Arsenal simply had to beat Manchester United. After losing to West Ham in their last Women’s Super League game, Manchester City’s win over Chelsea on Friday gave them another chance to stay alive in the title race.
They took that opportunity with both hands. Although the result — a 3-1 win over United — was needed, the performance and the work behind it need to act as a springboard for the business end of their season.
Jonas Eidevall’s side have been hampered by surprise defeats. With eight games left to play, they are the only side in the top three to lose three times this season (against Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham).
Those results coincided with Arsenal missing heaps of chances, which wasn’t the case against Manchester United. Eidevall dropped Alessia Russo and Caitlin Foord to the bench in favour of Stina Blackstenius and Cloe Lacasse, demonstrating the different options he has to choose from in attack.
“How do we use them and how do we use them together? And what relationships do we build?” Eidevall said before the United match. “How do we play to a player’s strength and what does that player need to have around her for that to happen? What situations is our preference to set up in?
“That’s where you can see we’re not a fully mature team…
