The Women’s Super League game between Arsenal and London City Lionesses saw another draw for the Gunners at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal opened the scoring after ten minutes when Frida Maanum’s goal from inside the box beat Mary Earps, but the Gunners were not ahead for long before London City equalised through Isobel Goodwin, with the game tied 1-1 under 15 minutes in.
Both sides settled into the game after the two goals, with Arsenal pressing more than the visitors but neither side able to find another goal in the first half.
The second half saw more vigorous attacking from Arsenal, but neither side were able to get the second goal to get the win for themselves.
Story of The Match
Arsenal made two changes from the draw against Barcelona, with Élisa de Almeida and Ona Batlle coming in for Steph Catley and Taylor Hinds.
London City Lionesses made two changes from their win against Birmingham City, with Kadidiatou Diani and Goodwin coming in for Delphine Cascarino and Nicole Anyomi.
Arsenal played in their red home kit while London City donned their dark blue away kit at Emirates Stadium, with the home side kicking the game off.
After a decisive slide tackle at the half-way line, Leah Williamson got the ball to Maanum, who carried it towards the box and laid it off for Emily Fox, but the defender was late to the ball and London City won it back.
London City broke through the Arsenal defence, but the ball was shepherded out for a goal kick before it could become dangerous for the Gunners.
Arsenal won a corner after a deflected shot, which was taken by Georgia Stanway. Nothing came from the initial corner, but Arsenal continued to press and the shot from Batlle just went wide.
Maanum opened the scoring at the Emirates Stadium after a through ball from Fox found Alessia Russo, and she cut it back in the box for the Norwegian midfielder, the Gunners going 1-0 up in the opening ten minutes.
London City immediately got an equaliser through Goodwin, who drove into the Arsenal box and fired the ball past Misa Rodríguez.
London City played through the space that Arsenal left open, but could not find another goal.
Lisa Baum danced through the London City players, but the Gunners were forced back in their attack. Moments later, Maanum found herself in space to shoot, but the shot was blocked and deflected for a corner.
Misa made a decisive save for the Gunners after a shot from outside the box was heading goal bound.
Baum’s shot from outside the box was pushed out for a corner by Earps, but the Gunners seemed to grow more threatening as the game continued on.
Russo found herself goal bound but was quickly surrounded by the London City defence, leaving her unable to get a shot off.
The visitors continued to counter-attack quickly but could not get past the Arsenal back line.
Fox’s shot during an Arsenal attack was calmly collected by Earps before the Gunners won the ball back in their defensive half.
Stanway found herself in the box with the ball, but Earps was down on the ground to collect it before Arsenal could get the ball into the net.
Foord’s shot was placed in the hands of the London City goalkeeper, and Arsenal will be frustrated with the lack of taken chances in the first half.
A through ball found Daniëlle van de Donk in the Arsenal box, but the former Arsenal midfielder could do nothing with the chance presented in front of her.
An overhead ball from Mapi León found Poppy Pattinson unmarked, but the cross from the English defender hit the outside roof of the goal and gave Arsenal back possession.
London City broke through the lines of Arsenal’s defence, with Goodwin’s cross being just too far ahead for Alexia Putellas to get on the end of, and the Gunners were lucky not to go behind.
Second Half Changes
Neither side made a change at half time, with the visitors getting the game back under way.
Foord turned Jana Fernández in defence and laid the ball off to Maanum, who attempted to get the ball to Russo, but Earps was out of her net to collect before Arsenal got close.
Arsenal got the ball in the London City box, but all attempts at shots were blocked.
Baum and Stanway stood over the Arsenal free-kick, with a short pass to the former, who crossed it into the box but missed every player in red.
Misa made another important save for the Gunners after Goodwin got the ball close to the box, but thankfully for the Gunners she was offside anyway.
Arsenal broke and Foord’s cross passed across the goal line, but the tie remained level.
Another free-kick for the Gunners saw the ball chipped into the box, but Alexia headed it out to safety.
London City counter-attacked through Diani and earned a corner, and it was taken quickly by Mapi León, but the visitors did not get close to a goal.
The visitors made their first changes, with Cascarino and Lucia Corrales replacing Diani and Pattinson.
Arques took a shot of her own outside of the box, but the ball was comfortable enough to be collected by Misa.
Maanum’s curling effort just went wide of the goal, but the Gunners continued to press London City.
The crossbar saved Arsenal from conceding again, but they were not out of trouble.
Arsenal’s first changes had Kim Little and Foord being replaced by Kyra Cooney-Cross and Olivia Smith.
Both sides were pushing for a goal with less than 20 minutes on the clock — each going end to end to search for it.
De Almeida made a clutch tackle to deny the visitors a chance on goal after a misplaced pass from the Gunners.
Arsenal attacked with vigour, but the ball did not find its way into the net.
The visitors made another change, with Anyomi making her way on for London City goalscorer Goodwin.
Arsenal’s defender Fox went down on the pitch and required medical treatment, which earned a pause in play in North London.
Smilla Holmberg replaced the injured Fox for the Gunners with less than 10 minutes of regular time left, while Van de Donk and Fernández were replaced by Freya Godfrey and Janni Thomsen for the visitors.
Arsenal were denied the lead by the crossbar after Maanum’s shot from outside the box.
London City attacked after winning the ball from an Arsenal free-kick, but were dispossessed by Maanum.
The visitors continued to press the Gunners, who looked to be in trouble with everyone back defending the goal.
Stoppage Time and Full-Time
Six minutes of added time went up on the clock for both sides to find a winner, with aggressive football from both teams.
Arsenal got continually dispossessed when attempting to attack in the stoppage-time minutes and did not look to be getting a goal in the remaining time.
Alexia’s shot sailed over the crossbar and a sigh of relief went through the Gunners as the scores remained 1-1.
Lotte Wubben-Moy replaced Batlle in the last few minutes of the game, but the Gunners could not keep the ball for longer than a few seconds at a time.
A last-ditch corner in the game saw goalkeeper Misa go up for the Gunners, but nothing happened and the whistle blew for full-time.
Arsenal take yet another draw away from the game in the league, while London City Lionesses walk away with a well-earned draw at the home of the Gunners.
The North London side take the point into their midweek game against OL Lyonnes. London City Lionesses take their draw into their own midweek game against Brighton and Hove Albion.
