As comebacks go, this one was pretty special.
Arsenal were 2-0 down at half-time away to Leicester City, a team who had not only never beaten the Gunners in the Women’s Super League, but had never so much as managed a goal against them.
The visitors halved the deficit in the 50th minute. Incredibly, 12 minutes later, they were 4-2 up. Jonas Eidevall’s side would eventually run out 6-2 winners with six different goalscorers.
Arsenal were devilishly good in the second period, also hitting the woodwork three times, and their ruthless performance means they leap up to second in the WSL table.
It also feels like a key moment in their season. The north London club, riddled with injuries, started their campaign poorly but are now celebrating their fourth consecutive league win.
“Every attack they just seemed to tuck away,” said opposition manager Willie Kirk to Sky Sports.
“It was really hard to do anything about it. I thought Arsenal were supremely clinical in terms of their counter-attacks, they were incredible in that period.”
When the other team are calling you “incredible”, you know you have done a pretty good job.
‘The Arsenal way of playing’
At half-time, Arsenal had slipped into the bottom half of the WSL table.
Sloppy defending had allowed Leicester to grab two goals in 54 chaotic seconds and the Foxes looked set for their first league win over the Gunners at their fifth attempt.
Defeat would have been Arsenal’s third away from home in seven league matches and would have left the visitors six points off leaders Chelsea.
The narrative looked very back different then.
“It was a bit emotional at half-time because we needed to apply ourselves much better,” Gunners manager Eidevall said to Sky Sports after his side’s win.
“We kept all the structure, sometimes that’s the hardest part because you can get tricked by the result and think that you need to change the structure but we didn’t.
“And the attacking football we played in the second half had some great passages which resembles the Arsenal way of playing. That should be the standard going forward.”
It has not been an easy start to this season for Arsenal with an opening day defeat to Liverpool followed by a 2-2 draw at Manchester United.
Stars Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema have only just come back from long-term injuries while England captain Leah Williamson and defender Laura Wienroither remain in the ‘ACL club’.
But Sunday’s thrashing of Leicester, combined with last week’s narrow win over Manchester City, suggests the Gunners are finding their groove again.
“That’s the Arsenal that we know,” said Tottenham striker Bethany England on Sky Sports.
“That’s the Arsenal that we’re used to seeing – dominating the ball, dominating possession, using the whole width of the pitch. In the end they created great chances in front of goal and made it simple.”
