FAWSL 2018/19: Arsenal Women vs Everton Ladies

Arsenal Women maintained their surge towards the FAWSL title with a 2-1 win over Everton Ladies on Sunday. The win means they now sit four points clear at the top of the league with two games remaining.

Joe Montemurro’s side took an early lead through Louise Quinn before Vivianne Miedema struck her 30^th goal in all competitions this season. Arsenal made life harder for themselves in the second-half, however, which allowed Everton a route back into the game. This tactical analysis will look at what allowed Arsenal to flourish as well as where they could have improved.

Arsenal’s freedom down the left

This season, one of the biggest aspects of Arsenal’s attacking play has been fluidity and that continued on Sunday. Throughout the year, they have been comfortable using varying systems and against Everton they used a 4-2-3-1. This gave them a front four of Katie McCabe, Danielle van de Donk, Beth Mead and Miedema.

Of these players, all are able to play multiple positions across the frontline which helps the fluidity Arsenal’s attacks. Rotating constantly, Everton couldn’t pin down just one of them. This interchangeability created endless avenues on the left wing for Arsenal which resulted in both of their first-half goals.