Arsenal Women beat Man City 2-1 in pre-season friendly

Arsenal Women defeated Manchester City 2-1 in a behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Wednesday.

Stina Blackstenius opened the scoring in the 24th minute, flicking home a Chloe Kelly corner into the roof of the net. Lauren Hemp equalised on the stroke of half-time, cutting inside and bending the ball into the far bottom corner with her right foot.

The match looked set to end level until new signing Selina Cerci threaded a pass through to fellow new arrival Lisa Baum, who rounded the goalkeeper and tucked the ball across the line for a late 2-1 winner.

Goalkeeper Anneke Borbe was a standout performer for Arsenal, producing a series of saves — including a remarkable stop to deny Khadija Shaw's first-time volley, which she pushed onto the crossbar.

The match also saw Kyra Cooney-Cross make her return to the side as a second-half substitute.

Arsenal Women's next pre-season fixtures are against Paris FC on Sunday and Charlton Athletic on Wednesday, both at Mangata Developments Stadium in Borehamwood. The WSL campaign begins away to Brighton & Hove Albion at 12pm on Sunday, September 6.