Jonas Eidevall has backed Stina Blackstenius in Arsenal's forward role after the Sweden international’s extra-time goal lifted the Gunners into the Conti Cup final over Manchester City.
Heading into Wednesday night’s semi-final, Blackstenius had experienced a tough few weeks. Rumoured to be offered as one of the many means to pry Alessia Russo from Manchester United, the striker’s killer instinct had evaded her in recent big matches.
In the goalless draw against West Ham, Blackstenius spurned a number of quality chances and looked destined to have another difficult night after arriving from the bench in the 65th minute against City and quickly wasting a chance.
But it was Blackstenius who ultimately proved the difference in extra-time as she finished off a clever move with Lina Hurtig, via a fortunate deflection from Leila Ouahabi.
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And Eidevall praised his forward after the match, dismissing suggestions of a confidence boost and instead insisting on the improvement being done on the training pitch.
"When you look at Stina’s shots today and look at how central those shots are. That shows she was working well in her position," Eidevall told Arseblog.
"We came into a phase where Stina was working a bit too much outside on the flanks and she had a couple of games where she didn’t get the goal scoring opportunities either. I know Stina will score a lot of goals, it has been a matter of getting her more central, in front of goal, trust more that the ball will go there and not going too early. You see today she had four or five really good."
The goal was Blackstenius’ third since the turn of the year, following her brace in the 9-0 rout of Leeds Ladies in the FA Cup fourth round.
Blackstenius previously found the back of the net in the 9-1 thrashing of Zurich in the Women’s Champions League group stage in December to end a six-game goalless streak that extended back to 6 November in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Leicester City.
With the loss of strikers Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead to respective ACL injuries, Arsenal’s lack of clinical firepower up front has been a simmering source of frustration for fans as Eidevall’s side bid to continue their title hunt.
Against City, the familiar frustration threatened to derail Arsenal’s quest for silverware, but Blackstenius’ goal could send the striker into a vein of form Eidevall needs.
Arsenal return to action on Saturday when they travel to Manchester City in the WSL.
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