Spirited performance undone by Russo as Arsenal claim victory in the WSL

Alessia Russo’s goal in the early stages of the second half saw Arsenal claim a 1-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Having withstood an early amount of pressure from the Gunners in the opening quarter, we carved out the best two opportunities of the first half, Martha Thomas denied by Manuela Zinsberger before Jessica Naz’s effort was tipped onto the crossbar.

However, the hosts delivered the sucker punch four minutes into the second half, Russo firing home from close range and, although we continued to pose a threat going forward, Ramona Petzelberger seeing a shot blocked inside the box, the one goal was enough to separate the two sides.

While that leaves without a win in the WSL in four games, there would have been plenty of positives to build on ahead of our Adobe Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Manchester City at Brisbane Road in a week’s time.

Defender Ashleigh Neville, who hasn’t featured since the West Ham United victory in January, returned to the starting XI as part of the three changes that Vilahamn made from our last outing against Aston Villa, with Becky Spencer and Naz also coming in, while midfielder Drew Spence was named in the matchday squad for the first time since November.

The hosts started on the front foot, forcing a number of corners in the opening stages, but nothing to test Spencer, who was making her first start in the league since December, as Russo went closest with a side-footed volley at the back-post, failing to hit the target.

We slowly grew into the game, Celin Bizet being a constant problem down the Gunners’ right-hand side, and we arguably created two of the best chances in the first 45, Thomas forced herself into the box and her left-footed effort from a tight angle was comfortably claimed by Zinsberger.

As the clock ticked towards the half hour mark, Naz then saw her curling effort from the left-hand side of the box pushed onto the crossbar by Zinsberger, while at the other end, we showed some brave defending on numerous occasions to thwart the Gunners to very few clear-cut opportunities.

However, within the four minutes after the break, the hosts broke the deadlock as a chipped ball into the box found Beth Mead and, although Amanda Nildén managed to get a foot on the ball, it fell kindly to Russo to fire home from inside the six-yard box.

Vilahamn made a triple change just after the hour mark, which include the return of Spence onto the pitch for the first time in four months following a lengthy spell on the sidelines, as the hosts started to take a foot hold in the game.

Although we continued to pose a threat when going forward, Petzelberger’s effort from inside the box striking a number of bodies, while Spencer had to be alert to keep the deficit at one as her wayward pass presented an opportunity to Stina Blackstenius but our number one was out quickly to block her effort at the near-post.

Bethany England rose the highest to Matilda Vinberg’s cross deep into injury-time and our captain couldn’t direct her header towards goal, as the Gunners secured the three points in our first game back since the international break.

Match data

Goals: Arsenal – Russo 49.

Yellow cards: Arsenal - Wubben-Moy 65, McCabe 80; Spurs – Ahtinen 79, Summanen 82, Spence 83, Clinton 85.

Referee: Abigail Byrne.

Venue: Emirates Stadium, London.

Weather: Sunny, eight degrees.

Attendance: 60,050.