Renée Slegers reacted with visible frustration as Manchester City recovered to beat Arsenal 4-2 in a Women’s Super League match at the Etihad, after Lisa Baum had given the visitors the lead. Khadija Shaw’s late goal sealed the victory, according to ESPN.
Arsenal took the lead twice but could not hold it, and lost forward Mariona Caldentey to what appeared to be a hamstring injury during the contest. Baum’s opener came after Ayaka Yamashita palmed a Lotte Wubben-Moy header into her path; had VAR been operating, the goal may have been judged offside, ESPN reported. City were level three minutes later when Lauren Hemp’s effort deflected off Emily Fox.
Early in the second half Shaw missed a gilt-edged chance, then Alessia Russo capitalised on a turnover from Yui Hasegawa to score her first WSL goal. Substitute Kerstin Casparij restored parity with a long-range strike soon after coming on, before Hemp put City ahead and Shaw finished the scoring six minutes from time. ESPN noted that the result extended City’s flawless start to the WSL season.
The defeat leaves Arsenal 10 points adrift of City and in 10th place, having won only one of their opening five league fixtures, according to ESPN. The run has intensified scrutiny on Slegers ahead of the international break. In her postmatch news conference Slegers said the brief break would allow players to change environment and return with fresh energy, and added she remained “full of energy” and committed to the club.
The result followed a narrow WSL loss to Chelsea and a midweek Champions League setback at Paris FC, when Arsenal surrendered a two-goal advantage. The campaign has included an incident in which Leah Williamson conceded a penalty after handling the ball inside the box, an episode ESPN said compounded the sense of a team in trouble. Sources told ESPN that Slegers apologised for initially avoiding postmatch media duties because she was too angry to face the press.
