Harvey: Arsenal's hopes fading after Lyon loss

Arsenal LFC manager Laura Harvey admits her side's UEFA Women's Champions League hopes are dangling by a thread after her side lost 2-0 at the Stade de Gerland in Saturday's semi-final first leg against Olympique Lyonnais.

The 2007 champions were stunned by two Lotta Schelin goals in the first 11 minutes. Although Arsenal eventually got a grip on the game with a much-improved display in the second half, it will be tough for them next Saturday at Borehamwood.

"I'd say we're hanging on by the skin of our teeth," Harvey told UEFA.com. "I'd say it's now 70-30 in Lyon's favour. We were just sloppy in the first 15 minutes and we got punished for it and that's what happens when you do that against a good side. After that first 15 minutes we got ourselves together. We regrouped and dug ourselves out of it and in the second half I thought we were much, much better.

"We've obviously been in this position before in the competition, but not against opposition as good as Lyon," added Harvey, whose side overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Rayo Vallecano de Madrid in the round of 16. "We're disappointed we didn't get a goal away from home but we'll regroup and put a plan in place to overturn the deficit next week."

Scotland international Jennifer Beattie – who scored the decisive goal to edge past Vallecano in November – took heart from her side's improvement after the break and the fact that they limited Lyon to just the two goals. "I'm not really sure what went wrong at the beginning," said the 19-year-old.

"Our start was a bit rubbish to be honest. But once we stepped up our game I think we were really positive with the way we played from there on in and we managed to shut them out in the second half, so hopefully we can take that into next week's second leg."