Arsenal Women’s Eidevall is spoilt for choice on options to lead his attack this season! by Michelle
In Stina Blackstenius and Alessia Russo, Jonas Eidevall now has, in his Arsenal Women squad, two of the finest strikers the WSL has to offer. Although some will quickly settle on Russo (who had ten goals in 20 league games last season as opposed to Blackstenius who acheived eight goals in 22 league games) as the starter, the two can play together; they don’t have the same characteristics, and playing close together could cause big trouble for Arsenal’s opponents. Whether they play together with Arsenal starting with a front two or not, here are some reasons why Arsenal Women’s striking will be the best with these two leading the attack.
- Both are good at off-the-ball pressing; they put defenders under pressure.
- Both have speed and are suited to playing on the counter
- Both can drop to midfield to receive the ball and orchestrate an attack carrying it forward
- Both are technically gifted and can thus set up their teammates to score.
- Both are physically built, thus providing an excellent aerial threat.
- Both are also good goal-scorers.
Other than these two, Cloe Lacasse, Caitlin Foord & Lina Hurtig are all more than capable of putting the ball in the back of the net. And let’s not forget the imminent return of our two top goalscorers from the previous season – Beth Mead & Vivianne Miedema. This pair, between them, scored 66% of all Arsenal Women’s goals prior to their ACL injuries! Though one would expect that they will return by progressively increasing their playing time. Beth is back with the squad, in pre-season training, but Viv is most likely to return later, as her injury was one month after Beth’s.
There’s no doubt that Jonas Eidevall is walking into the 2023–24 season with plenty of options to lead his attack. This season has the promise of being one of the very best for our Gunners, in recent years!
Our Gunners are in action on 6th September, as they face Swedish side Linkoping, in their battle to progress along the path of UWCL qualification.
Bet you can’t wait for the return of the WSL?! I know I can’t! And what an opening game it should be, against Liverpool, at Emirates Stadium, with over 35,000 tickets already sold! Have you got yours?
COYGW!