Van Domselaar’s Reinvindication

12 October, 2025

Emirates Stadium, London

Renné’s tone before kickoff was one of realism disguised as resolve. “I do want to win every single game, of course,” she said. “But I’m also a realist. The game is on a very high level. There are going to be spells for every professional sports team but champions find ways.”

Brighton, her opponents, had shown their unpredictability this season. Their 4–1 win over West Ham, powered by Arsenal loanee Rosa Kafaji, hinted at an adventurous side unafraid of risk. Yet history leaned heavily toward Arsenal: thirteen wins from thirteen league meetings, a staggering aggregate of 49–2.

The match started by an own goal by Brighton’s Olislagers, though Arsenal had dictated tempo, territory, and noise. Early on, a low, clever corner from Caldentey nearly caught Brighton’s defense sleeping. Foord’s backheel found Smith, who shot narrowly wide. Minutes later, McCabe’s hybrid of cross and shot — part fortune, part intuition — struck the crossbar, forcing Chiamaka Nnadozie to tip it clear.

The pressure told soon enough. Smith’s fourth dangerous run in five minutes forced the error that led to the only goal. From then on, the narrative belonged to Daphne van Domselaar — a goalkeeper often questioned, now reborn. She stopped Seike twice before halftime: once low at the near post, once stretching across the line to deny a long-range effort. Her defining moment came on 59 minutes, diving full stretch to parry Camacho’s fierce header from Seike’s precise cross.

Arsenal had 40 touches in Brighton’s box to their opponent’s eight, yet Brighton’s five shots on target spoke of resistance rather than surrender. Van Domselaar confronted each one with composure that bordered on defiance.

Play halted after the hour when Brighton’s Maëlys Mpomé suffered a head injury — ten minutes of silence and concern before she was stretchered off with oxygen. Manager Dario Vidosic later confirmed concussion but no lasting harm.

When the rhythm returned, so did Arsenal’s frustration. Blackstenius’s header crashed against the bar at 79 minutes; Russo’s volley at 89 flew just wide. Even in stoppage time, Blackstenius chased the impossible — her effort at 97 brushing past the post, as if victory itself were resisting.

They did not win beautifully; they won with structure. 

Arsenal 1 – 0 Brighton & Hove Albion

(M. Olislagers OG ‘15)