FAWSL Tactical Analysis: Arsenal Women’s Winning Streak Ends With 2-0 Manchester City Women Defeat

Arsenal Women’s FAWSL winning streak finally came to an end in a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City Women. The result brings 2^nd place City three points closer to Arsenal at the top of the table. It was a result that killed many peoples football acca tips given the run the Arsenal team had been on.

In recent weeks, Arsenal Women have suffered injuries to key players which took its toll. Without Kim Little, Jordan Nobbs, Emma Mitchell and more, the lineup was somewhat makeshift. This saw Dominique Bloodworth move back out of midfield and to left back. With this, Katie McCabe moved more central but how did the game pan out?

In this tactical analysis, I’ll outline how Manchester City got the better of Arsenal and whether Arsenal looked different without their stars.

Arsenal continue to press high

This season, one of the biggest aspects of Arsenal’s play has been pressing. This is something that isn’t reliant on quality, but hard work. Therefore, we saw this in action yet again. However, against such high-quality opposition, they were picked out at times.

Manchester City’s danger areas

Getting in behind the Arsenal midfield is where Manchester City found their joy. Here, they showed their quality and were able to work they way through the thirds with great precision.

Seeing as Arsenal’s full-backs Lisa Evans and Bloodworth haven’t been playing in those positions regularly, spaces in behind them were found often by City.