In a game that had seen dominate Chelsea over 90 minutes, Jonas Eidevall was tremendously proud of our team’s performance this afternoon, despite our rivals’ late equaliser.
“I told the players [how proud I was] after the game,” our manager said after the final whistle. “I thought our performance was really, really good. I'm proud of that.
“Of course, we're disappointed with the result, but going forward, we need to take that performance with us and we need to learn what we need to learn from the goal we conceded.
An exceptionally bright display from our Gunners, particularly in the first half, produced a catalogue of good chances. Eidevall believed our eventual breakthrough was thanks to a combination of incredible support and our players’ tenacity.
“The crowd. The players' bravery and their choice between being active or reactive. I think a lot of these are things that we want to showcase for our supporters. We want to be a brave team. We want to play fearlessly. We want to express ourselves. I'm happy to see that.”
That all-important Emirates Stadium crowd once again passed 40,000 strong for a Women’s Super League fixture - tangible growth that Eidevall is delighted to see.
“It makes us so proud to represent the club. The atmosphere is great, the turn up again for the third consecutive WSL game playing at the Emirates Stadium is a 40,000 plus experience. It’s incredible just looking at where we have come from in the last year so let's build on it, let's push it.
“Let's not be content. Let’s create even better experiences with even more people in there. Let's make this club even more special than what it already is.”
The last minute equaliser from Chelsea’s Sam Kerr was an uncomfortable echo of a similar late surge from Manchester United at Emirates Stadium in November. Despite leading until the 85th minute, the Red Devils managed to stage a comeback and seize the three points. For Eidevall, however, “every game is individual”.
“There were moments there where of course, we can look to see how we can control the game better than we are doing. It’s always good if you score the second goal. Of course it is.
“We still have to be humble because Chelsea are a very good football team. They took a lot of risks going forward and most of the time, with the number of chances that we concede, you should be fine in the game. So it's tough to know. It feels bad now when we conceded a goal, but all in all, when you look at the performance, we should be happy.”
Looking ahead to next weekend and our next challenge, Brighton & Hove Albion are in our sights.
“We need to go one game at a time. We still have lots of things to develop so let's review this game here. Let's go back to the tactics room and get a plan for Brighton and work really hard in the week. That’s going to be a tough game so we need to be ready for that.“
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