Everton Ladies keep it close against first-place Arsenal

Everton Ladies have a lot to be proud of from their Sunday game against Arsenal, the most successful side in the history of English women’s football. The Gunners are in first place and have the opportunity to clinch the league title with a next win.

In front of 2,000 spectators at Meadow Park, Everton showed a vast improvement over their 4-0 home loss against Arsenal in November, losing by only a point this time around. The Gunners are capable of beating teams with brutal score lines like 7-0, so Sunday’s result of 2-1 is highly respectable. The Blues also increased their possession 8% from their last fixture to 39%.

Arsenal started the scoring in the first five minutes, scoring off of a corner. Everton conceded two goals off of corners in their last game and it has been a pattern throughout their season.

Gunners forward, Vivianne Miedema, made it look easy to go up 2-0, beating several Everton defenders to score on the same side of the net where the first goal went in.

The second half was much better for Everton, being given a rare opportunity to score on Arsenal when their goalie picked up a backpass from her own defender, awarding the Blues an indirect free pick from inside the penalty area, which was slotted into the net by Chaney Boye-Hlorkah:

Boye-Hlorkah scored for the Blues against second-place Man City, so she is proving to be a player who can produce against the toughest teams.

Everton may have lost but they showed a lot of fight, especially for a team without one of their top players, defender Gabby George, who is out through injury.

Next up:

Everton plays fifth place Reading on Sunday, April 28th.