Cankovic: Win over Arsenal a statement

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Midfielder smashed home stunner against Gunners in 4-2 win over Monday. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Nick Szczepanik

2025-05-09T09:00+01:00

Jelena Cankovic will be aiming to help Albion finish the campaign with three straight wins, with Albion heading into Saturday's game against Villa on the back of victories over Everton and Arsenal. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Jelena Cankovic says that the volley against Arsenal that won her Albion’s Women’s Goal of the Season award is one of the best goals she has ever scored.

Her wonder strike came two minutes before half-time in the 4-2 victory at Broadfield Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday.

Arsenal defender Emily Fox must have thought she cleared any danger from an Albion corner with a firm defensive header at the far post. But as the ball dropped towards the edge of the penalty area, Cankovic charged forward and hit it full on the volley with her left foot. The ball flew past goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger as Albion defender Maria Thorisdottir, almost on the goal line, took evasive action.

“It’s somewhere up there, I would say,” the Serbia midfielder said. “When I hit it, it happened so quick that I didn’t really think too much but I was just like: ‘It’s going in’ and it was a perfect shot. I’m really really happy to win this award and happy that I was able to contribute the goals to the win on Monday.”

Jelena later scored her second goal of the game with a clever close-range chip as Albion moved up into fifth place in the WSL, which will be the club’s best-ever finishing position.

“The club speaks about top four, and of course it’s a goal,” she said. “But the club has never finished fifth so I guess it’s a step, and then the next step will be finishing top four.

Women’s Goal of the Season sponsored by Zappies: Jelena Cankovic v. Arsenal. 📷 Paul Hazlewood.

“So I think it’s an amazing achievement to finish fifth since the club has never done it before. And I’m just happy to be part of the squad who did that and I think we deserve it.”

Can the squad break into that top four next season?

“The WSL is also getting much better every year and it’s really hard to compete in the WSL so I think it’s a big step but it’s football so you never know. I think with little improvements next year we can hopefully be more consistent and then we’ll see.”

Jelena joined the club last summer after winning back-to-back titles with Chelsea, so she is used to playing in big games. And she believes that beating the Gunners for the first time is a significant result for Albion’s women after a challenging campaign.

Jelena Cankovic joined Albion from Chelsea last summer. 📷 by James Boardman.

“Especially the second half of the season has been a bit tougher with results,” she said. “But I feel like the game last week against Everton and this game [against Arsenal] really helped us to gain confidence and hopefully we can also finish the season against Villa with a win.

“But I think especially this game that we played against a tough opponent, when we scored four goals and were so disciplined and working so hard, it was really good in spirit and we really showed character.

“They’re Champions League finalists and they’re a really amazing team. Beating them is really good since the club never did it before in the WSL, so also scoring four goals, I think it’s a really big statement from us as a team and I’m just so happy about it.”