Matildas’ stars help Arsenal to victory in WSL as Mackenzie Arnold save gives West Ham a draw

In summary, following their successful Olympic qualifying campaign in Australia, the Matildas of Australia made a successful comeback to the WSL in England.
While Mackenzie Arnold and Katrina Gorry represented West Ham, Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, and Kyra Cooney-Cross were active.
What comes next? On March 16, the WSL will resume, with Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea vying for the championship.

Only a few days after leading the Matildas to the Olympics, Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, and Kyra Cooney-Cross helped Arsenal secure a crucial Women’s Super League victory to round off a demanding week.
In Melbourne on Wednesday, the three of them began the international as Australia finished their two-leg, four-day Olympic qualifying campaign with a 10-0 victory over Uzbekistan, following their 3-0 triumph in Tashkent.
However, following the players’ return to England, Jonas Eidevall, the manager of Arsenal, made no difficulty in starting Australian captain Catley and striker Foord in Sunday’s local derby against Tottenham, which drew 60,050 spectators to the Emirates Stadium.
That number was barely behind the all-time WSL attendance high of 60,160, which was set in February when Arsenal defeated Manchester United.
Even with all those international goals, the Gunners just needed one goal to defeated their rivals in North London 1-0 and, despite behind by three points, maintained their title challenge.
After coming off the bench for the final fifteen minutes, Cooney-Cross participated aggressively in a game that the home team dominated and was only able to win thanks to a goal from Alessia Russo in the 49th minute.
Throughout, Catley and Foord had a significant impact, using their near-telepathic communication to connect up down Arsenal’s left flank.
However, the end result fell short when Foord, who was provided with a beautiful through pass from her international colleague, proved to be a bit too elaborate in the box shortly before halftime. Despite her demanding week, Foord’s labor rate was usually non-stop until the 84th minute, when she was finally rested and replaced. Mackenzie Arnold, the Matildas goalkeeper, had a thrilling afternoon during West Ham’s 1-1 tie with Manchester United.
Rachel Williams gave the visitors the lead early on after a rash pass to her Matildas teammate Katrina Gorry resulted in the ball being pickpocketed.
Before the half, Arnold made up for his earlier mistake by stopping Williams brilliantly, and five minutes from the end, Viviane Asseyi’s spectacular finish gave the Hammers an equalizer.
Arnold’s drop-kick struck Williams just before the end, and the ball fell to the Manchester United striker, who failed to score what was essentially an open goal.
With a 4-0 victory at Leicester that included January signing Eden Hazard’s first WSL goal, Chelsea returned to the top of the standings, ahead of Manchester City on goal differential Ramirez Maya.