Everton can take positives from spirited defeat to Arsenal

Everton fell short in a spirited performance as Arsenal came away 2-1 winners to go joint top of the Women's Super League

Everton can take positives from spirited defeat to Arsenal

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Any Everton fan knew the task in store when travelling down to the capital ahead of Saturday's Women's Super League game, with Arsenal being one of the top teams in the country. But a defiant and determined performance saw the Blues go toe-to-toe for the best part of the match and will take plenty of positives from the 2-1 defeat.

Before the game, Everton boss Brian Sorensen said of the Gunners: “They have an unbelievable squad and really good player experience, so it's going to be a tough, tough task.” The match itself was exactly that as Everton struggled to deal with Arsenal’s quality in attack.

Fans travelling down from Merseyside were left with a nervous wait with a pitch inspection at Meadow Park being announced late the previous night. With supporters already angry at the match not being streamed live, a late cancellation would have only added to the outrage.

But after the pitch was deemed playable, it would have been a tough early watch for those Evertonians as Arsenal were quick out the blocks with Beth Mead striking the crossbar within five minutes as the visitors were being pinned back by the Gunners' high-pressing front four of Alessia Russo, Vivienne Miedema, Caitlin Foord and Mead.

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Sorensen’s side's playing style was clear from the start - they were going to play out from the back, like they do every week no matter the opponent - but in the early exchanges Clare Wheeler and Aurora Galli were being marked out of the game, meaning the Blues defence had no outlet and resulted to going long and losing possession.

This philosophy was echoed in Sorensen's pre-match press conference when he said: "I think every time we play against those top four teams, we try to do the same thing and at times, that makes it more difficult for us. But that's what I believe in.”

As a result, Arsenal were able to capitalise in the ninth minute with Victoria Pelova picking up the loose ball and driving toward the byline and cutting it back to Foord, who finished into an empty net, leaving Courtney Brosnan with no chance.

Everton set up in a 3-4-3 formation but out of possession it became more like 5-2-3 with Emma Bissell and Heather Payne defending as full-backs. With the way in which Arsenal set up, with very attacking full-backs supporting the front four, it resulted in the Blues defending in numbers but then being unable to create chances on the counter-attack as the forwards had a lack of support.

Sorensen’s persistence in playing out from the back paid off, though, as Everton grew into the game and the two goalscorers from last weekend’s FA Cup triumph over Aston Villa combined to equalise. In the 24th minute, a perfectly timed through ball from Karoline Olesen set Katja Snoeijs through on goal and the striker slotted a composed finish past Manuela Zinsberger. It was the Dutch forward's third goal in the last two matches.

However, Snoeijs' strike was the only shot on target for the Blues and the last time that the Arsenal goal was threatened, with Zinsberger becoming a spectator for the most part.

The Gunners were able to take control of the contest once more and regained the lead in added time at the end of the first half. Player of the match Lia Walti crossed the ball over the heads of the Everton defence and into the onrushing Mead, who headed in off the post.

Although the goals stopped in the second half, the chances didn’t for the home side, but Everton were able to cope with the constant pressure with determined defending, a positive that Sorensen can take away.

Megan Finnigan expertly blocked Russo’s shot on the goal-line to prevent a certain goal after Brosnan had bravely tackled Arsenal captain Katie McCabe, with referee Melissa Burgin unmoved by the home fans' appeals for a penalty.

The returning Elise Stenevik helped provide an assured and strong defensive performance for the BLues, with the Norwegian defender making her first WSL start since the opening day at Brighton.

Sorensen rolled the dice, making all five substitutes, but the pattern of the game stayed the same with Arsenal dominating proceedings. Rikke Madsen was handed her WSL debut but was unable to affect the outcome as the Gunners saw the game out as 2-1 winners.

A takeaway from the match and a sign of Everton’s progress and strong performance was the tense home crowd at Meadow Park wildly celebrating each cross collected by the Arsenal keeper in added time as the Blues pushed for an equaliser.

The loss leaves Everton in the bottom half of the table but challenging and competing for the duration of the match with a side now top of the WSL will supply much needed confidence going forward.

Everton have a crucial double header against Leicester City next week, in both the FA WSL Cup and the league itself. Sorensen’s team sit just one point and place above Leicester and will need to show the same levels of determination and desire as they did against the Gunners.

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