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Holders Arsenal secure at least place in knockout play-offs with one game remaining Mead's deflected strike enough to give Gunners victory Arsenal face trip to OH Leuven in final round of games next week Get Involved: Comment on this page Ciara Fleming Arsenal 1-0 Twente Ooof that was close. Katie Mc Cabe fires Arsenal's first corner of the night right onto the head of Champions League joint-top scorer Alessia Russo who directs her header millimetres wide of the post. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Brilliant passing play from Arsenal to unpick the Twente low block. Mariona Caldentey then tries to steer Victoria Pelova's lay off into the top corner but it's blocked by visitors defender Anna Knol. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Lianne Sanderson Former Arsenal forward on Disney+ I think Taylor Hinds gets quite fortunate, Sophie Proost gets the run on her. Arsenal 1-0 Twente This game is starting to feel eerily similar to Arsenal's win over Liverpool at the weekend. Dominant in possession, carving out openings, but not killing off their opponent. Arsenal 1-0 Twente A warning shot from Twente as Sophie Proost thumps a header over the bar from around the penalty spot. Arsenal 1-0 Twente That fast start from Twente already feels like a distant memory. 44. 3% of the action has been in their defensive third over the last 15 minutes. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Smith's made of tough stuff mind. She's back up and ready to go again. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Lianne Sanderson Former Arsenal forward on Disney+ That is one of the most blatant fouls I've seen in a long time. Olivia Smith went flying. That's a foul all day long. She didn't get anywhere near the ball. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Ouch that's going to hurt. Cutting inside Olivia Smith dances past far too many Twente players for captain Danique van Ginkel's liking and she is crunched with a tackle that sends her flying into the air. Click 'Get Involved' at the top of this page to have your say Alessia Russo is so much more than just a striker. Gina Agreed, Gina. Russo is right up there with the best forwards in world football. Top all-round player. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Nice one-two between Beth Mead and Kyra Cooney-Cross to get to the corner flag on the right before Mead is crowded out and has to make do with a throw. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Olivia Smith is full of energy tonight. A really tough task for Imre van der Vegt to shoulder on her first-ever Champions League start. Arsenal 1-0 Twente After a brief bit of treatment Hinds looks like she will be ok to continue. Good stuff. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Lianne Sanderson Former Arsenal forward on Disney+ I think this is a chance for Arsenal to have a statement win tonight. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Concern for Taylor Hinds here as she's gone down in a heap after colliding with two Twente defenders at a 50-50 challenge. Arsenal 1-0 Twente It's all Arsenal now. It's like they just suddenly went up through the gears when the clock struck eight minutes. Arsenal 1-0 Twente Lianne Sanderson Former Arsenal forward on Disney+ Look at this, it's so calm from Beth Mead. You can see Arsenal look so professional tonight. They look like they have that fire in their belly. Alessia Russo is unselfish here, and there's a deflection, but I think it was going in. Beth Mead (10 mins) FC Twente present the ball straight to Mariona Caldentey in their own final third and Arsenal pounce. The Spain midfielder plays it to Alessia Russo with her back to goal and she in turn lays it off for Beth Mead to strike. Mead faints to shoot, cuts inside on her left and bends it around a defender into the far bottom corner. Ruthless from the European champions. Arsenal 0-0 Twente Kyra Cooney-Cross dinks a little ball forward for Alessia Russo to chase but it's too long and rolls behind for a goal kick. Nice idea. Arsenal 0-0 Twente What's the opposite of commentator's curse? Just as we were saying that the Gunners have started slowly, they nearly take the lead. In the end Mariona Caldentey and Beth Mead both have shots cleared off the line after a mazey run and stepover from Olivia Smith down the left. Mead has scored twice in the Champions League this season At a glance Arsenal secure place in knockout phase with one game to spare Beth Mead scores early after pressure from Mariona Caldentey Arsenal miss several chances to make lead secure Arsenal again failed to convince but secured their place in the knockout stages of the Women's Champions League with a 1-0 defeat of FC Twente. Beth Mead made Arsenal's early pressure count by finding the bottom corner with a deflected strike in the 10th minute. The Gunners made an unconvincing start to their European title defence, winning twice but throwing away leads in losses to Lyon and Bayern Munich. Much of this match was played inside Twente's defensive third, yet Renee Slegers' side failed to turn that dominance into a comfortable lead. Twente struggled to keep hold of the ball as Arsenal counter-pressed high up the pitch, and after 10 minutes the Gunners struck. Mariona Caldentey intercepted a Twente pass out from defence and found Alessia Russo with her back to goal, who turned and found Mead to score. Mead saw a goal-bound effort headed off the goalline two minutes earlier, before Russo headed agonisingly wide from a corner later in the half. Russo missed three chances in the second half including a late header which cannoned off the crossbar, before substitute Frida Maanum saw her strike heroically blocked. Arsenal move up to sixth in the table with nine points, and as it stands will enter the knockout phase play-off round as a seeded team. They must beat Leuven on matchday six to have any chance of finishing in the top four and progressing directly to the quarter-finals. As has been an all too familiar story this season, Arsenal dominated and looked comfortable but could not score enough goals to make the game safe. Fortunately for them Twente offered little in attack – an unmarked Sophie Proost headed over midway through the first half, but the visitors' only other shot of the night did not come until the 84th minute. "We could have maybe took a few more risks in the final third. We had very good chances today and didn't put some of them in the back of the net which is very frustrating, " Mead told Disney+. "We obviously want to score more goals. We had chances to do that. We weren't ruthless enough in front of goal today. When you have chances you have to score. " That said, Arsenal's early pressing was effective and set the tone for a crucial victory. Caldentey, who became the second youngest player in history to reach 80 appearances in the Women's Champions League, was particularly impressive, while Olivia Smith and Mead caused plenty of issues down the flanks. Russo showed her creative qualities by dropping deep and setting up Mead to score, but on this occasion could not add to her competition-leading four goals. Slegers will be disappointed not to have given Leah Williamson minutes from the bench as planned, but this was not the right time to introduce a defender who has not played since the European Championship final. Mead said that a top-four finish remains the target, but admitted that her side have not been at their best at times this season. "We've been really close in a lot of games. We've let ourselves down in a few moments, Bayern Munich first half was really good, second half we let ourselves down, " she said. "We know we can compete, it's just putting it together and getting those results over the line. " Ultimately Arsenal needed to win and did just that, but they will need to be more ruthless if they are to defend their title. After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Head here to get involved Get the latest WSL news on our dedicated page Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 9th December 2025 at 22: 02 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Renee Slegers Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Manager: Corina Dekker Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Manager: Renee Slegers Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Manager: Corina Dekker Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 UEFA Women's Champions League All competitions Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.