Birmingham City have caused one of the biggest upsets in Barclays FA Women’s Super League history with a 2-0 victory over league leaders Arsenal at St Andrew’s this afternoon.
The Blues had not won a league match in more than 13 months but they made a mockery of past records and the current league standings by recording a hugely unexpected win against The Gunners.
Birmingham City got off to the perfect start when they opened the scoring after just three minutes. Lucy Quinn’s perfect through ball split the Arsenal defence and Libby Smith raced away to fire a shot beyond visiting keeper Manuela Zinsberger and into the far corner of the net.
Arsenal struggled to get into any rhythm in the first half with their build-up play being uncharacteristically slow and lethargic while their passing accuracy was well below their usual high standards. Jonas Eidevall’s side were punished again shortly before the break as Birmingham City grabbed a second goal. Jamie Finn put a cross into the box and Veatriki Sarri impressively steered the ball across goal and into the far corner of the Arsenal net.
Birmingham City goalkeeper Emily Ramsey was largely untroubled in the first half but she was beaten to the ball by Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema early in the second period. The Dutch international played the ball to Kim Little who looked certain to capitalise on the open goal but Birmingham City defender Gemma Lawley was there to bravely block the shot.
Arsenal did improve as the half went on but their decision-making continued to be poor and the final ball was missing. As it turned out, Birmingham City battled out the remainder of the game to claim an historic victory and a huge three points in the fight for survival.
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