Vivianne Miedema played her last game for Arsenal today against Brighton, in which she scored the third of the Gunners’ five goals. The Dutch international’s departure was announced this week, with the striker set to move elsewhere after seven years in north London.
Eidevall explained the special moment in more detail post-match, expressing that ‘I think you can never write your own farewell. Maybe you can’t do that unless you’re her. For me, I was 100% sure she was going to score today because I think that was her wish and [she has] the special ability to make that happen.’
Alessia Russo added two more goals to her tally, bringing her to 12 goals in the Women’s Super League this season. The forward has been under intense scrutiny this season after arriving from Manchester United, but played well today against Brighton.
Embed from Getty ImagesEidevall explained how Russo has improved throughout the season: ‘We worked so hard with her positioning and staying more central to get in more finishing opportunities in what we call the Golden Zone.’
‘I think she’s really managed to do that from the London City Lionesses game in the Conti Cup quarterfinal and onwards.’
‘I think she just had a really good goalscoring record from that game going forward, as well. So, I think those things fit very well together.’
Looking ahead to next season, Arsenal will be wanting to add to their squad and Eidevall offered an insight into what he’s looking to improve when he spoke to reporters at Meadow Park. ‘I think what has been apparent this season is that when opponents have given us space, I think we’ve been a very good team exploiting space,’ he expressed.
‘When the space has not been there and we need to create space, that’s where we at times have been lacking so I think from a pace perspective and having players that can exploit space, I think we’re good.’
‘To be more effective in set pieces and to open up games where there is less space, there are qualities there that we need to bring into the team.’