It's always intriguing when two teams play each other in back-to-back games. On Sunday, Arsenal travelled to the north-west to beat Manchester City 4-3 in a thriller in the Women's Super League and, on Thursday, the rematch took place in London, in the Women's League Cup semi-finals. "The challenge is not knowing what they are going to do," Gunners boss Renee Slegers said beforehand. "We sit and discuss and try and anticipate their plan for the game, and try to respond to that proactively, but also see what we can bring to the game." It's a bit like a penalty taker stepping up for a second spot-kick. Do they go the same way? Does the goalkeeper? "It's a good metaphor," Slegers agreed when GOAL put it to her on Wednesday. It was a metaphor that came to life, in fact, as City got their revenge in a dramatic 2-1 win on Thursday evening.
With the scores tied at 1-1 on the hour, Mary Fowler was faced with almost exactly that scenario. On Sunday, she'd beaten Arsenal goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar from 12 yards to level things up at 3-3. Van Domselaar dived to her right but Fowler sent her shot slightly to the left, though only just, with it rather central. Fast forward five days, and the Australian forward just needed to repeat the trick to put City 2-1. She hit her effort with immense power - but Van Domselaar didn't blink. It was right down the middle, it was parried away and as the clock ticked into the final seconds of regular time, it looked like that was going to be a big contributing factor in this semi-final heading to extra time.
Yet, football loves a narrative and Thursday's was all about Fowler. After thumping City into the lead with just under half an hour on the clock, only for that to be cancelled out by Mariona Caldentey's controversial second half penalty, the 21-year-old had the final say with her fifth goal in three games. With less than 20 seconds left of the five additional minutes, Fowler found some space on the edge of the box and squeezed a shot through several bodies to beat an unsighted Van Domselaar and send City into the final.
After losing by the finest margins in the League Cup semi-finals in the past two seasons, defeated 1-0 by Chelsea last year and 1-0 in extra time by Arsenal the year prior, it was Man City's turn to be on the right side of a tight win this time around, to set up a meeting with Chelsea, who beat West Ham in the other semi-final, in the showpiece event next month. It's three years since Gareth Taylor's side last won a trophy and an end to that drought would certainly relieve some of the pressure on a manager and a team that has watched their WSL title challenge fall apart in recent weeks.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Meadow Park...