Eidevall praises Arsenal Women’s “determination and grit” in dour extra time win over Man City

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 04: Jonas Eidevall, Manager of Arsenal applauds the fans after the Barclays FA Women's Super League match between Arsenal Women and Tottenham Hotspur Women at Emirates Stadium on May 04, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

It was a very hard game for Arsenal Women last night as they came up against a Man City team that were unbeaten in their last sixteen games in all competitions, and also hadn’t lost in the Conti Cup for two seasons after winning the trophy last year.

So, as expected it was going to be tight from the start, with the weekend’s Super League game in mind, which is crucial to both clubs title hopes. So neither side were keen to lose the psychological battle, and both sides came close to scoring as you can see in the Highlights, but it amazingly ended 0-0 which has not happened in a Man City game since 2020!

Luckily, just 3 minutes into extra time Stina Blackstenius netted the only goal of the game, and the Gunners dourly held on with their lives until the final whistle.

Boss Jonas Eidevall was full of praise for his side’s determination to hold on to their lead. Speaking after the game he said: “I thought to myself: ‘why couldn’t we have scored that one just before, and we didn’t go to extra-time!’ But at the same time, you wouldn’t want that undone because those 27 minutes we played builds a lot of character and culture, and we can really show determination and grit as a team in those moments. If we can do that all the time, that’s something we can build on.

“Don’t forget, we played Sunday night and they played on Saturday lunchtime so we actually lost 36 hours of preparation for this game, so I’m really proud of the effort we had on the pitch here today.”

Now they have to prepare to go up to the North-West to face City again at the weekend, and we can go there with a lttle more confidence after last night’s result.

COYGW!

Michelle Maxwell

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