Ruthless Arsenal expose Chelsea’s need for a clinical finisher

“Her touch was perfect and her finish, it was just so good,” Blackstenius told The Athleti

As Stina Blackstenius picked up the ball midway inside the Chelsea half, she was not sure what to do. Then out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a flicker of movement to her left: Arsenal team-mate Alessia Russo was on the run. The pass was slightly behind the England No 9, but she took one touch with her right before blasting a volley into the bottom corner, leaving goalkeeper Hannah Hampton helpless.

“Her touch was perfect and her finish, it was just so good,” Blackstenius told The Athletic after Arsenal’s 3-1 first-leg quarter-final win while head coach Renee Slegers praised Russo’s “conviction”. Such ruthlessness from Russo, her eighth goal in this season’s Champions League — a record for the most goals scored by an English player in a single European campaign — gave Arsenal a two-goal cushion heading into the second leg. It also highlighted what Chelsea are missing: a focal point and clinical finisher.

Sam Kerr, the club’s top scorer in all competitions this season, who was absent having played in the weekend’s Asia Cup final, has lacked gametime since returning in September from her anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Mayra Ramirez has not played since suffering a hamstring injury during pre-season and Aggie Beever-Jones, absent with an ankle issue from the weekend’s 1-1 draw with London City Lionesses, has looked out of form. It is no wonder Chelsea are vying for Manchester City’s Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw , whose contract expires at the end of this season.