Jonas Eidevall hopes Arsenal’s dramatic win against Aston Villa could be the start of a formidable partnership between Alessia Russo and Beth Mead.
The pair combined to score Arsenal’s winner in the 94th minute against Villa as the Gunners struck twice in injury-time to claim 2-1 victory at Emirates Stadium.
Mead provided the assist for Russo after coming off the bench with two minutes of normal time to go, as she made her first appearance since injuring her knee in November of last year.
Russo and Mead have been lethal for England, particularly during their march to Euro 2022 glory last summer, and Eidevall hopes the same could now happen at Arsenal.
“Let’s hope so, definitely,” he said. “We’ve seen them together in the national team, so it’s not a hope that is based on just fantasies.
“We have seen that work in reality so let’s hope [for] that, but we have a lot of good relationships going on.
“Beth has worked so hard. She’s hard a really difficult year, both being injured and her mum passed away.
“We know that it’s been incredibly tough for her and it’s so nice to see her being back on the pitch, seeing her being able to perform straight away.
“You never know that. You have to hope, otherwise I would never have put her on, but you don’t know it until you’ve seen it and that was very nice, so a special moment.
“It’s such a massive part of it to have that understanding if my shot is going to be blocked in this situation or do we need another pass to setup the teammate.
“Beth Mead is extremely good and extremely intuitive in those moments, but that’s what I mean when I say she’s coming onto the pitch and will she get that straight away?
“Sometimes you don’t, but she does obviously because she’s Beth Mead and we’re happy about that.”
