1) Wastefulness Gets Punished in this League. 

The real frustration from today’s result is how profligate Arsenal were in front of goal. The Gunners certainly should’ve gone into the break with a two or three goal cushion, with Blackstenius being sent through one-on-one numerous times without coming away with a goal. This wastefulness was, inevitably, punished with two out-of-nothing goals for City (one being the product of a lucky deflection, the other the result of a twenty-yard worldie). 

Naturally, fans may point to the decision not to start either Mead or Russo as a root cause of this issue. Hindsight is 20-20, isn’t it? But I felt Blackstenius was generally very good today; and to miss guilt-edged chances, you have to get into guilt-edged positions, which she did excellently in the first half. Equally, Russo missed a fantastic 

opportunity in the dying embers of the game, too, so I suppose the blame for Arsenal’s ineffectiveness in front of goal has to be shared around the dressing room. Whatever the cause, Arsenal will need to be more clinical if we want to push on towards our ambitious, singular objective in the League this season. 

2) High-Line Joy. 

In the first-half especially, Arsenal played out very well from the back. Once the ball found its way into the central third of the pitch, the Gunners had so much joy in playing balls in behind City’s high lines onto both flanks. This created chance after chance, which really should’ve led to more goals. We also demonstrated the ability to cause trouble with an even more direct approach, with McCabe regularly looking to go long into Blackstenius (just as was the case for our winner against City during the last campaign).

Whilst this was very pleasing to see this afternoon, and was fruitful against City’s defensive set-up, it of course accentuates the long-documented questions about Arsenal’s approach against lower blocks. I guess the solutions to this issue remain to be played out in 2024-25. 

3) We’ve Got McCabe. 

Katie McCabe had a difficult evening out in Sweden in mid-week, but returned to The Carpet with an absolute zing this afternoon. She put on a resounding defensive display, pulling out a last-ditched tackle after a perfectly timed block. She was equally imperious in instigating the Arsenal attack, and took the game by the scruff of the neck to help generate Arsenal’s second-half equaliser. If we needed any further proof that she’s absolutely vital to this team, today’s display was an emphatic illustration of her abilities, and of her spirit.