Perfect December

December 21, 2025

VBS Community Stadium, Sutton

Jo Potter’s appointment last summer, following Crystal Palace’s relegation from the WSL, was framed as a reset rather than a retreat. Champions of the Championship in 2023/24, Palace arrived with the clear intention of bouncing straight back: aggressive without the ball, brave in possession, happy to press high and spend long spells in the attacking half, yet equally willing to turn direct from deep.

Arsenal were immediately confronted by that intensity, but it was Kyra Cooney-Cross who began to bend the evening to their rhythm. Her early corner dropped invitingly for Caitlin Foord at the far post; the finish was sharp, the flag sharper. Foord remained a constant presence down the left, cutting inside to find Frida Maanum, whose powerful strike soon after needed a deflection to carry it wide.

Another Cooney-Cross delivery followed, recycled by Victoria Pelova and contested by Jessica Yanez before Maanum could attack it. Palace responded with Annabel Blanchard’s free-kick, which skimmed just over, but Arsenal’s pressure was steadily tightening. When Foord again pulled the ball back for Maanum, her first-time effort forced a corner, and from that delivery Laia Codina headed back across goal, the ball deflecting its way into the net.

Palace should have struck back immediately. Ashleigh Weerden’s cross was met flush by Abbie Larkin from close range, only for the post to intervene. The game remained stretched. Emily Fox fired over, Allyson Swaby diverted Foord’s cross narrowly wide, and Katie McCabe volleyed over from the edge after another corner.

Palace carried threat in transition. Larkin twice tested Manuela Zinsberger’s replacement, Borbę, first with a low drive she parried, then with a curling effort that rattled the crossbar. McCabe’s inswinging free-kick, glanced onto the roof of the net by Leah Williamson, closed a first half Arsenal controlled without fully containing.

The second half followed a similar pattern: Palace pressing, Arsenal probing. Weerden’s early effort slid past the post but was ruled out for offside. A triple change brought control—Catley, Wubben-Moy and Little steadying the tempo—before Foord and Maanum again went close.

Beth Mead’s introduction for her 250th appearance felt like a footnote until stoppage time, when she ran through, rounded the goalkeeper and squared for Stina Blackstenius to finish. A simple goal, late, decisive. Arsenal sign off the year five wins from five, and deservedly so, before a January return.

Crystal Palace 0 – 2 Arsenal 

(L.Codina 20’, S. Blackstenius 90+3’)