Jonas Eidevall praises Arsenal's squad depth after…

Jonas Eidevall praises Arsenal's squad depth after comfortable Champions League victory over FC Zurich

Arsenal Women manager Jonas Eidevall says he can trust his entire squad following Thursday night's UEFA Women's Champions League victory over FC Zurich.

The Gunners boss made several changes to the starting line-up that beat Liverpool in the league over the weekend. Jordan Nobbs, Mana Iwabuchi and Jen Beattie all made their first competitive starts of the campaign, while summer signing Kaylan Marckese made her debut for the club.

Nobbs opened the scoring in the first half before Lina Hurtig doubled their lead minutes later. The visitors pulled one goal back in the second half, but Hurtig sealed the win shortly after to record a 3-1 victory.

Speaking on the depth of his squad and whether game time for those on the fringes will give everyone a boost, Eidevall said post-match: "This game came in a moment when we really had to trust the whole squad. It’s nice and it’s a Champions League game so a lot is at stake and it shows the players that we trust them.

"It is not the Conti Cup group stage when you play players because it’s just the game that came up. When you play players in the Champions League it is because you trust them. I have been very happy with the spirit in training."

Arsenal moved top of group C following the victory, two points clear of second-place Juventus. Eidevall's side have won their opening two matches in the competition, with last night's victory following an incredible 5-1 thumping of current holders Lyon last week.

"I ask the team to be 100% but that also means that my preparations and the whole tech teams’ preparations can’t be different from Lyon away to Zurich at home, it has to be the same," he continued. "Because if we go in more to the other game, then we are also telling them that this game here it’s more important for us and we expect more and so on.

"So we try to be very consistent. It’s a very boring answer, it’s not a Hollywood movie but that’s what we try to do, to be consistent with everything. We’ll stay here now for two hours to make all the preparations for the review so we then can focus for West Ham. We are happy with the result but it’s only two games, nothing is done yet."

The North London club return to league action on Sunday with the visit of West Ham as they'll look to cement their spot at the top of the WSL table. The Champions League returns next month on November 24 with an away trip to face Italian giants Juventus.

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