Mead leads rout for record crowd

IT was a day of broken records at the Emirates. The biggest ever attendance for a Women’s Super League match. An eighth clean sheet in a row for Arsenal, the first time it has been achieved in WSL history, and yet another victory over Tottenham. Oh, and Beth Mead scored again.

The Gunners had vowed to put on a show for their fans and they did not disappoint with goals from Mead, Rafaelle and a brace from Vivianne Miedema sealing a 4-0 win.

Arsenal sold 53,757 tickets for this game. Had all of those ticket holders shown up, the club would have broken the record for the highest ever attendance for a domestic game in the UK. As it was, 47,367 was the official crowd.

A fine effort from the club but not quite enough to match the set by Dick, Kerr Ladies in 1920. Their charity game against St Helen’s Ladies attracted a crowd of 53,000 to Goodison Park with another 14,000 locked outside.

It was enough to convince the FA that the popularity of the women’s game was a significant threat to men’s football, which led to a 50year ban. The sport is still recovering, but after a record-breaking Euros, this was proof that women’s football is only going to get stronger.

‘It was a very special moment for us,’ Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall said. ‘This is what we work for, being on stages like this, playing in front of crowds like that.

‘The game is the best advertisement there can be for people coming. For people to come here and feel proud of the team and the players and wanting to support.

‘We really felt that with the supporters here today. We really hope that as many of them come back and they bring a friend and then it’s a sell out.’

Tottenham have progressed since Rehanne Skinner took charge in November 2020 but they were second best here. Spurs’ tactic was to disrupt Arsenal’s free-flowing football with lots of niggly fouls but they could not deal with the pace and movement of the Gunners’ front three and their resistance lasted just five minutes.

They had already been given a warning when Mead saw an effort deflected wide but they did not take heed. Mead got in again and after her initial shot was blocked the winger curled a sweet strike into the top right corner.

Spurs improved after a shaky start and managed to limit Arsenal to just one shot on target. That was until they self-destructed in the 44th minute.

Goalkeeper Becky Spencer sold Eveliina Summanen short with a pass, allowing Caitlin Foord to rob her of possession and tee up Miedema to finish into the bottom left corner.

The game was put beyond Tottenham 10 minutes into the second half. Mead’s floated corner picked out Rafaelle and she powered a bullet header into the top corner.

That was game over but Arsenal were not done. Mead played a short corner to Steph Catley, who in a cross for Miedema to nod home.

This was the first of six games Eidevall’s side will play at the Emirates this season, with fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea already on sale. The other matches are likely to be in the Champions League, should Arsenal qualify for the group stage.

The task is to ensure this was not a one off and that the fans who attended yesterday can be enticed back. After a performance like that, why wouldn’t they be?