(Football news) The bottom placed Women’s Super League side Birmingham City won their first league fixture in more than a year after defeating league leaders Arsenal at the St. Andrews Stadium. Birmingham City’s last game before Christmas was a 2-0 defeat to Leicester City which resulted in the side being bottom of the league table but they looked like a completely different set of players when they faced Jonas Eidevall's Arsenal who have won eight and drawn one out of their last nine matches.

Three minutes after kick off, Libby Smith capitalized on a through ball by scoring past Manuela Zinsberger and the Gunners surprisingly failed to mount a comeback or get any sort of meaningful reaction to this setback. In the 42nd minute Birmingham City doubled the advantage through Veatriki Sarri whose strike went into the top corner. The Gunners had a comparatively better second half as Kim Little was denied by Gemma Lawley with a block after Vivianne Miedema had rounded goalkeeper Emily Ramsey. 

Celebrations erupted at the final whistle as Birmingham City won their first league game since November 2020 and moved above Leicester City in 11th place while Arsenal Women’s unbeaten start ended with a shocking defeat. Arsenal Women manager Jonas Eidevall told Sky Sports: "I hadn't prepared the players well enough. We didn't play well enough under their pressure or break down their low block. I'm very disappointed. It's 100 per cent my responsibility. It's always that way as the head coach. We had the players in on January 2, we had a good week of training, you always think you're doing what's right but it's apparent we should have prepared in more detail."

Meanwhile, Manchester City Women scored six past Brighton to secure their third consecutive Women’s Super League victory. Victoria Williams scored an own goal three minutes into the start of the second half before Lauren Hemp scored City’s second with a brilliant chip just two minutes later. A minute later, Georgia Stanway made it three while Georgia Coombes scored the fourth soon after, punishing Brighton due to a defensive mix-up. To add to Brighton’s woes, Hayley Raso and Vicky Losada scored City’s fifth and sixth goal respectively with the result ensuring Gareth Taylor's side moved above Brighton in fifth place in the Women’s Super League. 

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