By Tony Attwood
It’s a bit of a treat on TV at the moment. Last night we had on Arsenal TV a wonderful victory over Chelsea in the under 23 league, leaving the table looking like this
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City U23 | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 43 | 27 | 16 | 36 |
| 2 | West Ham United U23 | 17 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 42 | 22 | 20 | 35 |
| 3 | Arsenal U23 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 44 | 34 | 10 | 32 |
| 4 | Tottenham HotspurU23 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 39 | 25 | 14 | 29 |
It really was good to watch, and if you have not seen an under 23 game I would strongly recommend it – although I must say it took my laptop a little while to make the connection.
Anyway in a few minutes time (which is why I am rushing this little article along) Arsenal are playing Manchester United in the super league, kick off 1230 GMT. It’s on Sky. Here’s the table as it stands before the game…
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal Women | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 7 | 26 | 29 |
| 2 | Chelsea Women | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 6 | 23 | 25 |
| 3 | Manchester United Women | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 13 | 14 | 24 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 21 |
| 5 | Manchester City Women | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 29 | 19 | 10 | 20 |
| 6 | Reading Women | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 19 |
| 7 | West Ham United Women | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 17 |
| 8 | Brighton and Hove Albion Women | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 18 | -5 | 16 |
| 9 | Aston Villa Women | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 26 | -18 | 13 |
| 10 | Everton Women | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 19 | -10 | 11 |
| 11 | Leicester City Women | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 7 | 26 | -19 | 6 |
| 12 | Birmingham City Women | 13 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 34 | -26 | 4 |
So very much first v third. Following this at the end of the week we play Chelsea away and then after that Chelsea play Manchester City.
Manchester United have won their last four games and they knocked us out of the Continental Cup (a competition that we used to take as our own personal property).
But one thing this team does is recover, as we did in the last game beating Brighton after going behind.
This is the line up supplied by the Guardian (my TV set is not in the same room as my computer which is why I am rushing and not picking up info from Sky).
Zinsberger,
Maritz, Beattie, Catley, McCabe,
Walti, Nobbs,
Little, Mead, Miedema,
Heath.
However I know that Williamson is not playing because of having played so many games of late. The subs are Williams, Boye, Souza, Wienroither, Maanum, Foord, Parris, Blackstenius.
So, very sorry for the very brief coverage, but do hope that gives you enough time to get the TV on if you are not at the stadium.
If you can’t get to a TV set or don’t have Sky or whichever channel is running it in your country, there are regular updates on the Guardian website, and I suspect on Arsenal TV although I haven’t checked the website.
Tony,
Thanks for this preview
The game has just finished 1-1.
Again I am afraid the referee’s poor decision making cost us points. There was a clear foul on Mead in the passage of play leading up to the corner from which United scored their goal. Free kick to us not a corner to United. I despair of us getting competent match officials. Four wrong decisions against us in the opening 9 minutes set the tone for the match.
Viv was unlucky not to get an equaliser in the first half when her thunderous shot came back off the underside of the bar rather than nestling in the back of the net as we all hoped.
Late on Katie McCabe got a second yellow card and hopes of us getting an equaliser all but vanished but with minutes remaining Viv controlled the ball midway in our half and hit a wonderful long ball for substitute Stina Blackstenius who outpaced the retreating United defenders before calmly slotting the ball home.
We survived intense United pressure in the 7 minutes of added time for a hard fought draw.
Chelsea play Man City tomorrow and I hope for anything other than a Chelsea win.
At least the referee stopped play correctly after diverting an Arsenal pass, in contrast to the recent experience which cost us a goal against Man City.
Since PGMOL decided to involve themselves in the WSL, the refereeing there has deteriorated to the point where the agenda is now as obvious as in the the men’s game.