Vivienne Miedema & Jess Park secure one point for Man City in Women's Super League opener against Arsenal
By Hidayah Ali
The women's Super League returned last weekend, with Manchester City subjected to a difficult opening game against Arsenal.
Manchester City came into the weekend off the back of an impressive 5-0 victory over Paris FC in the Uefa women's Champions League qualifier, putting them in an ideal position going into the second leg of the tie.
As for the women's Super League, Man City and Arsenal both knew they had a huge mountain to overcome in their first match of the new season.
Chelsea had already started their campaign a day prior, claiming three points with Chelsea surpassing Aston Villa 1-0.
Match breakdown
The game started off with Manchester City going down by the eight-minute mark as Maanum gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead. Before halftime, Man City got themselves back in the game through new recruit Vivienne Miedema, taking both teams into halftime 1-1.
The second half saw Jess Park add another goal to her name, after already scoring two against Paris FC, making it 2-1 in the cityzens favour.
However, the three points weren't meant to be for Manchester City as Beth Mead equalised and made it 2-2 for Arsenal after the 80th minute.
The two teams had to settle for a point each, which sounded very likely when going into the fixture.
While not getting three points to start the new season is disappointing, considering the opponent, taking one point can be seen as a positive.
Gareth Taylor
"It's what Viv (Miedema) does, she scores the first goal in Europe midweek, and then gets the season opener for us! She just has that ability, it just shows her quality at the right moments."
"What I've tried to do with all our players, not just Viv, is create an environment where they can be themselves."
"I'm not surprised with Jess when she first broke in when Jill Roord got injured, she did so many good things, but we can have the icing on the cake, the final action, the assists and goals. She's done it really well and started the season really hot. To come here and score a special goal is impressive. She gives you everything she's got."
"(I'm) disappointed because we had the game and couldn't quite see it out A little bit off with the ball and without especially particularly in the first half. Just a little bit disjointed, a little uncertain. I understand why, it's the season day opener on a massive pitch. A lot of expectation and probably a lot of anxiety as well. But when you take all of that away and come away with a point from a difficult first game of the season, I think we have to be fairly pleased given the circumstances around our play."
Next Manchester City turn focus back to the Champions League as they aim to end the job against Paris FC, with five goals already added to their name.
After that, the Women's Super League matchday two arrives with a game against Brighton and Hove Albion for Manchester City.