What Happened: Arsenal's FA Cup exit, lively Liverpool, and prepare for another Manchester derby
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at some of the big stories in women's football and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback
Welcome to the latest edition of What Happened, The Cutback’s weekly newsletter that sums up some of the big stories from the weekend of women’s football.
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The Women’s FA Cup returned over the weekend with the quarter-final stage of the competition taking place.
All of the WSL’s ‘big four’ were handed favourable ties, but it was Arsenal and Chelsea that made hardest work of their fixtures. Fourteen-time winners Arsenal were the only top-four side to lose in the last eight. More on that below.
There were far more straightforward wins for the two Manchester clubs. For Manchester City, it’s another final four appearance in domestic cup competitions, but FA Cup holders Manchester United will be hoping they can cause even more heartbreak for their city rivals when they face off in the semi finals. Yes, the football gods have blessed us with yet another Manchester derby.
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In today’s issue: Arsenal out the cup, City try and turn a corner
Arsenal out of the FA Cup
After last week’s chaotic showing in a 4-3 win against West Ham, Arsenal fans would have been hoping to be reassured with a calm and controlled performance against Liverpool in the quarter finals of the cup.
It ended up being a bit of a disaster. Renee Sleger’s side put in a flat and frustrating performance as they struggled to create many good chances in 100 minutes of football. Arsenal were under pressure for large parts of the game as Liverpool burst forward through Olivia Smith and continuously won the physical battle upfront, as Sophie Roman Haug successfully bullied Arsenal’s defenders off the ball in most duels.
In fact, it was physicality that was Liverpool’s main tactic of the day and it paid off.
It wasn’t a classic game of football by any means and it took a lot of luck for Liverpool to eventually get the winner. The ball fell to Roman Haug just inside Arsenal’s box, her strike hit the post and rebounded off the head of Arsenal goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar and into the back of the net. An unfortunate own goal for the Dutch keeper, who looked a bit shaky all afternoon.
There will be more analysis on that game from our Arsenal writer Max Radwan tomorrow.
This is a huge result for Liverpool who return to the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2017. Liverpool have never won the trophy, they’ve been a runner-up on three occasions so this really is dare to dream territory.
Last season, there was bitter disappointment when they exited at the quarter-final stage after a defeat to Leicester City. This result seems even more impressive given the recent managerial change. Matt Beard left his role as head coach two weeks ago and this performance and result definitely boosts interim head coach Amber Whiteley’s chances of landing the full-time job.
The team standing in the way of Liverpool getting their big day at Wembley is none other than Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea. If Liverpool can channel the spirit of last season’s chaotic game at Prenton Park, then anything is possible.
For Arsenal, another season without an FA Cup trophy goes by. The Gunners last won the prestigious crown in 2016. For a club of that size and with that much history in the competition, it’s a massive disappointment and embarrassment not to even be in the semi finals.
Manchester City hold their nerve against Villa
It’s been a rollercoaster season for Manchester City.
There was the unbelievable high of a win against Barcelona at the start of their Champions League group stage campaign, followed by the lows of defeat to Chelsea, United and Arsenal in the league.
Gareth Taylor’s side have had to navigate an injury crisis and falling behind in the race for next season’s Champions League places, but they somehow still find themselves in a League Cup final and semi finals of the FA Cup.
A lot of City’s failings have been their own doing, so they need to take some responsibility for how their WSL campaign has fallen apart, but cup competitions have once again come to rescue their season.
Against Villa, City had to withstand a few first half chances for the away side, but a great finish from Bunny Shaw and a second from Jess Park got the job done.
Uma Gurav has gone deeper on City’s reliance on Bunny Shaw in a piece exclusive to paid members. That will be out at lunchtime.
Here are the semi final ties:
Manchester City-Manchester United
Chelsea-Liverpool
See you same time next week.