Caroline Weir struck at the death as Manchester City recorded a crucial 2-1 victory over Arsenal at The Academy Stadium this afternoon.
City had already got the better of Joe Montemurro’s side earlier this year when they beat them 2-1 in their 2019/2020 Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final and they were hoping for a repeat performance in this fixture.
Visitors Arsenal began proceedings with a lightning quick start and The Gunners had the lead inside the opening three minutes when Vivianne Miedema fired a ferocious shot into Ellie Roebuck’s bottom corner to give them an early advantage.
The home side were finding themselves in some superb crossing positions as the half wore on and it seemed like only a matter of time before they would make one of them count. That proved to be the case as Chloe Kelly whipped in a corner from the right to pick out Sam Mewis whose bouncing header found it’s way into the Arsenal net.
The teams went in all square at the break and although City had the majority of the territory, the scoreline was probably fair as neither team fashioned too many clear cut chances.
It was more of the same in the second period with Gareth Taylor’s side spending most of their time camped in the Arsenal half. Despite having the lion’s share of position, they couldn’t break down the visitors’ backline. Weir came close when Arsenal keeper Lydia Williams’ failed clearance could only find the Scotland International who shot from all of 45 yards but narrowly missed the goal. Mewis then had a chance to grab her second goal of the game but her powerful header went agonisingly wide.
The Gunners’ defence appeared to be holding firm in the dying minutes as they withheld wave after wave of City attacks. That was until the 94th minute. As City were bombarding the resolute Arsenal backline, the ball landed at the feet of Weir 20 yards from goal. She picked her spot and bent a delightful shot into the bottom corner leaving Williams helpless and to claim all three points for her side in the most dramatic fashion.
Victory for City takes them just one point behind Arsenal and puts them back in contention for a UEFA Women’s Champions League spot, and possibly even the title. As for Arsenal, is just their second defeat of the season and means that they lose ground on league leaders Manchester United.
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