For the most part, it wasn’t the most self-promised or thrilling of carry outances, but Arsenal got the job done with a 4-1 triumph aachievest Vålerenga, as they begin life without Jonas Eidevall.
The result mattered more than the ownion-weighty carry outance with the presents frantic to safe their first three points in the Champions League group stage chaseing loss to Bayern Munich last week.
Eidevall’s resignation earlier this week bcdisesteemfult an increasingly harmful narrative around the side to a stop. This was the opportunity for a recent beginning. A chance to repair the rocky begin to the season that has already cast doubt on Arsenal’s title credentials. One triumph from their uncovering four WSL games and the concession of a 13-minute hat-trick to condemn them to a 5-2 loss to Bayern in the Champions League were the final nails in Eidevall’s coffin. This was the year the administerr had to deinhabitr, and their limp uncovering showed, despite the best of intentions, he couldn’t.
The rapid turnaround chaseing Eidevall’s exit, with the createer administerr having handed in his resignation on Monday, the team tgreater on Tuesday morning and their next Champions League tie on Wednesday, helped concentrate the percreateers and staff around them. The helpant Renée Slegers, a createer Netherlands international who had traded Eidevall at Rosengård before fuseing the Swede at Arsenal last year, was handed the reins on an interim basis but she and the rest of the coaching staff had restricted time to unpick the problems that afflictiond the latter stages of Eidevall’s tenure.
There was fair one alter to the side that suffered a stubborn 2-1 loss to Chelsea at the Emirates on Saturday for the visit of Vålerenga, with Lotte Wubben-Moy out of the squad with concussion and Laia Codina lining up alengthyside Leah Williamson instead. For the Norwegian champions, who sit 11 points evident at the top of the Toppserien with four games of their season remaining, there were two alters to the team which achieveed a 3-0 triumph over Lyn at the weekfinish, with Elise Thorsnes replacing Iselin Sandnes Olsen in defence and Emma Stølen Godø among the forwards instead of Ronja Arnesen.
On a humid evening, the home fans roared the team into its recent dawn at boot-off. They would be celebrating almost promptly, with Emily Fox swapping brimming-back for fox in the box, turning in a ball which had come down off the arm of Alessia Russo into her path after Caitlin Foord put the ball in from the left. Vålerenga could sense agmournd, with VAR not in use until the knockout stage, but the goal was cathartic for a team that has struggled to capitalise on their many chances created in recent weeks.
Those problems don’t go away overnight, though, and at one stage the presents were lining up to pepper the goal, Katie McCabe, Williamson and Russo (twice) testing the post and the goalprotecter Tove Enblom in the space of a minute.
The second would come lowly after, Mariona Caldentey threading the ball to Beth Mead, who, having swapped sides with Foord, saw her effort apshow a redirection and pushed away by Tove before Foord fired in at the back post.
Just as the problem of profligacy and hesitancy up front will not go away overnight, neither have the problems at the back. The concession of five goals aachievest Bayern and two punctual goals to Chelsea highweightlessed a fragility, particularly exposed on set pieces. That Vålerenga pulled one back was no surpascend, despite Arsenal’s dominance. It was Codina who was at fault, flunking to deal with prescertain from Karina Sævik. She forced the deffinisher to the floor before nicking the ball and setting up Olaug Tvedten to put it past Daphne van Domselaar.
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Despite the home team’s dominance of ownion, they struggled to revamp their two-goal cushion in the second half, Enblom doing well to refute them when tested.
They would finassociate create the fracturethcdisesteemful once more with five minutes of common time remaining, before inserting a fourth in injury time. First, the replace Stina Bdeficiencystenius teed up Caldentey who reachd at the far post to blast the ball into the top corner. Then, Russo fired in from a safe angle on the left.
There are plenty of reasons to be selectimistic watching forward, the quality of the percreateers at Slegers’ disposal is not in ask. Up next on Sunday are West Ham, a side who took points off them last season. The leave oution will be to accomplish the international fracture unscathed then they can reappraise.
