Alex Scott and Arsenal still gunning for title glory as FAWSL1 hots up
The glorious weather has been matched by the women’s football that has been on show recently. I love playing through the summer – that sounds so cheesy, but a bit of cheese doesn’t hurt anyone now and again!
A flurry of fixtures in the Continental Cup kicked off the second half of the season. After a defeat in this competition before the break, it looked like we wouldn’t progress out of the group. Our fortunes seemed to have changed though.
Scott scored her second league goal of the season to clinch a vital three points for the Gunners
We had a great result against Chelsea, beating them 3-0. We then went on to beat our next two opponents, London Bees and Millwall, scoring 11 goals without reply. Despite beating them, Chelsea progressed as group winners on goal difference after we finished on the same number of points.
The second half of the season has started a lot better for us than the first. Life under the temporary charge of John Bayer has been going ok. Put it this way, we would have taken five wins and a loss from six fixtures if you had asked us a month ago – in fact, we would have bitten your hand off!
We knew as a group of players things were not all doom and gloom. Our FA Cup final performance showed what we already knew as a team; we are more than capable of competing with anyone in the league. All we needed was a bit of confidence and belief to set in. Picking up wins definitely helps with confidence and morale in a group!
The wing-back’s winner secured just Arsenal’s second win in WSL this season
After the Everton game, Amy Kane and I spoke about how close games are this season. Even though Everton sit bottom of the league table at the moment, they are a good team who will go on to pick up points in their remaining games.
At Arsenal, the thing we need to avoid doing now is becoming a good cup team at the expense of the league. Having said that, it was great to win the FA Cup especially as it is a showpiece game for women’s football in this country. Winning the Continental Cup three years on the bounce is also a fantastic achievement and we are pleased to have progressed to the semi-finals once again this season.
The league is always your bread and butter though. We’re closer to the bottom of the table than the top at the moment, but I’m not writing off our chances this season at all. The way things have gone this year with all teams beating each other, you never know what is going to happen at the top. Admittedly our recent loss to Chelsea in the league has given us a mountain to climb, but we won’t stop until it’s all over.
There is still such a long way to go with some exciting matches to come. As a player, your aim is to win every game you play in. That is what we will set out to do for the rest of the season at Arsenal.
Scott will hope for a call-up to the England squad for their mouthwatering international against FIFA fifth ranked side – Sweden
This might sound crazy to some given where we sit in the league table but I am enjoying the season so far. The league is the most competitive it has ever been, with the influx of international players helping the league to grow and develop.
People talk about international players taking chances away from youth players coming through the youth systems but I disagree. The arrival of international players gives all of us the chance to learn and should mean you push yourself to be better. If players are good enough they will play.
Growing up at Arsenal, there were players like Marianne Spacey, Angela Banks and Kristy Pealing ahead of me. Their presence meant I worked harder in training because I had to. Training with them helped me to become the player I am today but, at the time, if I wanted to play I had to show it by putting the hard graft in. I wasn’t going to assume I should be playing just because I was a young English talent. Talent is nothing if the hard work doesn’t come first.
As I write this I am on the long list of players hoping to get the call-up for England’s match against Sweden in August. You always want to test yourself against the best players and teams, and Sweden is one of the top three teams in Europe. England have had some exciting games against them in the past and this will be a great test for Mark to see his players perform against a side of this calibre.
My fingers remain crossed as I wait for an email to tell me if I made the cut. In the meantime, keep enjoying the weather and keep an eye out for next week’s FAWSL fixtures. Things will only continue to hot up!
Can Arsenal pull off a late WSL title charge? How do you rate the chances of leaders Birmingham City?
Read more from Alex here!
The Offside Rule 
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