Manchester City v Arsenal: Women’s Super League – live

Match report: Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal

Manchester City came from behind twice to win an absorbing, six-goal thriller 4-2 and continue their 100% winning start to the Women’s Super League season while heaping further pressure on Arsenal and their head coach Renée Slegers.

The defending champions, helped by Kerstin Casparij scoring a screamer with her very first touch of the ball after coming on as a second-half substitute, stretched their advantage over Arsenal to 10 points after just five rounds of matches, leaving the title hopes of last season’s runners-up hanging by a thread.

Lotte Wubben-Moy gives the Arsenal reaction

I think anything I say right now, the fans don’t wanna hear, you know? They were loud and proud today, as they always are, and it gives us extra momentum in away games.

Today we fought for ourselves, for Renee and for the fans. But ultimately the result didn’t do that justice.

We’re together as a group. When you look at the bigger picture, we’ve had two losses against two top teams – Chelsea and Manchester City. It was a game of fine margins; they just took their chances.

This is an unprecedented position for Arsenal to be in. It’s up to us to get ourselves out of it and I have no doubt we will.

City’s first equaliser has been credited to Lauren Hemp, which gives her two goals and an assist in the game. She’s the player of the match.

[On the first goal] Yeah I’ll take it! I’ll get as many as I can. I think I nicked that assist [for the second goal] as well, sorry. I didn’t mean it whatsoever, but it landed perfectly for Kerstin [Casparij] and she scored an absolute banger.

It was definitely a shot [for the first goal]. Against Madrid I was in exactly the same position and I didn’t shoot, so today I thought I’d give it a go. Even it was a Fox own goal, I doubt she’d want it so I’ll take it.

We were really clinical and did well to come back not once but twice. It just shows the character of this group.

There’s widespread applause from the Arsenal fans for Renée Slegers, who is the first to walk over to the away fans after the game. Slegers applauds them back and briefly appears to hold her hands up in apology. There’s no animosity there, from the away fans. They’re supporting her, which feels significant. I’ve seen teams endure runs like this before where there are chants for a manager to go, but there’s been nothing like that today.

An emotional Renee Slegers applauds the away end, putting her hands up as if to say sorry before patting her heart. It’s hard to tell on TV but it looked like the Arsenal fans were very supportive.

Arsenal’s game management, after taking the lead twice, has got to be questioned here, as much as we should also applaud the home side for their comebacks. The visitors are now 10 points behind the leaders in the table. This will heap all sorts of pressure on Renée Slegers.

City go into the international break with a perfect WSL record – five wins from five – after outlasting Arsenal in an excellent game. Arsenal led twice but City wouldn’t take no for answer and prevailed in the final quarter.

The result leaves Arsenal in 10th – and 10 points behind City – but there was a lot to like about their performance. Renee Slegers hasn’t lost the dressing-room. But even allowing for a desperately tough start, it’s more than a little weird to see Arsenal sitting in 10th place.

90+2 min: City substitution The outstanding Aoba Fujino is replaced by Grace Clinton.

90 min Five minutes of added time.

89 min Cerci’s daisycutter from distance is comfortably saved by Yamashita.

86 min Andree Jeglertz praised City’s resilience before the game. He’s proved them right because Arsenal have made them work extremely hard for this victory. It always felt like Arsenal needed to score again when they were 2-1 in front, because City were never going to go quietly.

Shaw missed a great chance earlier but she took this expertly. Fujino’s subtle curling pass found Shaw in a bit of space on the edge of the area; she dummied Williamson, turned back onto her right and reversed a shot that wrongfooted Borbe. It took a slight touch off Williamson but I suspect it was going in anyway.

Bunny Shaw finally gets on the scoresheet!

Manchester City's Bunny Shaw (right) scores their side's fourth goal of the game. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

81 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Smilla Holmberg and Selina Cerci on, Emily Fox and Ona Batlle off.

79 min Smith plays a one-two with Fox before shooting too close to Yamashita. Arsenal haven’t been demoralised by that Hemp goal.

78 min Arsenal’s performance has shown there isn’t a huge amount wrong at the club. But they have one very big problem: if it stays like this, they will be 10th in the WSL table and 10 points behind City.

76 min Arsenal come again. Foord cuts inside from the left and hits a deflected shot that is booted clear by Greenwood in the six-yard box.

74 min Fox seemed to dive under that cross from Hasegawa. There was another City player close by, Casparij I think, and that probably distracted her.

A fine team goal from City. After a purposeful move from one of the field to the other, Hasegawa clipped a deep cross from the right that was missed by Fox. Hemp was waiting behind her and controlled the ball deftly before sliding a low shot through the legs of Borbe. The angle was very tight but Hemp finished unerringly.

City are in front for the first time!

Lauren Hemp of Manchester City scores her team’s third goal. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

70 min: Manchester City substitution Laura Blindkilde Brown comes on for Sam Coffey.

69 min Tom Garry, our man at the Etihad, has confirmed that Casparij did indeed score with her first touch.

68 min: Arsenal substitutions Stina Blackstenius and Olivia Smith replace Georgia Stanway and Lisa Baum.

67 min Sensational defending from Leah Williamson, who diverts Beney’s fantastic low cross away from Bunny Shaw. Williamson was six yards out, facing her own goal, and simply had to get that right or Shaw would have scored.

65 min It hasn’t been confirmed but I think that was Casparij’s first touch.

Moments after coming onto the field, Kerstin Casparij scores a belter! City played a series of short passes through the middle of the field until Hemp miscontrolled Shaw’s square ball. The ball ran behind Hemp to Casparij, who opened her body and whipped a curling shot across goal from the left edge of the area. Borbe, at full stretch, got a touch with her left hand but could only help it into the net.

Now that’s what I call an impact substitute.

Manchester City's Kerstin Casparij (right) celebrates scoring their side's second goal. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

62 min: City substitutions Kerstin Casparij, Mary Fowler and Iman Beney replace Beth Mead, Carlotta Wamser and Niamh Charles.

61 min Fujino runs onto a brilliant pass – not sure who from – and shoots wide from a very tight angle. A better spell for City.

60 min City break from an Arsenal corner. Mead uses Wamser by not using her and then curls over from 25 yards.

58 min Arsenal have been the better team since going 2-1 up; in fact, this might be their chance to put City away. If it stays 2-1, City will have a spell of dominance later in the game.

55 min Charles is penalised for a challenge on Baum, who has caused her problems all afternoon. There’s a long way to go but Arsenal have been terrific.

Alessia Russo had gone seven games for club and country without scoring, prior to Wednesday night’s trip to Paris, and now she has scored in back-to-back games. That’ll be timely news for Sarina Wiegman, ahead of England’s tie against Greece.

Alessia Russo’s first WSL goal of the season is an absolute belter. City got in a tangle in defence, not once but twice. Eventually Hasegawa tried to play out from the back, only to give the ball to Russo, just inside the area to the left of centre. She took a touch and smashed a curling shot into the far corner. Yamashita had no chance.

One striker misses, the other one scores!

Arsenal's Alessia Russo scores their second goal. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images/Reuters

49 min: Great chance for City! Fujino puts Shaw through on goal with a perfectly timed pass, but a heavy touch from Shaw allows Borbe to dive bravely at her first. By Shaw’s standards, that was a glorious chance.

46 min Arsenal begin the second half.

Well, it wasn’t a great half for the first 40 minutes but then it suddenly got quite interesting. I suspect Manchester City will have a few complaints after the game about the decision to award Arsenal’s goal. Lisa Baum looked to be offside, from where I’m sitting – maybe the hosts will come up with some irrefutable evidence, who knows – but there’s no VAR in the WSL so there’s very little anyone can do.

Hemp’s equaliser at the other was aided by a big deflection, but Arsenal didn’t do enough to half the City move earlier. I suspect Renée Slegers will be frustrated that her team were unable to see the half out with their 1-0 lead. These teamtalks would feel very different if they had.

A slow-burning first half came to life with two goals just before the break. The dangerous Lisa Baum gave Arsenal a lead that did not flatter them. But nor did it last: within three minutes, Lauren Hemp’s cross was deflected into her own net by Emily Fox.

45+3 min: Arsenal substitution Caitlin Foord replaces the injured Mariona Caldentey.

45+3 min Arsenal were down to ten when the goal was scored, with Mariona Caldentey down off the ball. She’s still being treated and looks in a fair bit of pain.

Shaw held the ball up excellently on the edge of the area and played a short pass to Charles. She moved it onto Hemp, whose driven cross took a big deflection off Fox and whistled past Borbe. That’ll go down as an own goal.

An instant equaliser from City!

Manchester City's Lauren Hemp scores their first goal via a big deflection. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images/Reuters

45 min Three minutes of added time.

It was a scruffy goal, the hell Arsenal will care. A corner was half cleared, then driven back into the area by Russo on the right. Wubben-Moy’s downward header bounced up awkwardly in front of Yamashita, who tried to shovel it away but could only push the ball against Baum and back into the net.

Baum looked fractionally offside to the naked eye. I guess we know from recent City matches that the naked eye isn’t always reliable when it comes to offside.

Arsenal strike first through their brilliant teenage winger Lisa Baum!

Lisa Baum of Arsenal scores her team’s first goal. Photograph: Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Baum celebrates scoring her team’s first goal. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

39 min Sam Coffey is down with an ankle problem. Her match might be over.

37 min The resulting corner is taken short and worked back to Stanway, whose low drive from 20 yards hits the side netting. Yamashita had it covered.

36 min: Good save by Yamashita! Fox controls a crossfield pass on the run and drives a crisp shot back across goal. Yamashita gets down smartly to her right to fingertip it round the post. That’s the best save of the match to date.

35 min: Disallowed goal for City! Wamser’s deep cross is claimed by the stretching Borbe, who a split-second later is flattened by Shaw. The ball bounces into the net but the goal is disallowed, either for a foul of because Borbe had two hands on the ball. Possibly both.

Khadija Shaw of Manchester City scores a goal which is later disallowed. Photograph: Molly Darlington/WSL/WSL Football/Getty Images

32 min The longer it stays like this – not just goalless but largely chanceless – the more important the first goal becomes. It’s not a poor game by any means. We’ve juad an unusual ratio of openings (loads) to chances (very few, if any).

30 min Wamser storms into the City area and is tackled crucially, if riskily, by the stretching Batlle. She had to get that right.

There we have it. ‘Same old City, always cheating!’ is the chant from the Arsenal fans whilst Bunny Shaw is down on the floor, briefly receiving treatment. It took them 26 minutes.

26 min At the other end, Caldentey slithers away form Wamser and into the area, but Wamser stays with her and eventually Caldentey’s cutback from the byline is blocked by the keeper Yamashita.

25 min Shaw charges away from Wubben-Moy and hits a rising shot from 22 yards. It’s too straight and saved comfortably by Borbe. But that was City’s first shot on target and it has got the crowd going.

21 min Baum again tries to run Charles in the penalty area. This time Charles makes an excellently judged tackle, with the ball ricocheting back off Baum for a City goalkick.

There haven’t been many chances but it’s been a fascinating start to the game.

‘Is this a library?’, the Arsenal fans have been asking. In fairness, the home fans have been getting behind their team with chants such as ‘We love you City, we do’ and ‘champions of England, we know what we are’. Meanwhile, Andrée Jeglertz is standing on the edge of his technical area, looking a little frustrated so far. Renée Slegers - under huge pressure to get a result today - is sat in her seat in discussion with her backroom team.

18 min A quiet few minutes; nothing to report.