Three things we learned from Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge. By Claudia Loy                                                                 

Our fans are the best.

I’ll start with the positive. I say this about our fans every week it feels like, but this week the fans were particularly special.

I was there and it was my first away with Arsenal women.

As an aside, I had never been to Stamford Bridge before this, and a big part of me doesn’t want to go back because being faced with a banner that says ‘The Pride of London’ as well as the cringe songs just make me feel a bit ill.

They also played London Calling? I don’t know who played it first, but I assume we did.

Back to the point, our fans were incredible.

Considering the scoreline, they never stopped singing and there was something incredible about the ‘Arrrrrsenal’ chants at the beginning of the game.

It really echoed because the ground isn’t as big as the Emirates.

We out sang the Chelsea fans for the entire game. Even when we were 3-0 down we still chanted and supported them loudly.

This performance was the worst I’ve seen

No sugar coating it I’m afraid.

I try to be as positive as I can in these and not call out the players or the coach as I don’t think it’s always fair to call out individuals.

What I’ll say is that I don’t think there has been a worse performance in recent memory.

It wasn’t just the scoreline, it was the lack of urgency, the terrible shape out of possession, and the constant turnovers that were just really poor.

Make no mistake, we could have been really embarrassed here if it wasn’t for Manuela Zinsberger’s second half performance. Sock-gate was embarrassing enough! We did improve in the second half, but still didn’t look up to speed.

We looked like a team that hadn’t played together before and didn’t know where we were meant to be.

The players will be out for revenge in the Conti Cup final

 In a strange way, I do think this could prepare us mentally for that game.

I could be wrong, of course, but having experienced this chastening defeat, it would be surprising if the final isn’t at least closer than this game was because the players will have what Jonas has termed as an ‘external motivation’ to win.

Rather than relying on their own personal internal motivations, they will have felt the outward embarrassment of losing at the Bridge wearing Chelsea socks.

This, surely, will hurt and hopefully spur them on to get revenge and win the Conti cup.

A trophy is necessary to stop this season from being a complete disappointment.

Arsenal Women, given their history and the amount of support, should be winning the biggest prizes in my opinion. Easier said than done of course.

“3-0 and you still don’t sing,” chorus the tremendous 6,000 strong travelling @ArsenalWFC support to their Chelsea counterparts here at Stamford Bridge pic.twitter.com/j5w3KRrNC3

— Layth (@laythy29) March 15, 2024