It is an exceptionally rare sight to see the home fans in the lower tier of the Emirates Stadium’s west stand all rise in unison to applaud and salute a visiting player being interviewed by the away team’s club media team, but that was the scene behind the Manchester City technical area at the end of this absorbing 2-2 draw.
There had been a distinct air of inevitability about the idea of Vivianne Miedema scoring on her return to Arsenal, the club where she was idolised during a seven-year spell which saw her score 125 times for the club. So there were absolutely no surprised faces in the stadium when it was the Netherlands forward who delivered the first-half equaliser, flicking the ball between Lotte Wubben-Moy’s legs before firing in with a deflected strike.
Yet it did very little to lessen the appreciation the home supporters have for her, as was evident when the 28-year-old was warmly applauded off the field when substituted in the second half.
“I’m really happy with the reception I got from the fans and from all the other girls,” Miedema told reporters after the game, which Gareth Taylor’s Manchester City side had led 2-1 before Beth Mead’s late equaliser for the hosts.
“It was pretty special. Coming back for the first time is a difficult thing to do. It’s the first time you’re coming back home to the place where you’ve been for seven years, so it’s not easy, it’s not like any other normal game, but I think Gareth has been really good with me in checking in with what I wanted to do this week, and the girls have helped me through today, and I’m just really happy the game is done and dusted now and we can move on.”
Miedema, who left Arsenal for Manchester City on a free contract at the end of her contract this summer, has been known for her relatively calm celebrations throughout her career, but nonetheless she still opted not to go wild after her goal, saying: “I wanted to be respectful for the fans who have stood by for the last seven years and are still standing by me, so I think I did the right thing in that sense. Coming back here today, mainly the focus was on surviving and getting through that game, and then everything else that came with that was just a bonus.”
Miedema also scored for her new club on her debut in Paris in the Champions League on Wednesday. As in that game, she was deployed in midfield rather than up front, and Taylor said: “I had some good conversations with Viv this week and I could tell this [returning to the Emirates] was one she just wasn’t comfortable with. It’s really difficult when you go back to your former club.”
Nonetheless, Miedema says she is enjoying her football again, adding: “You could see on the pitch at times that I’m back to being old me, and I can spread some passes and score some goals, and I think that’s the only thing I need to focus on right now and keep on going. I’m happy I stayed in England, I’m happy I stayed in the league. I feel free, I feel like I can be myself, and that’s really what I needed.”
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Miedema described the draw as a fair result, which felt like an accurate description after such an entertaining contest which was end-to-end at times. Yet, perhaps both teams will be left with more than a tinge of disappointment that they did not win the game. Both missed major chances to take all three points, whether it was Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius rolling a shot wide after collecting Katie McCabe’s magnificent ball over the top and rounding the goalkeeper in the first half, or it was Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw seeing the ball hooked away from her by Laia Codina just as she was about to shoot from close range in second-half stoppage time. Alessia Russo will also feel she could have done better, firing a chance straight at Ayaka Yamashita.
There was a notable air of controversy around Mead’s equaliser, with McCabe appearing to have fouled Chloe Kelly in the buildup, which Manchester City were very aggrieved about. Conversely, replays suggested Caitlin Foord might have been onside when her effort early in the second half was disallowed. All square, then, and it feels as though these two will be very closely matched throughout the rest of the campaign.
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