Jonas Eidevall labelled his side “a really high performing team in a pressure situation” after Arsenal Women came back from a goal down to beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Sunday evening.

Second half goals from Victoria Pelova, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Stina Blackstenius helped the Gunners recover from Ebony Salmon’s first half strike, and return to winning ways ahead of the Conti Cup final.

Discussing Arsenal’s tactical shift from the first half to the second, Eidevall said: “Me and the assistant coaches took some time before we went into the dressing room at half-time. The first half was not a bad performance, it is a bad result. It was a result that goes against the state of play, we had control even if we didn’t create so many chances. 

“We were unlucky to go 1-0 down. We changed two things. Villa were really, really compact in their organisation in their 5-3-2. It was really important to attack on one side with a structure and start dragging their ‘10’s out on that side and then, with speed and determination, go over on the other side. That was where we would open them up. 

“Once we got that clarity in the second half, we dragged them out and changed the point of attack and started to create some really clear chances. The other thing we spoke about was that Villa really wanted to play out from the back. When you win the ball in those moments against a low block, we needed to be much more forward oriented when you win the ball in these pressing situations and try to create from that. 

“We did that really well in the second half as well. At times when you are 1-0 down, you want to try to put over so much information but I think experience told me and the team, in these situations, it’s important to get the details right that we really need to focus on what is going to make a difference. We said let’s not review what happened in the first half, let’s look into the future and paint a picture of what is going to be for us to be successful. 

“I think we did that well, big credit to the players because they problem solved, they were solution oriented, cool under pressure in the second half. We were so methodical and we kept on believing if we didn’t convert, we would create more chances. That was a really high performing team in a pressure situation.”

The Arsenal head coach also provided an update on Lia Walti, who missed the Women’s Super League game at Villa Park.

“She suffered a minor knee injury in training this week so she will be out for several weeks,” said Eidevall. What several weeks means in relation to the season, I don’t know yet. We need to let this go a couple of weeks then we will have a much better picture and we can see if she will be available for the last games of the season. But it is a minor knee injury and that is important to say.”

Asked if Arsenal still had a chance of winning the WSL title, Eidevall said: “We focus on our games and play one game at a time, we are going to do our very best in every game. At the moment, we look forward to a cup final at the weekend but the league we want to get the highest possible position if we focus on our games.”