Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that latest opponents West Ham United have performed better than their league position suggests so far this season.
The Gunners travel to The Chigwell Construction Stadium to face The Hammers in their latest Barclays Women’s Super League fixture on Sunday afternoon.
West Ham United go into the game in 11th position in the Barclays Women’s Super League table. Arsenal boss Eidevall believes that The Hammers have performed much better than their ranking suggests so far this season.
“I have a lot of respect for West Ham,” Eidevall said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “You can look at the league table in two ways; stage one is if you look at the points and the goal difference, that paints one picture but remember, we’ve only played 12 games. Yes, 12 games is more than half of the season in the WSL but if you compare that to another league where you’d play 38-46 games, it’s not a lot of games in a low-scoring sport like football.
“West Ham from an xG perspective are the fifth-ranked team in this league, so I think it’s a team that has massively underperformed for points compared to their performances this season. For me, West Ham’s performances in a lot of games have been really strong and they’ve had a good transfer window, they’ve brought in some quality players.
“It’s a really strong opponent and we will need to be on our best behaviour.”
New West Ham United boss Rehanne Skinner has brought a more attacking style of football to the club this season. Eidevall sees similarities in The Hammers’ playing style with the club’s successful period under former boss Olli Harder.
He said “They remind me of how they looked when Olli Harder was the coach, they play a very similar type of football both style and formation. They have a lot of players that are well-suited in doing that.
“They had a quiet transfer window in the summer but they’ve brought in a high quality of player like [Riko] Ueki for example, who is a really good nine. In the latest window, they’ve signed players like [Katrina] Gorry and Kristie Mewis that have had tremendously good international careers.
“They are a strong team, they have a strong squad and the only thing that has been missing for them is that they haven’t been rewarded for their performances in points. As a team, you see that they keep on going, they keep on believing and that’s usually a very good sign.”
Arsenal’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.
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