Arsenal’s record WSL crowd leaves the players happy as fandom flourishes

Veni, vidi, Vivianne. They came, 47,367 of them all told, shattering the Women’s Super League attendance record. Watched and roared as Arsenal turned this north London derby into a painless rout. And then, as Vivianne Miedema left the pitch after scoring two goals in each half, rose to applaud the performance of a Dutch master.

Until Saturday, the record for a WSL game was 38,272, when these teams met at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2019. But long before kick-off, as the streets around the Emirates Stadium filled up with families and excited kids off to their first game, it was clearly going to be smashed.

The only surprise was that the crowd was not bigger. Arsenal revealed that 53,757 tickets were sold – meaning more than 6,000 people did not show up.

Those who did were rewarded with an Arsenal victory, which felt far more emphatic than the 4-0 scoreline suggested. The tone was set after five minutes, when England’s Euro 2022 hero Beth Mead found space – and then the target – and never faltered.

Two goals from Miedema and another from Rafaelle Souza followed, and the overwhelming impression was of one team dominating despite playing within themselves.

No wonder the Arsenal crowd – and the players – left happy. “The fans being here give us such an energy,” said Mead. “But hopefully this is just the beginning.

“I’ve never experienced a standing ovation before. I still feel like I am on cloud nine. I don’t think it will sink in for a long time.”

Along the way some Arsenal regulars noted a slightly spikier edge than usual at women’s matches, including a couple of full-throttle chants of “Stand up if you hate Tottenham” as well as booing when Tottenham’s Eveliina Summanen needed treatment for a minor injury.

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