‘I take full accountability for our performance’ – Eidevall reacts to Arsenal’s defeat at Chelsea

Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Barclays Women’s Super League title were left hanging by a thread after they were defeated 3-1 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last night.

The Gunners’ latest defeat has left them six points adrift of Barclays Women’s Super League leaders Chelsea with just six games left to play. It was a frustrating evening for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge with The Gunners being forced into a late kit alteration, an incident which delayed kick-off by 30 minutes.

Reflecting on his side’s defeat in the post-match press conference, Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall took full accountability for the result and insisted that there was no blame placed upon the officials for the chaotic events prior to kick-off.

“The referee had no part in why we didn’t win or why we lost this football match,” Eidevall said. “This was down to our performance, turning over the ball too many times on the transitions and being too weak in our offensive or defensive organisation. It has nothing to do with the game starting late or the referee’s decision and so on. I take full accountability for our performance.”

Going on to discuss the pre-match controversy further, Eidevall stressed that the circumstances were the same for both teams.

He said “I need to be very clear that it was the same for both teams and I will not make any excuses, that would be ridiculous. It is the same for both teams.

“I was not involved in the process of revolving, other people do that. Eventually, we got the kit that enabled the game to go ahead.”

Chelsea were defeated 4-1 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium in December. Eidevall said that Arsenal were anticipating a reaction but they didn’t cope with the situation well enough.

He said “A home crowd can create momentum when you score a goal, they capitalised on that momentum in the first half and they did that well.

“I said before the game that the performance Chelsea had at the Emirates really hurt them because that is not the side they see themselves as. If there was one thing absolutely given today, it was that they were going to come out and from an effort level and a physical level, try to prove that the performance in December was wrong. We were prepared for that but we didn’t deal with that well enough.”

Arsenal are back in action next weekend when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park.