Arsenal put in an assured display to beat West Ham 2-0 at Rush Green in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Wälti finished excellently on the volley in the second half from a Beth Mead corner, to add to left back Katie McCabe’s curled finish in the first half.
There were question marks over Arsenal after last week’s 4-1 league defeat to Chelsea, while West Ham were looking to emulate their success as finalists in last season's competition. Both teams started cagily, probing but not pulsating. The Gunners passed the ball around patiently and were rewarded with a goal 15 minutes in when captain Kim Little drove through the West Ham defence and turned her marker, squaring for McCabe on the edge of the box, who showed quick feet to curl the ball into the top right hand corner. That settled the Gunners and Little nearly made it two on 20 minutes, but her searing shot was well saved by keeper Courtney Brosnan.
West Ham struggled to create any shots on target, their best chance of the half coming on 36 minutes when Kenza Dali did well down the right on the overlap and found Julia Simic in the box unmarked, but she could only skew her header wide. After the break, Dali beat Little to a loose ball on the edge of the box and volleyed a shot on 56 minutes that rattled the crossbar. That seemed to rally West Ham but Arsenal reacted clinically on 73 minutes when Wälti volleyed in sublimely for their second of the game. Two minutes later Mead pulled the strings again, playing through an inch perfect ball for Miedema who could only shoot straight at Brosnan. Miedema squandered another chance four minutes from time after being played through by Little, but two goals were enough for Arsenal who are in the hat for the next round and shaking off the Chelsea-shaped shadows of last weekend's torrid opening twenty minutes.
For his part, Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro was nonchalant about his side's response. “We didn’t do well last week, we assessed it, we looked at it and we understood why,” he said. “It was never in doubt that we were going to come back – that’s in our DNA. It’s two and a half years I’ve been here and that was just a bad performance. Chelsea came at us and they got us – we can handle the pressure well and life moves on.”
Wälti spoke of the spirit in the team following the huge disappointment at the final whistle in a sold out Meadow Park last week. “It was very important to bounce back. We needed to show a reaction and we did. Maybe a bit different today than we usually play – it was more about the fight.”
“We had a team talk about different things like more about mentality and emotional stuff,” Wälti expanded. “I think we didn’t lose the game playing football we lost it in our heads, and we needed to get rid of these thoughts. With the training we had this week we all had a positive feeling again. You could feel in the group the Chelsea game didn’t change anything and that was the reaction that we wanted.” The defensive midfielder missed much of last season after surgery on her knee but is regaining form and fitness to become an important player for the Gunners. She was delighted to pop up with her first Arsenal goal to help them advance into the next round of the cup. “I didn’t really think about scoring,” she said. I was asking myself ‘why am I in the box?' because usually when we have a corner I’m defending! The shot I had in the first half went about 40 yards over the bar,” she joked, “so I’m glad I hit that one well."
Montemurro poked fun at his player after the game but was clearly pleased with Wälti’s contribution, basking in the rarity of his central midfielder finishing with such aplomb. “She ballooned one in the first half – I think they’re still looking for the ball! We had a bit of a laugh at half time. But seriously, we work hard at set pieces, putting the ball into certain areas and when you’ve got players like Mead, Little and McCabe who are able to service that sort of finish it can make fantastic results.”
Mead has contributed an impressive 14 assists from 18 starts this season and always looks menacing putting balls into the box. Miedema is yet to score in 2020 but the Gunners won't care where the goals come from with pivotal fixtures coming thick and fast. They play Manchester City on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the Conti Cup before facing them again on Sunday for another top-of-the-table WSL clash. “City are one of the best teams in the league so we need to be even better than today especially scoring goals and taking our chances,” she said. “We’ve said we don’t care what competition it is, we just wanted to reach each final. We’re going to go for it.”
Reigning WSL champions Arsenal lost 4-1 to Chelse in a much anticipated clash between to the two London rivals.
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