Miedema sparks rout of Aston Villa as Arsenal maintain WSL title pursuit

Arsenal breezed their way past Aston Villa, scoring seven unanswered goals at Borehamwood to stay shoulder to shoulder with league leaders Chelsea.

Emma Hayes’ team are ahead by a single point, and the onus remains on Arsenal to continue winning their games in the hopes that their rivals might drop points.

Arsenal’s clearest tactic was to ensure Beth Mead, who had scored in each of her last four games, remained in Mayumi Pacheco’s line of sight on the right-wing.

While the visitors’ back four were busying themselves with Mead Vivianne Miedema sprung up to cause defensive chaos from the left.

The Dutchwoman evaded Sarah Mayling’s erratic marking from the start, making darting runs in the box, and at other times, delivering defence-dissecting passes. It was this particular pattern of play that led to Arsenal’s – and Miedema’s – first.

With an audacious run through the Villa midfield, the forward blasted the ball past Sian Rogers as early as the ninth minute of the game. Of course, one would not be enough, especially with the WSL Golden Boot race hotting up.

Arsenal searched for a second through Miedema, this time troubling the Villa central defensive pairing. Anita Asante and Rachel Corsie struggled to remain in touch with one another. It wasn’t long before Arsenal exploited their failings and struck a second time in the 13th minute, with Miedema perfectly recreating her first goal.

It became increasingly apparent with both goals that Villa were missing Jill Scott’s tenacity and press. The 34-year-old’s injury left a gaping hole in defensive midfield, and Arsenal glided through it on almost every occasion, unchecked. It was only down to another outstanding performance from Rogers in goal, similar to her player of the match