Arsenal begin WCL defence with wobble after Dumornay double ...

Reigning European champions Arsenal began their title defence with defeat to last year’s semi-final opponents Lyonnes in a thrilling encounter in north London.

Renée Slegers’ team had taken the lead in style through Alessia Russo early on against the tournament’s most decorated team, but two goals in seven minutes from Melchie Dumornay, courtesy of some questionable defending, gave the visiting side all three points.

A fourth game without a win is a blow for the Gunners, with draws against Manchester United and Aston Villa followed by defeat to Manchester City in the league prior to this meeting, but this was not a performance to be ashamed of, far from it, and they can draw on their campaign of comebacks all the way to their second European title last term moving forward.

The grim reality is that Meadow Park is no longer fit to host Arsenal matches. Despite investment to have it meet Uefa’s minimum standards, the facilities are nowhere near good enough for Champions League football. That does not stop it being a powerful cauldron, though, the Gunners’ hardcore fans rocking the North Bank and leading the thunder of noise through the open ground as they kickstarted their title defence.

“It’s a clean slate,” said Steph Catley beforehand. The centre-back resumed her partnership with 19-year-old Katie Reid for the visit of the eight-time champions, with Leah Williamson still absent through injury. “We’ve got to act like we’re the champions and people are coming after us to win it off us.”

If that was the energy in training and in the dressing room it spilled on to the pitch in style. Arsenal were up for this match. Very up for it. Reid was one of five changes to the side that suffered a bruising 3-2 defeat by Manchester City on Saturday; Arsenal have dropped seven points in three games in the Women’s Super League to dampen hopes of a serious title challenge.

Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly slotted either side of their England teammate Russo and it was Mead who drove the ball into the box for the opening goal, dancing through the middle before clipping the ball to Russo, who fired past Christiane Endler.

Arsenal should have been two up on 17 minutes, when a short back-pass forced Endler to race out and deny Russo a second, and they were punished for that profligacy one minute later. Daphne van Domselaar, the goalkeeper, fluffed her pass to Catley, landing it straight at the feet of Dumornay, the midfielder forcing a save before rolling the rebound into the empty net.

It was calamitous and five minutes later the visitors had the lead against the team they lost to 5-3 on aggregate defeat in last season’s semi-finals. The Lyonnes press mercilessly hustled away possession in the Arsenal third and the ball fell to Dumornay, who fired in from the edge of the box, with Van Domselaar, somewhat inexplicably, rooted to the spot.

There was no head bowing under the lights by the players in red, who instantly sought a reply, Matriona Caldentey forcing a smart low save from Endler.

The problem Arsenal have is that they looked nervous defensively whenever the dynamic front three of Kadidiatou Diani, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Tabitha Chawinga broke. The absence of Leah Williamson’s leadership qualities – in addition to her composure and vision on the ball – is being felt more and more as each game comes and goes.

There was some redemption for Van Domselaar before the break, a double save denying Chawinga then Katoto to keep the margin to one goal.

The frenetic energy of the first half was carried into the second. Why it felt so fraught, intense and fiery is hard to tell. The compact crowd, the ambition of the teams and the opening night of this season’s Champions League all likely contributed but the format change, from a group stage to a league phase, akin to the men’s tournament, seemingly played its part too.

Linara Joseph’s Champions League debut for Lyonnes was over five minutes after entering the fray, the forward limping off in considerable pain following a foul on Frida Maanum, the players handed a much needed breather by the pause in play.

“Aggressive, aggressive” came the shouts from the Arsenal dugout as they lined up the resulting free-kick, which was cleared.

There was no heroic comeback, but the battle raged until the end as they fought to get something from the game and Jonatan Giráldez side sought to kill off those hopes.

Defeat is not a total disaster for Arsenal, who suffered a bruising 5-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in their opening group stage game last season before going on to win Europe’s premier competition for the first time in 18 years.

That loss contributed to Jonas Eidevall’s exit and Slegers’s temporary promotion that was made permanent three months later. The task though is to figure out the causes of an alarming slide that has seen them extend their winless run to four games and do something about it quickly.