Manchester City Women won a tight Continental Cup final against Arsenal Women on Saturday. A tight game throughout, penalties were needed to separate the sides. City avenged their 1-0 Continental Cup Final defeat to Arsenal last season. As for Arsenal, their hopes of a domestic double were ended. This was after their treble hopes were dashed against Chelsea Women the previous weekend.
A big reason for Arsenal’s cup exits have been the injuries they have had mounting up. This has left Joe Montemurro with a much-depleted squad to pick from in recent weeks. This was the case again as star striker Vivianne Miedema, who has 25 goals this season, started the game on the bench. This tactical analysis will examine how the game unfolded and why it was such a tight affair.
Both sides close off spaces
Sitting first and second in the FAWSL, City and Arsenal have been top quality this season. As well as on the ball, they’ve shown quality off it and that was evident again on Saturday. Not wanting to give chances away cheaply, both sides began the game trying to lock any doors that could have been opened.
For Arsenal, they continued to execute this in a way they’ve done all season. In possession, they usually use a 4-3-3 but that usually changes to a 4-4-2 out of possession. Below we can see how that came about early in the game.
You can read the rest of this match analysis by clicking here.
