Arsenal Women boss Joe Montemurro admitted that off-field distractions might have affected his team as their title hopes were dealt a blow by a 1-1 draw away to Reading.
Vivianne Miedema’s strike before half-time earned the Gunners a point after Lauren Bruton’s opener against her former team.
But despite having a number of chances, Arsenal could not find a winner, losing ground on Chelsea at the top of the table.
And after all the controversy over Arsenal players departing to Dubai over Christmas leading to games being cancelled due to Covid, Montemurro acknowledged it has not been easy.
He said: “It's tough when there are a lot of distractions, whether it's important ones like protocols for the players. But we just want to get playing football again and back into a good rhythm.
“Usually we can pass our way out, but here everything needed two to three touches. We were below par all game.
“We can't pinpoint a period or a time, I just think we didn't get into our rhythm. Our positioning wasn't very good especially in the first half and we paid for it.
“I wish I had the magic wand or the magic scenario, but the reality is that we've got to keep learning and keep being prepared as best we can.
“We've lost a bit of fluidity and zip and we've just got to position ourselves better. We're just not doing it well enough at the moment.”
The draw leaves Arsenal three points behind Chelsea and Manchester United at the top, while Manchester City sit two points further back but with a game in hand on Montemurro’s side.
He added: “Our target is to win the next game and play good football. There are still a lot of big games to happen and teams to play each other.”
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