Arsenal bully Chelsea, PSG struggle, Real Madrid lose late،
Arsenal beat Chelsea to move into a tie at the top of the Women's Super League (WSL), while Liga F leaders Barcelona continued their dominance as Real Madrid conceded late goals against Sevilla. And all is not well at Paris Saint-Germain. If there's one thing we learned from European football this weekend, it's that everything can change in the final minutes.
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Arsenal turn on the style against Chelsea
In a statement, Arsenal “bullied” Chelsea (Emma Hayes' post-match words) in a 4-1 victory played in front of a record crowd of 59,042 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday lunchtime.
The Gunners were on point from the opening minutes and scored three goals in the first half as Beth Mead scored in the eighth minute and Alessia Russo and Victoria Pelova ran the show. Chelsea boss Hayes looked visibly frustrated on the sidelines as his side failed to find their connections and failed to find their way through the Arsenal press.
A series of half-time changes, including a change of formation, failed to turn the tide and Russo's 74th-minute penalty saw Arsenal close the gap at the top of the table – now just behind their title rivals on goal difference –. to hand Chelsea their first WSL defeat of the season.
A defeat like this has often fueled the Blues during Hayes' tenure, so good luck to Häcken who travel to Stamford Bridge to face the English champions in the Champions League on Thursday.
Malard inflicts another defeat on Tottenham
Before the international break, Tottenham suffered a 7-0 defeat to Manchester City which didn't seem to justify such a heavy scoreline, and on Sunday Manchester United came away with something similar in a comfortable 4-0 victory.
The goals that Spurs seemed to score in abundance at the start of the season have disappeared and Robert Vilahamn's side are struggling to put the pieces together – although a series of punishing matches have contributed to their five-game winless streak.
Vilahamn has made it clear there will be setbacks, but his biggest challenge is getting his team to stay in games after conceding and without letting panic set in. That didn't happen here as Hannah Blundell's cross caused confusion and was headed home by Melvine. Malard in the 29th minute, before the French international passed for Ella Toone and scored a third before the hour mark. Hailey Ladd's swirling finish then left goalkeeper Becky Spencer in place for the fourth.
Spurs didn't play badly and the return of forward Beth England – who played 55 minutes after hip surgery – was a boost. But they need to stop the flow of goals and find a way to get back to where they were at the start of the season.
Terland to the rescue
Brighton have struggled for consistency this season, which is understandable given the high turnover of players over the summer, and the results – even taking into account a difficult race against the top four in the last season – were inconsistent to say the least.
Against Leicester, the Seagulls looked like a new team again and were pushed around by their opponents (who had 66% possession) as two goals either side of the break appeared to have settled the match. But Norwegian goal machine Elisabeth Terland had other ideas as she was on hand to bail out Brighton with a brace in the final eight minutes that sealed a 2-2 draw.
Terland is now the WSL's top scorer with seven, but has scored 70% of Brighton's goals herself and that will need to change if the team is to move up the table.
The villa let the hemp run wild
After taking the lead in the seventh minute through Danielle Turner at the Joie Stadium, it was always going to be a difficult task for struggling Aston Villa to hold on against Manchester City. Yet there were times when the visitors looked capable of weathering the storm with a mix of last-ditch defense and slices of luck.
Ultimately, it was sloppy marking from England striker Lauren Hemp that proved to be their downfall, as she was left free twice in the space of four minutes in the second half to seal a victory 2-1 for City.
Unlike their title-chasing men's team this season, everything has rather lost its luster for Villa. Last year they threatened to become the best of the rest, but an attack that has impressed so much has struggled to hold on in games and the midfield is too easily overwhelmed. Villa have now lost seven times in nine games and if they are to regain stability, signing new young players in next month's transfer window is a must.
Everton get a result
Even without the 10-point deduction given to the men's team, Everton Women have not had the best season, with eight points from eight games, and with six players unavailable for their trip to Dagenham it looked difficult to beat West Ham. .
But even though they haven't been particularly impressive, the Toffees have still picked up those all-important wins – largely thanks to Courtney Brosnan's work in goal – to stay clear of the drop zone. And they did it again, with Karen Holmgaard's headed effort in the 63rd minute enough to hand the Hammers a club-record fifth successive defeat in the WSL.
For West Ham, who are sinking at the bottom of the table, it is another wasted opportunity with opportunities not taken in front of goal. But Everton will be proud to have once again emerged from a sticky situation.
Geyoro snatches a draw but PSG stumbles
Across Le Havre in the opening exchanges of French Women's Division 1 on Sunday, PSG were stunned when Ines Benyahia collected the ball and carried it up the pitch before firing a low shot at Katarzyna Kiedrzynek's goal to open the scoring in the 19th minute.
Then, regardless of how well they prevailed against the home team (18 shots; 70% possession), PSG failed to find a way forward until, just seconds In stoppage time, Grace Geyoro snatched a point with a beautiful free kick.
Overall, it was a labored performance from PSG and the third-placed team lacks the incision of top-ranked Lyon, who have 10 wins out of 10. For Le Havre, who have two wins and six draws out of 10 first rounds. , it was one of their best performances. Yes, they were in a firm defensive shape but countered with real bite and intent, which should serve them well in the second half of the season.
Real Madrid run out of luck as Sevilla leave late
From Oihane Hernández's own goal at the start of the second half to their [first] After the equalizer was incorrectly scored for offside, Real Madrid found themselves out of luck in their 3-1 home defeat to Sevilla on Saturday night.
Caroline Møller's 85th-minute goal looked to have sealed the tie for a side who have so often benefited from late goals this season, but they were canceled out by two Sevilla goals in stoppage time as the hosts faded to the rear.
Now in third place in Liga F, Las Blancas are lost in a jumble of teams chasing the last European place and will have to start finding new ideas if they want to stay in the race.
Brugts hat trick helps beat resilient Eibar
Eibar, 14th out of 16 teams, did well in the first half at Barcelona, but their excellent defensive work only delayed the inevitable as the hosts found the breakthrough in the 57th minute through Caroline Graham Hansen and then the floodgates opened. in an eventual 5-0 victory.
Esmee Brugts scored her first goal a minute later with a lovely side-heel finish, and her second came shortly after as she found herself alone in front of an open goal. The 20-year-old then completed an eight-minute hat-trick with a deft toe strike at Amaia Peña's near post to give Barca their 11th win in 11 games this season.
Roma find a way
Roma were mostly in the lead in the first half of their 2-1 win over AC Milan – which was what one would expect from the Italian champions – but it was the penalty Kosovare Asllani in the 24th minute which took them into the break. .
Yet without dropping a point in Serie A so far this season, Roma continued to score until Manuela Giugliano headed home just before the hour mark and their comeback was completed by Lucia Di Guglielmo six minutes later when she fired a shot across the goal. crowd to beat Laura Giuliani.
The two teams have had different fortunes in the Italian league this season. Roma, who are now in a two-legged race with Juventus for the title, have shown the type of resilience and style that will take you far in the Champions League. Milan, with five defeats in 10 games, did not do so.
Frankfurt also finds a way
From one side of UCL to the other, and from one homecoming to the other. Eintracht Frankfurt didn't get off to the best start against TSG Hoffenheim, as they fell behind after four minutes of a draw, but they persevered and, after three bites of the cherry, restored parity before the break thanks to a goal from Lara Prasnikar.
After looking a little disjointed, the hosts improved in the second half and took an early lead through Nicole Anyomi. From there, it didn't look like Frankfurt were going to relinquish the lead and they weren't, as a stoppage-time goal from Shekiera Martinez made it 3-1.
There is now a three-point gap between third-placed Frankfurt and fourth-placed Hoffenheim, but in more ways than one the other German teams remain behind leaders Wolfsburg and second-placed Bayern.
