Arsenal dominated the first half against Brighton to steal a 4-0 win at Broadfield Stadium, keeping their hopes of a place in the Women’s Champions League next season alive.
Jonas Eidevall’s side needed as many points as they could muster to land a top-three spot in the WSL. A brace from Stina Blackstenius, alongside goals from Frida Maanum and Victoria Pelova, secured an important victory for the Gunners.
It did not take long for Arsenal to take the lead as Blackstenius struck into the bottom right-hand corner after the use of the left flank to split the Seagulls defence.
Within two minutes of taking the lead, Blackstenius had a brace to double the visitor’s lead. After a plethora of injuries has marred the past few months for the north London side, the game’s opening minutes felt reminiscent of the Arsenal of old.
Conceding early took the sting out of Melissa Phillip’s team as their attack struggled to gather momentum and conviction moving up the pitch. With Blackstenius vying for her first hat-trick for the Gunners, the pressure was mounting on the home side as their first chance of the game was sent wide of Maneula Zinsberger’s net.
As the Arsenal goalkeeper made light work of Poppy Pattinson’s cross, Brighton were struggling to be creative moving forward as they began using the counter to press the visitors.
Emma Kullberg failed to contain Katie McCabe on the left flank, her cross falling to Noelle Martiz, who set Maanum up perfectly for a free header to triple the Gunners’ lead.
Young Dutch international Pelova had been kept relatively quiet during the first half, moving into midfield in place of Walti but, after dancing with defenders into the 18-yard box, stole a fourth for the visitors as halftime rolled around, registering her first WSL goal for Arsenal since signing in January.
A nervy moment in the opening half nearly saw Kayleigh Green send the ball into the back of her own net as Brighton attempted to crawl their way back into the game.
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With a flurry of attempts headed towards Megan Walsh, who had been hit with a pretty tough run in, she did well to prevent a fifth as Arsenal’s press set higher on the pitch. Brighton in turn, had a good spell of possession as they looked to close in on a goal.
Zinsberger was forced to make the first diving save of the evening just after the hour mark rolled around as Elisabeth Terland had a goal in her sights but it was dealt well with by the Austrian keeper.
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