Alessia Russo isn't a winger! Winners and losers as Mary Fowler fires Man City into Women's League Cup final while Arsenal & England striker struggles out wide

For the final 30 minutes of this game, it looked like Fowler could be a villain rather than a hero. She seemed surprisingly rushed in taking her penalty on the hour, lacking her usual composure as she smacked the ball right at Van Domselaar and denied City the chance to take the lead again, seconds after Arsenal had levelled things up.

But it would take something more than that to knock her confidence right now. Her self-belief was evident in the emphatic finish that broke the deadlock, it was on show as she netted an impressive brace in the weekend's meeting with Arsenal and the goal that started this purple patch, against Aston Villa in late January, might've been the pick of the lot.

With the clock ticking down, with little space to operate in, but a tiny window to work with, Fowler backed herself to deliver a match-winning moment and she did exactly that. She's in quite some form.

Arsenal might have scored five goals across these two games against Manchester City, but Alessia Russo never looked like getting on the scoresheet in either. That's not because she didn't play well or execute her finishing well enough, but because she was operating in a wider role in both outings that really limited her attacking threat. The England star showed some nice glimpses, playing some nice passes here and there and creating a decent opening or two, but couldn't really get into any goal-scoring positions because of the job she was being asked to do.

Due to injuries, Slegers' hands were somewhat tied when it came to team selection - plus, the decision to play Russo wide and Stina Blackstenius through the middle worked out for the team on Sunday, in that 4-3 win. However, there were other options available tonight that she could've used, either from the start or with her substitutions, to get Russo, their main goal-scorer, in more dangerous positions. Instead, she was quiet out wide as Arsenal crashed out.

It's not been an easy few weeks for Laia Aleixandri. She's not looked her usually reliable self since returning from an injury before Christmas and there has been some real pressure on her to step up at the back, too, because of Alex Greenwood's serious knee injury. Indeed, high-profile errors in recent games against Manchester United and Arsenal will have also knocked her confidence. On Thursday, though, she was immense.

There were two particular moments in which the defender really stood up. Twice, either side of half time, Blackstenius was racing through on the counter, with only Aleixandri to beat in order to be one-on-one with Ayaka Yamashita. On both occasions, the Manchester City star held firm, waited for the right moment and timed her interventions to perfection, thwarting two hugely promising Arsenal attacks.

This was the Aleixandri that was one of the players of the season last year, the Aleixandri who can help carry City's defence through Greenwood's absence.

This was a super promising full Manchester City debut for Kerolin. The Brazil star joined from North Carolina last month, from a league that runs from March to November. That means she came in at quite a weird time, as she would normally be entering pre-season right now in the U.S, rather than intensely competitive games.

Fortunately for her and City, she looks well up to speed. Her wonderful footwork and skill had several Arsenal players sweating - especially Emily Fox in the first half, though she recovered well in the second - and caused serious problems for Van Domselaar, who was entirely unconvincing with two crosses from the Brazilian which ended up striking the woodwork.

On top of it all, as an extremely direct ball-carrier, Kerolin brings something entirely different to the table for City, and at a time when they find themselves without some key players in attack in Lauren Hemp and, at least for now, Khadija Shaw. She could provide a real boost as this team enters the 'business end' of the season.

Though she did save a penalty, this wasn't an entirely convincing performance from Van Domselaar. There were several moments throughout the game when City almost capitalised on a mistake of hers, only for it to end up going unpunished.

In the first half, there were a few parries of shots and crosses which gave City a second bite of the cherry, with Fowler profiting from one of these until the offside flag went up. There were the two crosses from Kerolin which she struggled to deal with, and gratefully watched bounce off the woodwork, and there will be some who ask if she could have done better for Fowler's eventual winner. That latter point may be harsh, as she did seem to be unsighted, but perhaps those questions stem from some of the unconvincing moments that came throughout the 90 minutes.

Taylor has really felt like a man under pressure this week. Arsenal's 4-3 win at the weekend dealt Manchester City a third defeat in four league games, leaving them 12 points off WSL leaders Chelsea with just nine games to go. Before the first of those three defeats, they had the chance to be three points behind the Blues. Worst of all, City are outside the Champions League spots right now, pushed out by the Gunners at the weekend having also suffered a costly loss to Man Utd last month. It's all unravelled quite quickly.

That pressure is built on a foundation of previous disappointments. It's three years since City last won a trophy and in that time, Taylor's side have underwhelmed massively in the Champions League, too. Indeed, this season is their first in the competition proper since 2020-21. Last year's title race was also a huge anti-climax, with City in pole position until losing to Arsenal on the penultimate weekend.

But this win will ease some of the questions surrounding the City head coach, while also giving him and his team a shot at silverware to look forward to next month. With Kerolin looking sharp and Naomi Layzell playing her first minutes since October, there are some positives from an availability perspective too, after a rough few weeks on the injury front.