Three things we learned from Arsenal’s 4-0 away win over London City Lionesses last weekend before we take on Manchester United at a sold-out Emirates Stadium.

The scoreline was needed

A big win and a clean sheet are no less than we needed after a poor result against City (the performance was ok) and a disappointing performance against West Ham. Three losses in a row would have been unthinkable.

This should hopefully boost the group’s confidence and give them some positivity going into a huge clash at The Emirates.

A Conti Cup final (we will face Aston Villa in the semi-final) and a top three finish is a minimum expectation now for this club.

If this isn’t achieved, conversations will need to be had at the club, and I’m sure they will be. I really like that players are taking accountability post-match in their interviews. Mead was great in her interview post City.

Cloé Lacasse was impressive

She started on the left and is able to play on both sides, which is a real advantage for our squad. She’s dynamic and I really like that she tries things.

She got two goals which came from sharp movement and finishing. Can’t get much better than that! It will be interesting to see if she starts against United.

I think the sense has been that they’re trying to work out attacking patterns using Foord, Mead, and Russo and so the front three could easily be those three again, but Jonas said that she’s pushing so this is one to keep an eye on.

We were more clinical

I thought we were good overall. Russo especially. She came on and scored straight away with her first touch! You have to be in the right position to score a goal, and she was.

My main concern this season has been that we haven’t actually been creating tons of good chances. The stats will probably say that we’ve had 200 shots and scored 2 (I’m exaggerating!) but I think the problem is that we’re snatching at shots or sort of being hesitant in the final third, as well as not creating the right angles.

There were positive signs in this game though, especially towards the end. Let’s see how it pans out for the rest of the season!