First half goals from Stina Blackstenius and Caitlin Foord sealed a midweek league win for Arsenal Women over Liverpool. The Gunners remain in fourth place in the WSL table with a game in hand on Manchester United and City.

The absence of left back Steph Catley was a hot topic when the lineups were announced at Meadow Park. The Australian was seen on crutches and in a protective boot, with Eidevall confirming that she had suffered a non-contact foot injury. “We need to assess it further. She is definitely out for Reading [on Sunday] but we will see after that”.

Analysing Arsenal’s attacking play, Arsenal’s head coach discussed comparisons between the display on Wednesday night and some of the offensive patterns in Sunday’s Conti Cup final win against Chelsea.

“It depends on how the opponent presses, but what you can see that is very similar between these two games is that we had players facing forward in front of the opponent’s defending line, and while we were getting a lot out of those situations against Chelsea last Sunday, I think we created almost twice as many of those situations today. 

“That’s where we need to be a little bit critical and say we need to create more… but we created enough to win the game.”

It was seemingly a game of two halves with Liverpool manager Matt Beard making a triple substitution at half time which certainly saw his side improve in the second half. Eidevall as always was keen to talk tactics- “They changed their formation to a back three, they basically go man v man all over the pitch in their pressing, and that of course takes a little bit of time to settle into. 

“We are also, or I am, killing the rhythm a little bit by doing substitutions at that time, but it’s important for us to invest in the squad in these games”. Following everything that comes with a League Cup victory against the champions, the result was always going to take precedence over anything else as Arsenal returned to league action.

“It’s important for [our younger players] to get game time” continued Eidevall, “also in game states that are still with nerves in the game, because that’s when you learn; that’s when you show trust, and I think we managed that. At the end of it, we found some really good solutions playing out of that kind of pressure as well and I think it shows that adaptability this team starts to have that we can also handle different formations.

“In the end we changed to a back three and I think that made us see out the game really well, not defending low but more defending higher up and playing out from the back”.

Arsenal are back at Meadow Park on Sunday as the Gunners face Reading. It’s a 6:45pm kick off, live on Sky Sports in the UK.