Conti Cup final victory ‘special’ for Arsenal says Eidevall | OneFootball

Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that winning an evenly-contested FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup final was a special moment for his side.

The Gunners defeated Chelsea 1-0 in this season’s final at Molineux this afternoon. Stina Blackstenius netted the game’s only goal in the second half of extra-time after the two sides had played out a goalless 90 minutes. Arsenal’s winning goal came after midfielder Frida Maanum had collapsed on the field towards the end of normal time; the player has since been cleared to travel back to London with the team.

When speaking to the media in the post-match press conference, Arsenal boss Eidevall said that Maanum’s illness provided some extra motivation to win the game. He also expressed his delighted that The Gunners were able to win what was a contest of very fine margins.

“It just adds onto the motivation,” Eidevall said when discussing the impact of Maanum’s injury. “When you see a player go down, we need to continue to do it. We do it for her, we do it for the fans, we do it for everyone that supports us.

“Of course, it was special. It was a hard-fought game that was decided by small margins and we are happy to be on the good side of it.”

Arsenal forward Blackstenius was almost the perfect trophy-winner. The Swede netted her ninth tournament goal of the season as she fired her side to a record seventh FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup success. Eidevall was complimentary of Blackstenius for her contribution this season.

He said “I think Stina is having a great season, she works incredibly hard both on and off the ball and she’s been really good in the penalty area the whole season, the Conti Cup is no exception to that.

“It was an offensive decision to keep Stina and Alessia [Russo] playing as a nine and 10 but I think that really paid off.”

It could have been a different story had Lauren James converted a big chance five minutes from the end of normal time. The player looked certain to score, however, Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger came up with a top class block to divert the ball wide. Eidevall hailed Zinsberger for the role that she played in the victory.

“Manu is so resilient and she has such a good growth mindset,” he said. “It was a game of small details, fine margins and that was a game-winning save. For her, making big saves like that, the way she does it, she’s a top goalkeeper.”

Arsenal have now won back-to-back FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cups after also defeating Chelsea in last season’s final.