Interview

Eidevall targets our efficiency in front of goal

Despite a largely pleasing performance to beat Everton, Jonas Eidevall is already looking at how we can become more clinical after we were unable to build on a 1-0 lead.

In his overall assessment of the 90 minutes, the boss called Saturday afternoon a "well-deserved win, all in all."

"Apart from the last five minutes, I felt it was controlled," said Eidevall. "I was happy with the performance but disappointed that we couldn't be more efficient and score the second goal. The last five minutes made me a little bit nervous, but we managed to defend well enough."

With 33 shots in total against Everton, luck wasn't quite on our Gunners' side in our pursuit of more goals. But when it comes to scoring efficiency, Eidevall drew attention to the chain of events leading up to a shot, rather than solely the shot itself. 

"There are a lot of parts to it. It's, of course, the finish itself and it's the decision-making on when to make the finish. But I also think – and people often overlook this – that it's about how well we set up the scoring opportunities.

"How is the pass before the assist? How is the assist? How can we fight for all the margins there in order to make the finish as easy as possible? That's the goal of our whole attacking play: to make the finish as easy as possible.

"There are so many components and that's why I never say, it's only the responsibility of the person who's finishing," he continued. "It's a chain and we work on all aspects in that chain, and that's what we continue to do in training as well."

One chance that was converted, however, was a vintage Vivianne Miedema strike into the top corner and Eidevall praised our Dutch forward's determined performance: "She played very well. I'm happy for her that she got a goal again for the second game in a row." 

Eidevall also welcomed the return of Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza from injury, before a vital run of Champions League matches. 

"We need players coming in! We have been on a run where we have been losing players, so now we need to add players on and that's very welcoming."