Arsenal held Manchester City to a 2-2 draw in their first game of the season, both teams walking away with a point on the league table.
For City, Alex Greenwood made her WSL debut as the team’s official captain, Vivianne Miedema returned to the Emirates in sky-blue and Jess Park took her rightly deserved spot in the starting XI after an outstanding performance against Paris FC.
The Gunners’ vice-captain, Leah Williamson was a noticeable absence on the team sheet, being out on concussion protocol.
Spanish international, Mariona Caldentey made her WSL debut for Arsenal and Stina Blackstenius made the starting line-up due to a stunning record of last-minute goals against City, scoring two in three minutes in their last meeting.
From the whistle, it was clear this would be a close match, with Miedema visibly eager to get started, she exploited the loose ball sent by Kyra Cooney-Cross and sent in a shot from range in the early minutes of the game.
Although Manu Zinsberger was off her line, Miedema’s shot slid wide of the post and momentum turned in Arsenal’s favour.
While both sides were showing glimpses of quality early on in the first half, it was the Gunners who found the back of the net first.
Caitlin Foord’s cross found Blackstenius where it rebounded to find the boot of Frida Maanum who buried the ball into the back of the net in the eighth minute.
After fruitless shots from the likes of Caldentey, Aoba Fujino and Lauren Hemp, City’s Leila Ouhabi went down with a groin injury, forcing Gareth Taylor into making his first substitution.
Alanna Kennedy took her place and after just two minutes of returning to play, Miedema fought her way through the Arsenal defence, hitting net after a heavy deflection from Laia Codina.
The goal was the last bit of action in the first half, with the Dutch international equalising three minutes before half-time.
Caitlin Foord got the second half off to an exciting start, tapping the ball past Ayaka Yamashita just a minute in, but the goal was controversially ruled offside.
Manchester City found their feet again as Hemp chipped the ball into the box searching for Miedema who headered it to find Jess Park.
The forward caught it on the volley and sent in a rocket of a strike from outside the area, giving City the lead 1-2.
Blackstenius had struggled to find the target in the first half, sending the ball wide on multiple occasions and so fresh legs were brought on in Beth Mead.
Miedema took two more shots on target before being substituted off, replaced by Mary Fowler.
In the 81st minute, Rosa Kafaji got an assist in her WSL debut, cutting it across to Mead who found the equaliser, tapping it in.
Kafaji took a couple of shots at goal herself but couldn’t find the net, and Codina saved the Gunners from conceding a late goal to Shaw in the seven minutes of added time, preserving the draw.
Starting XIs:
Arsenal: Zinsberger (GK), Fox, Wubben-Moy, Codina, Mariona, Little (c), McCabe, Maanum, Foord, Blackstenius, Cooney-Cross
Manchester City: Yamashita (GK), Aleixandri, Greenwood (c), Miedema, Hemp, Ouahabi, Park, Casparij, Fujino, Shaw, Hasegawa
Featured image courtesy of Abby Rampling.