LONDON — Arsenal bounced back from their demoralising Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Real Madrid with a dominant 4-0 win over Liverpool in the Women’s Super League (WSL) on Saturday.
A scintillating first-half display saw the hosts race into a 3-0 lead at the break through Caitlin Foord, a Jasmine Matthews own-goal and a superb Mariona Caldentey strike. A further Matthews own goal in the second half capped off a near-perfect Arsenal performance on an evening that also saw Victoria Pelova make her return after nearly a year-long injury layoff.
The win sees Arsenal leapfrog Manchester United into second in the table, five points behind leaders Chelsea.
More importantly, it serves as the perfect springboard ahead of their Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Madrid on Wednesday, with the north London side looking to overturn a 2-0 deficit.
Arsenal will take particular satisfaction from their performance, considering they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Liverpool a couple of weeks ago.
It was Amber Whiteley’s first taste of defeat since being named interim Liverpool boss and keeps her side sixth in the table.
Liverpool came into Saturday’s game on the back of a statement win at Anfield against Man United. But from the get-go, they struggled to assert themselves at the Emirates.
Such was the intensity of Arsenal’s start that there were Mexican waves going around sections of the crowd as early as the 10th minute. Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo came close to putting Arsenal ahead in the opening quarter before Foord poked home from close-range to give the home side a deserved lead in the 28th minute.
Arsenal doubled their lead a minute later, when Kim Little’s cutback was inadvertently diverted into goal by Matthews.
Caldentey capped off the half with a sumptuous left-footed finish from just inside the box. It could have been a lot worse for Liverpool, with Frida Maanum twice being denied by the woodwork.
Arsenal’s defence was as imperious as their attack, with their high line restricting Liverpool to just two touches in the box in the first half.
With one eye on the Madrid clash, Slegers replaced Katie McCabe with United States international Jenna Nighswonger at half-time.
Beth Mead came off the bench near the hour-mark and made an instant impact after her cross was poked home by the unfortunate Matthews for the second time in the game.
But perhaps the loudest cheer of the evening came in the 74th minute, when Pelova came on for Caldentey. It was her first appearance for the club in 308 days after suffering an ACL injury in June last year.
