Twelve months is a short while in soccer. Journey again to this weekend a 12 months in the past, Arsenal had simply issued essentially the most compelling of Girls’s Tremendous League title statements, sweeping apart unbeaten Manchester Metropolis regardless of lacking a penalty.
That sparked a four-match profitable streak, the place they scored a complete of 16 targets, together with a positively-charged 4-1 win over eventual champions Chelsea. Momentum was constructing on and off the pitch, and crowds had been flocking to witness standard-setting Arsenal mild up the Emirates.
One other attendance document was damaged that day towards Emma Hayes’ Chelsea, and the Gunners had been projecting comprehensible angle: ‘Arsenal are again’ was the headline of the second. They turned the envy of the league.
However more durable occasions had been to observe. Optimism started to wane, confidence slowly drained from the beforehand jubilant stands after a sequence of dour shows, earlier than all of it culminated in supervisor Jonas Eidevall dropping his job.
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Highlights of the WSL match between Arsenal and Chelsea.
The Swede maintained that performances had been higher than outcomes – a defence that failed to face up – however in actuality Arsenal had misplaced id and had been prone to being lower adrift. Confidence stays brittle in N5 regardless of two wins since Eidevall walked.
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Highlights of the Girls’s Tremendous League match between West Ham United and Arsenal.
The state of affairs will not be too dissimilar from the frustration felt at Manchester United all through final 12 months’s turbulent marketing campaign. Marc Skinner’s aspect – by his personal admission – had been “bloated by the success” of the season earlier, and requirements slipped.
Many referred to as for Skinner to go within the wake of such underperformance. Noise grew loud however by no means reached a full crescendo as United completed fifth, finally saved by the solace of silverware after rounding off a poor season by profitable the FA Cup.
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Highlights of the Girls’s Tremendous League match between Brighton and Manchester United.
And now, a month in to 2024-25, fortune seems to have flipped. Man Utd are on a gentle incline after an unbeaten begin – one in every of three groups, alongside Man Metropolis and Chelsea, but to style defeat. The ship has steadied and is on target for surer waters, whereas managerless Arsenal search frantically for some clear course.
In some ways, then, this weekend’s encounter is serendipitous – two groups on seemingly reverse trajectories assembly at this explicit juncture holds significance. For Arsenal, it is an opportunity to show this latest blip will not be indicative of a wider, extra worrying decline.
And for Man Utd – who’ve solely misplaced one in every of their final 4 house video games towards Arsenal within the WSL – a chance to showcase significant progress, and cement themselves amongst title hopefuls.
Few statistics summarise the backdrop higher than this one: Arsenal have made a league-high 12 adjustments to beginning XIs to date this season, as they seek for type, whereas Man Utd have made the joint-fewest (3).
Grace Clinton is the primary participant to attain in three of her first 4 WSL appearances for Man Utd
A settled workforce is at all times a broader indication of content material inside camp. And this, Skinner’s one hundredth sport accountable for Man Utd in all competitions, is the proper time to show success continues to be doable whereas he runs level.
Following dominant 3-0 wins over West Ham and Tottenham, the hosts wish to win their opening three house video games of a WSL season for the primary time. They’ve solely conceded as soon as in 4, and possess the second-best xG efficiency (behind Chelsea) of any aspect within the league, epitomised by the genius of Grace Clinton, who is popping right into a goal-scoring drive.
Momentum is a sound sufficient barometer, however soccer typically has a humorous manner of unusual us.
Win or lose this weekend, Arsenal stay essentially the most marketable membership within the WSL, and have the solace of a Champions League marketing campaign to service expectant followers. Ache can solely ever actually be momentary at a membership so nicely entrenched within the cloth of the ladies’s sport.
However ache may also worsen earlier than it will get higher. And Man Utd have the power to delay the struggling for a minimum of yet another week, which might all however eradicate the Gunners from the race utterly and beg the bigger-picture query: Have Man Utd and Arsenal swapped locations within the WSL pecking order?
