored twice in quick succession before the break, firstly bundling home when Jordan Nobbs’ cross was flicked to the back post, and then passing the ball into an unguarded net after Miedema deftly touched Beth Mead’s low delivery across the penalty area to an unmarked Foord.
Miedema slammed home the third with 14 minutes left in a quieter second half, seeing her resume the lead in the WSL’s all-time top scorer standings, with her 56th WSL goal edging her back above Ellen White.
Miedema then unselfishly fed substitute Lisa Evans for a neat finish in stoppage time to make it four, with Arsenal looking back to their fluid best since February’s international break.
Conscious of his side’s momentum, Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro is “frustrated” that they do not have a fixture next weekend. Their postponed game against West Ham United has not yet been rescheduled and he wants to play it soon. Arsenal share their home ground with men’s National League outfit Boreham Wood, who are at home on Saturday, while the Women’s League Cup final - between Chelsea and Bristol City - is taking precedence on Sunday, so Arsenal have suggested Friday night.
“We’ve proposed a few slots. We just have to wait and see,” Montemurro said. “We want to keep our rhythm going, but the reality is that we’re now going to have a little bit of a break before Man Utd, which is not what we wanted. We don’t understand. There is a Friday. I understand the Conti Cup day, they want to keep it clear and that’s fair enough, but there is an allocation this weekend where we could play it.”
It means Arsenal’s game on 19 March - a vital one in the race for Europe, at home to Manchester United - is set to be their next fixture and they cannot leapfrog United with a win in that contest, as they remain six points behind their rivals with a game in hand.
Birmingham City (4-5-1): Hampton; Scott, Brougham, Mace, Holloway; Mayling, Littlejohn, Green (Whipp, 64), McCarron (Murray, 45), Kelly (Napier, 63); Murphy (Walker, 45) Subs not used: Whitehouse, Lawley, Hart
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Williams; Maritz (Maier, 81), Williamson, Wubben-Moy, McCabe; Van de Donk (Roord, 81) Walti (Gut, 74); Mead, Foord (Little, 62), Nobbs (Evans, 74); Miederma Subs not used: Zinsberger, Patten, Stenson
Referee: Jane Simms (West Riding of Yorkshire)
Manchester City keep up the pressure on Chelsea with hard-fought win against Everton
Manchester City left it late against Everton but England midfielder Keira Walsh’s sweeping 81st-minute winner saw them keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea at the top of the WSL.
Against a very well-drilled Everton backline, Gareth Taylor’s team were given something of a scare but they eventually did enough to earn their ninth consecutive league victory.
Neither goalkeeper was tested before Walsh’s well-placed finish into the bottom corner from outside the box, but the United States’ Sam Mewis did miss in almost inexplicable fashion from three yards in the first half.
They remain two points behind defending champions Chelsea with both sides having six games left, including a potentially-decisive head-to-head meeting in April. That two-point gap was restored by Chelsea an hour after City had momentarily gone top, as Emma Hayes’ side claimed a 2-0 away victory at strugglers West Ham United in the day's late kick-off.
Strikers Sam Kerr and Beth England both headed in for Chelsea - each from crosses provided by the other - while West Ham could not manage an effort on target and they still sit precariously just two points above the relegation zone.
Far less concerned about the drop, and now 10 points better off than West Ham, are in-form Brighton, as they picked up their third straight win with a hard-fought 2-0 home triumph over Tottenham, thanks to Holland midfielder Inessa Kaagman’s well-struck double in the second half.
That came after Manchester United had eased to an impressive 3-0 victory at home to Aston Villa, which kept Casey Stoney’s team in the driving seat for the third Women’s Champions League qualification place, ahead of 19 March’s all-important trip to fourth-placed Arsenal.
