Key events
28 mins: Everything has slowed down …
26 mins: McCabe sends in a dangerous cross from the right for Blackstenius to attack but Kardinaal reads the danger and clears behind. The resulting corner is sent straight out of play by McCabe at the front post.
24 mins: Arsenal make it into the Ajax box once against but Doorn is in the right place at the right time to intercept the cross and clear.
22 mins: Miedema collects the ball 25 yards from goal, spins and eventually takes aim from the edge of the box but her shot lacks power and direction.
20 mins: Blackstenius tries to control a cross but it bounces her away from. The forward gets the ball straight back off an Ajax heel, turns and shoots for goal but her tame effort is smothered by Kop.
18 mins: Miedema slips the ball through to Wienroither who decides to shoot from an acute angle despite being off balance. Needless to say, the ball goes out for a goal-kick.
Zinsberger sprints off her line to intercept a long ball over the top but completely misses it. Luckily for her, so does Grant and the ball bounces behind.
16 mins: Leuchter dribbles at Williamson but the England captain holds her ground and nips the ball away from her opponent before clearing.
Arsenal look a little pedestrian here and already seem to be trying to force the issue with passes they are not capable of playing.
14 mins: Catley finds Blackstenius in the box but the forward fails to control the ball properly and Ajax have the easy job of clearing, made even easier when Catley miscues a pass out of play.
12 mins: There is thunder and lightning in the background.
Blackstenius sprints down the left to latch onto a pass behind the defence. She reaches the ball but then cuts back and plays a pass backwards to slow everything down, allowing Ajax to recover.
10 mins: Weerden gets the better of Wienroither and makes it into the box but she pulls her cross behind onrushing teammates.
8 mins: Noordam gets into the box and whacks a shot when off balance which is deflected over the bar for an Ajax corner.
6 mins: Ajax play a short corner and eventually work the ball into the box but Arsenal clear it without fuss.
The referee, from Spain, has a word with Van der Most after a late challenge on Walti.
4 mins: It is raining heavily in Amsterdam. It looks like the playing surface is pretty slick, that’s for sure. Miedema loses her footing but I am sure that is related to the pitch.
2 mins: Arsenal have started in positive fashion, already countering to the edge of the Ajax box before a crucial intervention curtailed the attack.
Kick-off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
Sarina Wiegman is in the crowd. Very much a busman’s holiday for her.
“Mead on the bench – hmm,” emails Charles Antaki. “Eyebrows raised among Arsenal fans (and among what is probably Mead’s million-strong post Euros personal fan club). Presumably the idea is for Katie McCabe to beat them down into submission for 60 minutes and Mead to come on and saunter through to score a hat-trick?”
There must be a cunning plan.
In case you were wondering … tonight’s game is live on Arsenal’s official website in the UK.
This is what happened in the first leg …
Arsenal looked impressive at the weekend against Spurs. Admittedly, their local rivals helped them out by refusing to defend on the right-hand side. Mead and Miedema look in form and will be hoping to carry that on to night.
There’s a lovely rainbow above the ground.
Lessons to be learned for Arsenal.
Starting lineups
Ajax: Kop, Van der Most, Kardinaal, Doorn, Verhoeven, Spitse, Noordam, Pelova, Grant, Leuchter, Weerden
Subs: Bussman, Van der Wal, Munsterman, Tromp, Kruize, Keijzer, Hoekstra, Bakker, Van Gool, Sabajo, De Sanders
Arsenal: Zinsberger; Wienroither, Williamson, Rafaelle, Catley; Little, Walti, Miedema; McCabe, Blackstenius, Foord
Subs: Marckese, Williams, Wubben-Moy, Beattie, Martiz, Maanum, Nobbs, Iwabuchi, Mead, Hurtig
Preamble
Captain Kim Little says Arsenal “need to do more and need to be better” which sums up their situation going into their do or die Champions League clash with Ajax. A 2-2 draw at home leaves progression to the group stage in the balance but the Gunners will be confident following their weekend routing of rivals Spurs.
Arsenal were poor last week in the first leg, there is no doubting that but, at the same time, they possess quality throughout the team and those individuals will not want to be out of the Champions League before October. The Gunners will think they can go a long way in this year and elimination at such an early stage would be a huge failure.
Failure to make the group stage will be huge blow for Arsenal, especially by losing to supposedly inferior opposition. Ajax made it to the round of 32 in 2020-21 but did not feature last season so will feel another year without a foray in the competition proper would be underwhelming.
Let’s hope for a cracker.
6pm BST kick-off.
