Glory, at last! – The Arsenal Women Journal

Arsenal Women lifted the Continental Tyres Cup for the sixth time since its inception, the last one being in 2018.

It’s the first trophy for Jonas Eidevall as Arsenal head-coach and the first trophy for the club since the league win in 2019 – four years ago.

Kim Little and Leah Williamson lift the trophy (photo from Arsenal.com)

Contrarily to what a bitter Emma Hayes said during the post-game press conference, it was not a simple matter of desire: we outperformed them, Jonas Eidevall prepared the game so well tactically that Chelsea had no response to our dominance down their right-hand side, beside changing personnel three times in the first half, and the players stuck to the game plan regardless of the early setback.

At Selhurst Park we witnessed a very mature performance from a team that has been under pressure for quite some time and could have crumbled when the inevitable Sam Kerr headed Chelsea on front in the first minute. Instead, they reacted immediately and closed Chelsea in their own half from the restart, eventually being rewarded with three unanswered goals in 30 minutes, putting the game to bed.

This league cup is Jonas Eidevall’s for all of his calls for patience and perspective, when the results were not coming; it is Caitlin Foord’s for her majestic display on the left wing, where she was simply untouchable for any of the opponents Emma Hayes’ threw in to contain her fury; it is Stina Blackstenius’ for her relentless work upfront and her ability to remain calm and collected amid a sea of criticism for her finishing skills. Ultimately, this league cup win is the players’, the staff’s and Jonas Eidevall’s because we owed Chelsea a good spanking after the last results and a comprehensive win as a reward for their efforts and dedication.

Stina Blackstenius celebrates her goal (photo from Sky Sports)

Back in 2018, the league cup win was the catalyst for the league title, a few months later, and a huge boost for the then-coach Joe Montemurro and his players so let’s hope that this win will result in a change of fate for this season, a bit underwhelming so far. Back then, we defeated Manchester City in the penalty shoot-out before beating them to the league title and, although the challenge looks extremely complicated this year, one can always dream about a swift change of trajectory for both clubs.

With a renewed belief and mindfulness, this team might well be able to close the gap on the league leaders before the big showdown, scheduled on May, 21^st at Kingsmeadow. To do that, though, Jonas Eidevall and the players will have to surpass themselves as we will play Tottenham (A), Manchester City (H) and Manchester United (A) between March 25^th and April 23^rd, not to mention the European tie against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Truth is, when the team plays with such focus, togetherness, clarity and determination, there is a valid point for a remarkable remontada. Hopefully they will be able to pick-up the three points against Liverpool, on Wednesday night, and ride the monumental momentum built by the well-deserved, hard-earned, sweet league cup triumph over Chelsea.

To believe is the first step towards achieving the unthinkable, let’s keep the faith.

Andrea Rosati

Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.