Did Arsenal expose Chelsea’s need for a clinical finisher?
Full Time: A show about women's soccer
The Athletic
4.8 • 807 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stina Blackstenius and Alessia Russo were ruthless in front of goal in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Chelsea in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinal first legs. Did that performance highlight the exact sort of clinical forward play Chelsea have been missing?
On this episode of Full Time Focus, host Jillian Sakovits is joined by The Athletic’s Charlotte Harpur, fresh from the Emirates Stadium in London, to break down what we learned from a quarterfinal classic between Arsenal and Chelsea, and what the latest news is on Sam Kerr’s future with the Blues. Jillian and Charlotte also get into the other midweek European matches, from a historic yet bitter night in Manchester, and an upset in Wolfsburg.
PLUS: Melanie Anzidei also hops on the pod to get into the Denver Summit’s historic first-ever win. Melanie was in New Jersey to catch the 2026 NWSL expansion team down the reigning champions, Gotham FC. The pod also discusses a chaotic midweek slate in the NWSL, where many teams rotated out their stars.
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HOST: Jillian Sakovits
GUESTS: Charlotte Harpur, Melanie Anzidei
PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes
VIDEO PRODUCER: Lia Griffin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen
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Referenced on the show:
Ruthless Arsenal expose Chelsea’s need for a clinical finisher
UWCL first-leg defeat to Bayern shows Manchester United must narrow the small margins
Women’s Champions League: 18 goals as Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Barcelona find a scoring streak
Denver Summit shuts out defending champion Gotham FC to earn first NWSL win in big way
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When Chelsea is crying out for a clinical striker, that's the thing is that Chelsea do have very |
| 0:13.1 | promising and talented attackers. |
| 0:15.5 | Alyssa Thompson and Lauren James were live-wise against Arsenal. |
| 0:18.8 | They're just lacking that clinical edge, |
| 0:21.1 | which has been the story of their season. |
| 0:23.8 | And whereas in previous seasons, |
| 0:25.7 | they would overperform. |
| 0:27.4 | They have the worst conversion rate in the WSL of expected goals. |
| 0:31.8 | So Kerr could be pivotal next week, absolutely. |
| 0:36.9 | Music could be pivotal next week, absolutely. |
| 0:45.3 | Hello, hello everybody. |
| 0:47.4 | A big welcome to full-time focus. |
| 0:49.0 | I am Jillian Sackavits. |
| 0:53.5 | It was not your normal week in the world of women's soccer. |
| 0:56.1 | Now, March has brought us some midweek madness from the UEFA Women's Champions League quarterfinal first legs getting underway this week |
| 1:01.1 | and the NWSL having its first slate of Wednesday night games. On the show today, we're going to be |
| 1:06.7 | getting into all of that. We'll have the athletic, Charlotte Harper, on to talk all things |
| 1:11.3 | Champions League and how a ruthless Arsenal side exposed Chelsea's need for a clinical |
| 1:16.2 | finisher, as well as what's the latest on Sam Kerr's future. And after that, fresh from a surprise |
| 1:22.4 | home defeat for Gotham FC, we will talk to Melanie Anzi Day, who saw the Denver Summit get their first ever win. |
| 1:32.1 | All right, in case you missed it, let's get you all caught up on this week's Wayfoot Women's Champions League quarterfinal first legs. |
| 1:38.9 | The most cagey of the affairs. |
... |
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