Arsenal bounce back from their heavy defeat to Chelsea last weekend with a competent FA Cup win against last year’s runners up, West Ham.
The Gunners’ first goal came from a superb strike from Katie McCabe as she skipped past her marker and fired the ball into the top corner in the opening minutes.
Arsenal continued to dominate the first half with their famous free-flowing football.
The Hammers grew into the game early in second half. Manager Matt Beard admitted they didn’t start off particularly well. His message to the players at half time was: “Step in, be a bit higher and don’t let Arsenal get into a rhythm.”
Embed from Getty ImagesWest Ham restarted after the break on the front foot much, winning the
ball higher up the pitch as their best chance of the game followed.
Kenza Dali collected a failed clearance on the edge of the area and her shot rattled the bar.
A first-time goal to see them through
Despite their surge in performance, the opposition put the game to bed in the 73rd minute through Lia Wälti. The Swiss international buried her chance and scored her first goal for Arsenal.
“From my perspective, we just have to believe in ourselves from the start,” said Beard. “Rather than take until half time for us to start doing what we’re asking them to do.”
Embed from Getty ImagesLooking for positive towards their next game, the West Ham boss stated: “We had a period today – probably 30-35 minutes – where I felt we
dominated the game and we stopped probably the best passing team in
the division.
“We forced them into a lot of turnovers and errors we’re going to
have to do the same against Chelsea because Chelsea are obviously a
world class team as well.”
The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup will take place this evening on the BBC News Channel at 6.40pm.
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