Arsenal Women head coach Jonas Eidevall praised his team's formidable defence after their 4-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur in front of a record Barclays FA WSL crowd at the Emirates Stadium. Vivianne Miedema scored twice and Beth Mead and Rafaelle Souza also netted to send the majority of the 47,367 in attendance home happy.
The result saw Arsenal became the first team in the league's history to keep eight consecutive clean sheets and Eidevall said: "When you don't concede one goal scoring opportunity, it's so impressive. Spurs are a very good team but to not concede one opportunity today, that's stable.
"After the Ajax game [in midweek], I told the players that I think we played poorly in defence and I said there is no team in which you can be poor in defence and expect to win. Today we were great in defence and good teams learn from their mistakes.”
The Emirates Stadium came alive when Mead's superb fifth-minute strike curled past Rebecca Spencer and into the corner to give the hosts an early lead. Miedema's composed finish, after she gifted the ball by a clumsy Spurs move, doubled the lead towards the end of a one-sided first half.
Souza netted the third before Miedema sealed the deal with a glancing header in the 68th minute, leaving Eidevall delighted by the way his side rose to the occasion in front of the bumper crowd.
Eidevall said: "We were talking about having more patience on the ball and making the decisions of when to go forward and when not to go forward. That's something you can do when you're on the training ground and you're not under that external pressure.
"I thought Kim [Little] was phenomenal today, how well she worked in defence. And let's not forget Katie McCabe, with her controlled aggression. She is so important to balance our flow."
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