I originally sat down to write this piece on Monday afternoon. Highlights on the TV, laptop on my knee, half a draft already started. Then my phone buzzed. The Arsenal fan group chat - this time with news that just made me stop in my tracks.

Katie Reid. ACL.

I genuinely stood there and stared at my screen for a solid minute. There’s no way, right? Then came that sinking feeling - sad, gutted, heartbroken all at once. The kind of news that makes you forget whatever you were doing before. And as the women’s football world came to the same realisation, the reaction was universal. 

I took some time to process it, stepped away for a bit, and then sat back down to finish this piece. Of course, my thoughts are with Katie Reid for a fast and full recovery.

Chaos, controversy, and the irony of it all

Because the main focus of this piece was always going to be the talking point everyone’s been stuck on since Saturday - controversy.

It was always destined to be one of those games: big atmosphere, big stakes, entertainment guaranteed…just not the kind we got.

My friend had filmed me in a tube station at 9:30am on Saturday as we headed to Holloway Road. We were both in high spirits, with a hint of nerves creeping in. Somewhere on her phone is a video of me singing “Same old Chelsea, always cheating.” Four hours later, the irony wasn’t lost on me.

And if that wasn’t enough, another friend has a clip from the crowd, right before Stina’s wrongly disallowed set piece goal, where you can clearly hear me say, “It’s going to Stina Blackstenius.” Sure enough, it did. Straight to her thigh, as most with a clear view would tell you - but apparently, to her hand, according to the officials on that pitch.

From there, it only got worse. A disallowed Frida Maanum winner, an Alessia Russo goal that looked borderline offside but was given (almost like the officials felt they had to give it to make up for earlier). It was chaotic. A game with consequences. A game where Arsenal showed up in their truest, purest form, only to be blinded by wrong calls.

Arsenal showed up

I’m going to put aside my frustration for a second and talk about that Arsenal performance, because it deserves that.

I’d stressed it about ten times before this game: this one was monumental. A real test of where Renée Slegers’ Arsenal stood. I wanted to see fight, passion, belief - the Arsenal I know we are capable of being. And we got exactly that.

The first ten minutes made me nervous. Even before kickoff, I was unsettled when I saw the lineup. I wasn’t sure about Stina Blackstenius starting this game. I didn’t think Victoria Pelova would work in that midfield three alongside Alessia Russo and Mariona Caldentey. Where was Katie Reid? Why didn’t Kyra Cooney-Cross start? I already missed Kim Little and she wasn’t even there. So many thoughts running through my head, but I promised myself I wouldn’t judge without seeing how it played out.

Chelsea started well. I’ll give them that. But the nature of their goal wasn’t what I anticipated. I thought we’d be caught out by a set piece, or maybe an Aggie Beever-Jones header (neither of which happened, mainly because Beever-Jones wasn’t even in the squad, I must add). Still, even at 1–0 down, I believed. I couldn’t see a version of this game where Arsenal didn’t show up.

And as it turned out - my gut wasn’t wrong.

As the game went on, Arsenal grew into it. We pressed higher, moved the ball quicker, and started playing with confidence. Despite a few wayward crosses and a couple of poor shots, you could feel something clicking.

The second half provided some of the best football I’ve seen from Arsenal in a while. Russo was incredible. I still think she should have started up front, but she made that unconventional role work. Her ability to glide through Chelsea’s midfield and defence like they weren’t even there was world class.

Standouts and lineup thoughts

There were positive performances all over the pitch. Olivia Smith was electric when she came on - fearless, quick, direct. Frida Maanum made an instant impact, changing the tempo entirely. Taylor Hinds is knocking hard on the door for Katie McCabe’s starting spot. Lotte Wubben-Moy looked solid and composed at the back, and Daphne van Domselaar was calm, assured, and made crucial saves that kept Arsenal in it.

The starting lineup still leaves me unconvinced. Replacing Kim Little is near impossible, but I can’t help thinking a Kyra Cooney-Cross, Mariona Caldentey, Frida Maanum midfield might’ve been the answer here. Maybe that balance would’ve given us more control between the lines. Then again, we’ll never know exactly how that would’ve played out.

Frustration and Focus

The frustration is valid. Renée Slegers was rightly enraged post-match, the players were visibly gutted, and fans left the ground feeling robbed - because, frankly, we were. But playing devil’s advocate for a second, that performance proved something.

Arsenal showed exactly what they’re capable of when they trust the system, lean into their strengths, and believe in themselves. The fight was there, the intensity was there, and the identity, the one we’d been desperate to see again, was absolutely present.

Yes, it feels like a disservice to only take one point from that game, but there’s a bigger picture here. We can build from this. Take that same energy, same belief, same structure into the next game. This league changes fast. Luck runs out, form flips, and the tide can turn. 

It hurts, it’s frustrating, and it feels unfair. But it also feels like proof. Proof that Arsenal are fighting, improving, and showing what they’re made of.

We just have to sit back, trust the process, and watch it all unravel.