Leah Williamson and Kim Little take pride as Arsenal sink Chelsea to end trophy wait

The
leader
of
the
Lionesses
is
vice-captain
of
Arsenal,
with
the
25-year-old
having
been
part
of
the
side
that
won
the
2018-19
Women’s
Super
League.

Sunday’s
success
at
Selhurst
Park
was
the
first
silverware
the
team
have
won
since
that
league
championship,
with
captain
Kim
Little
scoring
from
the
spot
in
a
3-1
win
over
Emma
Hayes’ Blues.

Australia
star
Sam
Kerr
headed
Chelsea
into
a
second-minute
lead,
with
the
side
from
west
London
looking
to
follow
up
their
FA
Cup
victory
over
Arsenal
from
seven
days
earlier.

However,
Arsenal
turned
it
around,
with
Swedish
forward
Stina
Blackstenius
slotting
a
16th-minute
equaliser
before
Scottish
midfielder
Little
netted
a
penalty
eight
minutes
later
after
Katie
McCabe
was
tripped.

An
own
goal
from
Niamh
Charles
in
first-half
stoppage
time
turned
out
to
be
the
game’s
final
goal,
giving
Arsenal
a
record-extending
sixth
triumph
in
the
competition.

Williamson
said
of
the
result:
“I
feel
good,
you’ve
got
to
break
the
chain
at
some
point
so
today
was
that
day.”

THE
ARSENAL
pic.twitter.com/glakJmnDkt

—
Arsenal
Women
(@ArsenalWFC)

March
5,
2023

Satisfied
skipper
Little
told
BBC
Sport:
“I’m
so
proud
of
the
team.
Off
the
back
of
last
week’s
result
we
needed
to
turn
it
around,
and
we
had
a
good
week’s
training
and
talked
about
a
lot
of
things
we
needed
to
be
better
at.

“I
was
thinking
after
they
scored,
‘what
could
we
have
done
to
stop
that?’,
because
it
was
such
a
good
goal.
But
because
it
was
so
early
we
just
needed
to
reset
and
we
did
that,
and
the
rest
of
our
first-half
performance
was
pretty
special
and
that’s
what
won
us
the
match
today.

“We
want
to
win
trophies,
and
we’re
disappointed
in
ourselves
that
we’ve
not
done
that
before
now,
but
here
it
is,
and
I’m
just
happy
and
proud
of
the
girls.”

Arsenal
edged
the
game
by
1.56
to
1.20
on
expected
goals,
despite
having
just
eight
goal
attempts
to
14
by
Chelsea.

Head
coach
Jonas
Eidevall,
who
has
delivered
silverware
just
18
months
into
his
reign,
gave
his
coat
away
after
the
game
to
a
fan
who
had
offered
the
team
encouragement
after
the
FA
Cup
loss
to
Chelsea.

The
Swedish
coach
explained
to
arsenal.com:
“I
said,
‘People
like
you
are
what
make
this
football
club
great.
Your
optimism
gives
me
energy,
and
I
can
give
that
back
to
the
team
and
it
can
help
our
performance.
So,
you
come
here
and
do
the
same
thing
next
Sunday
and
we
win,
you’ll
get
my
coat.’

“I’m
very
happy
for
him,
very
happy
for
us
and
now
I
just
need
to
sort
out
a
new
coat.”

Tonight,

@Eidevall
gave
away
his
coat
to
a
loyal
supporter…

The
reason?
Well,
just
watch
this
pic.twitter.com/qAUHK7ZJlh

—
Arsenal
Women
(@ArsenalWFC)

March
5,
2023