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Gunners utterly dominate Brighton
Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper Megan Walsh (left) claims the ball from Arsenal's Caitlin Foord

Arsenal 3-0 Brighton
by Layth Yousif

AN UTTERLY dominant Arsenal Women beat Brighton Women 3-0 to reach 2021’s delayed FA Cup final at Wembley in December.  

Second-half goals from Kim Little, Beth Mead and captain Leah Williamson saw Jonas Eidevall’s Gunners ease past the visitors from the south coast.  

It was fitting that there were fireworks let off outside Meadow Park during the match, which was aired live on the BBC: the football that the 14-time cup winners played on Sunday evening deserved to be illuminated.  

Everywhere you looked the home side offered the top quality to dominate Hope Powell’s side. 

Despite the world-class Viv Miedema missing, given extra rest after the latest round of international fixtures, as well as Lotte Wubben-Moy and Tobin Heath, Arsenal could still field Mead, Nikita Parris and Australia’s Caitline Foord as an attacking trident that troubled the Brighton back line throughout.

After a shapeless opening, the lively Foord was denied by Brighton keeper Megan Walsh before sending a header narrowly wide from a Little centre. 

Parris nearly opened the scoring when her header beat the busy Walsh before Victoria Williams showed great anticipation to clear off the line but, despite 64 per cent possession, Arsenal failed to break the deadlock by the interval.  

However, just like the north London derby in September when Arsenal trounced Spurs 5-1, you did feel that once the home side scored there would be no way back for their increasingly beleaguered opponents — which is what transpired five minutes after the break, when Little slotted home from close range to make it 1-0 following good work by Mead down the flank. 

Four minutes later Mead doubled the lead after dovetailing well with Jordan Nobbs to make it 2-0.  

The in-form Mead has now notched 10 goals and provided 15 assists in only 16 matches for club and country this term, including three strikes and three assists in five league games, not to mention a 14-minute hat-trick for England against Northern Ireland at Wembley last week, an achievement that she was rightly lauded for prior to kick-off.  

There was time for the crowd to be entertained still further when talented livewire Mana Iwabuchi replaced the superb Foord on 65 minutes.  

Facing such an array of relentless intensity, there was simply no way back for Brighton, although former Gunner Danielle Carter, who grabbed the winner when the club last lifted the trophy five years ago, looked lively throughout the match. The generous home crowd acclaimed her return following desperately bad luck with injuries during her time in red and white.  

As the clock ticked down and with Wembley beckoning, it was fitting that the outstanding Williamson scored to make it 3-0 on 76 minutes.  

It should be noted that Williamson’s calm presence, leadership and technical ability at the heart of the back line was the platform on which this victory was built. 

The Arsenal number six received the biggest cheer of the night from the crowd amid the joyous celebrations when she was replaced late on by Teyah Goldie —  not a bad week for the player who captained England last week as she steered her side to a record 17th final. 

The Gunners will now face London rivals Chelsea for the third time in six years at Wembley on Sunday December 5. 

Arsenal last won the Women's FA Cup in 2016 when they beat Chelsea 1-0, though they lost their most recent final against Emma Hayes’s Blues team in 2018.

The showpiece date will mark exactly 100 years since the FA shamefully banned women’s football as distracting from the men’s game after Dick Kerr’s Ladies regularly attracted crowds of more than 50,000 at grounds such as Goodison Park. 

Hopefully there will be more than that number cheering on the red and blue of London’s two best teams at the national stadium.

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