If Jonas Eidevall was feeling any pressure, Arsenal’s offer of a new three-year contract, announced on Thursday, is the perfect tonic. Unlike most managers who have just signed a new deal, though, he does not have the luxury of recent form to fall back on. Eidevall can feel reassured that he is part of the club’s “long-term vision” – now he accepts there is a need to get “short-term results”.
Arsenal’s opening Women’s Super League fixture was a big success – apart from the result. A league-record 54,115 fans flocked to the Emirates, only for Liverpool to spoil the party with a shock 1-0 win. It was the Gunners’ third straight league loss after two defeats to end the 2022-23 season – while their Champions League hopes ended in a painful qualifying defeat by Paris FC on penalties.
This alarming dip in form for his injury-hit team marks the lowest ebb of Eidevall’s reign, and he is eager for Arsenal to “show another version of itself, something else than what we showed last Sunday”. That chance comes on Friday night in Leigh against Manchester United. One of the WSL’s trickiest away trips, it is also the perfect venue for Eidevall to get his long- and short-term goals back on track.
It was United’s second-place finish behind Chelsea last season that pushed Arsenal into an earlier Champions League qualifying round, and shook up the top flight’s established big three. For the first time since Birmingham in 2014, a team other than Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester City broke into the top three.
United are the league’s upstarts, a heavyweight name with a relatively short history in the women’s game. Their manager, Marc Skinner, is clear that status means little to his ambitious side. “Being Manchester United players, it doesn’t matter that Arsenal have got a historic record of winning the league,” he said before Friday’s game. “My players don’t need a psychological edge.”
That may be a thinly veiled reference to a summer where Arsenal have attempted to assert dominance, chasing two of United’s biggest stars after losing twice to Skinner’s side in the league last season. Alessia Russo, scorer of the winning goals in both those games, was successfully prised away. The England striker referenced Arsenal’s run to the Champions League semi-finals as a key factor in her decision to move south on a free transfer.
Three months on, Arsenal are out of Europe and United are still in – albeit with a tough playoff game against Paris Saint-Germain to escape the qualifying bottleneck. The fact that Tuesday’s first leg is being played in Leigh, rather than at Old Trafford, is a sign of where United’s women still lag behind Arsenal and Chelsea.
Last season, Arsenal women played eight matches at the Emirates. In addition to last Sunday’s game against Liverpool, the team will play another four home league games there this season. Chelsea played four games at Stamford Bridge last season, and will play at least six more games there in all competitions after kicking off this term against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.
United, by contrast, have only confirmed that November’s Manchester derby will be held at Old Trafford so far. That will be only the fourth WSL game held there in front of fans – the first, against West Ham in March 2021, was behind closed doors. While Arsenal now hold four of the top six WSL attendances, United’s biggest crowd is 30,196 for the 5-0 win over Aston Villa last December.
While the visitors will turn out in a new, Stella McCartney-designed bespoke away shirt for Friday’s match, United have their own visual cue to represent their off-field progress. A mural of Mary Earps, created by the club with Sky Sports and daubed with the words “Welcome to Manchester”, sends a defiant message after the England keeper stayed at United this summer, amid persistent interest from Arsenal.
There are a couple of problems here, though. First, the mural is outside Old Trafford, a 45-minute drive from Friday night’s venue. More importantly, the battle for Earps, one of England’s most talented, high-profile and popular players, is far from over. As with Russo, United reportedly batted away a world-record bid from Arsenal, but they fear a repeat scenario next summer if Earps is unwilling to extend her contract.
“Arsenal have been one of the top teams in the country for many, many years,” Skinner says. “[But] we won’t stop until that final whistle and I think that’s scary to play against.”
Manchester United’s rise in women’s football has not been fuelled by grit and spirit alone, of course, and they have invested in their squad this summer. United spent a reported £100,000 on the American goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who will play a backup role – for now.
The World Cup golden boot winner, Hinata Miyazawa, has also joined alongside the defender Gabby George, the Brazil forward Geyse and Atlético Madrid’s Irene Guerrero. Geyse featured in an alliterative attacking trident alongside Leah Galton and Lucía García in the opening comeback victory at Villa, the side widely considered to be best of the rest.
The long-term battle looks tough for United, but they keep delivering short-term results – and a third straight win over Arsenal would give them an early six-point cushion. Arsenal have won once in their past seven visits to (greater) Manchester, and Eidevall knows another poor result would bring a swift end to his second honeymoon period.
“This is going to be the most competitive season [yet] in the WSL,” he warned. “There are a lot of really good teams. We are one, United are one. You need to be 100% for every game.” With Beth Mead very close to full fitness but still unavailable, Eidevall must hope Russo, the trump card lifted from United’s deck, can be the difference again and help restore order in the title race.
