For the most part, it wasn’t the most confident or thrilling of performances, but Arsenal got the job done with a 4-1 win against Vålerenga, as they begin life without Jonas Eidevall.
The result mattered more than the possession-heavy performance with the hosts desperate to secure their first three points in the Champions League group stage following defeat to Bayern Munich last week.
Eidevall’s resignation earlier this week brought an increasingly toxic narrative around the side to a halt. This was the opportunity for a new beginning. A chance to fix the rocky start to the season that has already cast doubt on Arsenal’s title credentials. One win from their opening four WSL games and the concession of a 13-minute hat-trick to condemn them to a 5-2 defeat to Bayern in the Champions League were the final nails in Eidevall’s coffin. This was the year the manager had to deliver, and their limp opening showed, despite the best of intentions, he couldn’t.
The rapid turnaround following Eidevall’s exit, with the former manager having handed in his resignation on Monday, the team told on Tuesday morning and their next Champions League tie on Wednesday, helped focus the players and staff around them. The assistant Renée Slegers, a former Netherlands international who had replaced Eidevall at Rosengård before joining the Swede at Arsenal last year, was handed the reins on an interim basis but she and the rest of the coaching staff had limited time to unpick the problems that plagued the latter stages of Eidevall’s tenure.
There was just one change to the side that suffered a tough 2-1 defeat 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 alongside Leah Williamson instead. For the Norwegian champions, who sit 11 points clear at the top of the Toppserien with four games of their season remaining, there were two changes to the team which earned a 3-0 win over Lyn at the weekend, 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 new dawn at kick-off. They would be celebrating almost immediately, with Emily Fox swapping full-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 feel aggrieved, 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 hosts were lining up to pepper the goal, Katie McCabe, Williamson and Russo (twice) testing the post and the goalkeeper Tove Enblom in the space of a minute.
The second would come shortly after, Mariona Caldentey threading the ball to Beth Mead, who, having swapped sides with Foord, saw her effort take a deflection 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 against Bayern and two early goals to Chelsea highlighted a fragility, particularly exposed on set pieces. That Vålerenga pulled one back was no surprise, despite Arsenal’s dominance. It was Codina who was at fault, failing to deal with pressure from Karina Sævik. She forced the defender 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 possession, they struggled to restore their two-goal cushion in the second half, Enblom doing well to deny them when tested.
They would finally make the breakthrough once more with five minutes of normal time remaining, before adding a fourth in injury time. First, the substitute Stina Blackstenius teed up Caldentey who arrived at the far post to blast the ball into the top corner. Then, Russo fired in from a tight angle on the left.
There are plenty of reasons to be hopeful looking forward, the quality of the players at Slegers’ disposal is not in question. Up next on Sunday are West Ham, a side who took points off them last season. The mission will be to reach the international break unscathed then they can reassess.