Eidevall hails 'collective' effort from Arsenal in nervy win over Everton

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall praised the "collective" performance of his side as they edged a 2-1 Women's Super League victory over Everton to move level on points with leaders Chelsea.

Beth Mead scored a first-half headed winner for the title chasers after Katja Snoeijs cancelled out Caitlin Foord's early opener.

Eidevall said: "I'm really happy with the first 70 minutes of the game. I think we moved the ball very well. 

"I think we played past their pressure in a really good way a couple of times. We pressed good, we pressed in a collective way. 

"The only thing I'm not happy with in the first 70 minutes is we only scored two goals and we managed to concede a goal on basically only one chance they had in the game. So we should have a bigger margin. 

"If we had conceded a goal in the end, I think we would have been really disappointed with the way we played the last 15 minutes. I know it was disrupted a little bit with players being out having treatment and so on."

England forward Alessia Russo had a strong second half but failed to find the back of the net as she had one effort cleared — close to the goal line — before sending a second just wide.

Perhaps a concern for Eidevall, she was substituted late on after a challenge from Hanna Bennison left her needing treatment.

The hosts were guilty of wasting numerous other chances to finish the game at Meadow Park but Eidevall praised the Gunners' creativity in front of goal.

He added: "We managed to create a lot of good goalscoring opportunities and high-quality chances and that's really important. 

"We managed to do that, not only coming from the sides, but we also had a lot of nice central combinations. That variety is really nice to see. 

"I think we have good movements, good fluidity and good creativity from the players and I'm pleased with that. It was more about putting the ball actually in the back of the net.”