West Ham United women's team 1-5 Arsenal
Barclays Women's Super League, Chigwell Construction Stadium, Friday 12 September 2025, 7.30pm BST
A flurry of second-half goals saw West Ham United women’s team slip to a 5-1 Barclays Women’s Super League defeat at home to Arsenal on Friday night.
It was the Hammers who took the lead after just five minutes in east London when Daphne van Domselaar turned Shekiera Martinez’s cross into her own net.
But after Frida Maanum levelled midway through the first half, goals from substitute Stina Blackstenius, Caitlin Foord and an Alessia Russo brace earned the visitors the three points.
Skinner would have wanted a fast start in Dagenham, and that’s exactly what she got. As the heavens opened and the rain poured, her side were in the ascendancy.
The hosts worked it wide to Martinez, who delivered a cross to the back post. It looked like Van Domselaar would make a routine catch, but the goalkeeper couldn’t control the ball and palmed it into her own net. Chigwell Construction Stadium erupted.
The Claret and Blue faithful roared on their side, which only encouraged the Hammers to press harder, higher, and that in turn cranked the atmosphere up another notch.
The Irons pushed forward again through Viviane Asseyi and Riko Ueki, but Arsenal were able to snuff out the danger.
However, after winning a succession of corners and working their way into the game, the Gunners found themselves through Maanum. Alessia Russo held the ball up down the right and found Beth Mead. An acute nutmeg from the No9 played Maanum through in the penalty area and the Norway international obliged with a finish across goal.
Mead almost orchestrated a quick second for Arsenal, but her cross from the right wing evaded her teammates in the penalty area.
Back came the Irons with a reply as Verena Hanshaw fed Ueki down the left. Our No9 clipped in a left-footed cross with her back to goal, however, it had too much on it to find either Asseyi or Martinez in the box.
Up the other end, Mariona Caldentey struck high and wide from inside the area before Martinez produced an intelligent ball in search of Asseyi that just skidded past the France international.
After an end-to-end first half, Arsenal made a change at the break, sending on Blackstenius in place of Maanum - and the substitute made an instant impact. Receiving a back-heel from Alessia Russo inside the box, the No25 slotted the ball past Megan Walsh in the West Ham goal to give the Gunners an early second-half advantage.
Walsh came to the east Londoners' rescue just moments later, swiping the ball clear of an unmarked Foord in the area, who had earlier had a goal disallowed for offside, before Mead swept an effort from close range wide of the post.
Although Foord was denied by the flag earlier in the second half, she netted Arsenal’s third just after the hour mark, meeting Caldentey’s delivery with a header into the roof of the net.
The Gunners threatened to net a fourth when a Katie McCabe delivery flashed across the face of goal before Blackstenius almost got on the end of Foord’s low cross.
But indeed, their fourth did arrive through last season’s top scorer Russo, who fired a long-range strike past Walsh, before the No23 was given the chance to net her second of the evening after Inès Belloumou conceded a penalty in stoppage time. Walsh went the right way, but Russo still tucked the ball home.
The Hammers shot-stopper had to be alert right until the last second, as she kept out an effort from Blackstenius in the 96th minute.
West Ham United: Walsh, Denton, Zadorsky, Nyström (Paví 75), Tysiak, Hanshaw (Belloumou 65), Gorry ©, Siren (Wandeler 86), Asseyi, Martinez (Piubel 65), Ueki
Subs not used: O’Hanlon (GK), Endo, Csiki, Brasero, Morgan
Goals: Van Domselaar OG 5
Booked: Gorry
Arsenal: Van Domselaar, Fox, Catley (Wubben-Moy 89), Caldentey (Pelova 79), Mead (Smith 63), Little ©, McCabe (Hinds 79) Maanum (Blackstenius 46) Foord, Russo, Reid
Subs not used: Zinsberger (GK), Borbe (GK), Codina, Cooney-Cross
Goals: Maanum 21, Blackstenius 52, Foord 62, Russo 90, 90+3
Referee: Megan Wilson
Attendance: 3,483
Skinner: I'm pleased with the way the players tried to go about the game
Manager Rehanne Skinner was pleased with the bravery her side showed against Arsenal on Friday night at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
The Hammers went toe-to-toe with their opponents in Dagenham in the first half and went into the break level after Daphne van Domselaar’s own-goal was cancelled out by a well-placed Frida Maanum strike.
However, four second-half goals from the visitors - two after the 90th minute - sealed the three points.
Despite not getting the result she would have wanted in her side’s first home game of the fresh WSL campaign, Skinner was happy that her team continued to show attacking intent in the second half and wants them to build on that bravery in the weeks to come.
The result isn’t something we’re happy with.
I think for 65 minutes, we were in the game, we played really well and made life really difficult for them to break us down. I thought the pressing intensity was excellent in the first half and the team made life really tough [for Arsenal]. Overall the players were really, really brave, really positive. So I'm pleased with the way that they've tried to go about the game.
We've not created as many chances as we'd have liked to from the transitions that we had higher up from the press. Sometimes the final balls are still a little bit forced at times, and we can definitely improve on that. But ultimately, at 3-1, we’re trying to win the game.
So [it was] my decision to change the shape, to add more attacking players, to try and get something out of the game. Sometimes when you do that, you could run the risk of getting caught out on the flip side to it. But I'd much rather us be brave at 3-1 to try and get something out of the game than to just sit in and hope that we can keep the scoreline at 3-1.
If we start like that in other games, we're definitely going to be in a better position against some teams that have got a little bit less, in terms of the quality.
That comes on the pitch and the amount of changes that they're able to make - world-class players, for world-class players. That's just something you know you're up against with Arsenal. And that's a credit to the way they've built the squad.
But I think for us, the positives to take are the way that we executed the intensity. We just weren't able to sustain that when they started making their changes. For 65 minutes, we've made life really, really difficult for Arsenal.
It’s building on the bravery and the character that we have as a team.
Being a lot more positive in our pressing, being on the front foot. I didn't think we did that against Tottenham. We were much, much better at that tonight. That's something that we'll obviously keep working on.
There was great support from the fans, as always.
Being at home, you can hear them even more. We had a great travelling set of fans last weekend as well. We obviously want to keep playing the style of football that makes the fans want to come and watch. I think they could see the workrate, the attitude and approach from the players, which got the crowd going.
Gorry: We'll take the positives and we'll move forward
Skipper Katrina Gorry insisted her West Ham side will learn from Friday night’s defeat to Arsenal.
The captain was pleased with the way the east Londoners battled with the Gunners in the first half and admitted the last few goals came on the transition while her side pressed to get back into the encounter.
“It's obviously a tough one when you look at the scoreline,” she said. “But I thought there were a lot of positives [to take] out of the game.
“I thought we pressed with real intensity, I thought we won the ball back in quite dangerous areas, definitely in the first half. I think we've just got to find that final pass [in the final third].
“Towards the end of the game, we kind of threw whatever we had at it. Unfortunately, you get done in transition in those moments and Arsenal are always clinical in the attack.
“Obviously, when you play a team like Arsenal, you know they get one sniff and they're really clinical.
“It's about us making sure we keep that intensity for the 90-100 minutes, however long we have to play. [It’s about] when we get the chances in attacking third, we put them in the back of the net so we don't put our back line under pressure all the time. It's something we've got to keep constantly working on.
“Obviously, it's tough to lose two games in a row, but we've got a positive group. We'll take the positives and we'll move forward."
Gorry hailed the support of the Claret and Blue faithful after the full-time whistle and, despite the result, was pleased to be back in front of the fans at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
“The fans have been absolutely amazing, obviously. It's so nice to be back home, back here. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it done for them today. Thank you to everyone that came out here today for supporting us.”
