Lia Walti praises Arsenal for ‘taking momentum’ from Villa in the Conti Cup semi-final
LIA WALTI has praised her Arsenal teammates for playing Aston Villa “into the ground” in the Conti Cup semi-finals.
Stina Blackstenius stole the show as Arsenal stormed their way into the final on Wednesday night by beating their opponents 4-0.
4
4
Two early goals in two minutes were among the Swede’s efforts at Meadow Park.
And she scored a first-half hat-trick amid her side’s relentless attacking display.
Walti revealed that Jonas Eidevall’s aces watched Arsenal’s 6-0 win over Sheffield United in the Premier League on Monday.
And the WSL aces were keen to record a high-scoring victory in last night’s match.
The Swiss midfielder, who made her 150e featuring for the Gunners in the match, said: “We all watched the men’s match a few days ago.
“We said we wanted to be a little more comfortable at halftime.
“We wanted to go (hard) from the start, run them over and the ball went in at the right time and then we took the momentum from Aston Villa.
“We took advantage of the spaces they gave us and we were efficient with the ball in the first half and that made a difference.
“You could just see the fresh legs in the team and we have such good competition with Stina and Frida (Maanum) coming in and Kyra (Cooney-Cross) and Leah (Williamson).
“They are great players, they can push the team to a better performance.
“You felt we played them (Villa) into the ground, and they didn’t really have a chance.”
The win saw Arsenal reach back-to-back Women’s League Cup finals for the first time under head coach Eidevall.
It also means they still have a silver medal in their sights, with the team now just three points behind Chelsea and Manchester City in the top flight.
Speaking about the win, Eidevall said: “We want to compete in every competition we enter.
“Every competition we participate in is very important and we do our best to win it.
“We are happy to be in a final because that is the starting point if you want to win trophies.
“Of course participating in the final is a step in the right direction.
“It doesn’t mean we are fully developed yet, but you can see from the attendance numbers that we are pulling, competing and going to the (cup) final.
“We are competing in the league (for the title), these are positive signs and we can be encouraged and continue to build on them, not only this year but for the future.”
Eidevall opted to make four changes to the side that defeated Tottenham at the Emirates in the WSL on Sunday.
Leah Williamson, Frida Maanum, Blackstenius and Kyra Cooney-Cross all started with Laia Codina, Victoria Pelova, Caitlin Foord and skipper Kim Little on the bench.
And Villa were without first-choice keeper Daphne van Domselaar with Anna Leat between the sticks and Gunners’ loanee Noelle Maritz in the cup.
The hosts took the lead with a ninth-minute opener through Blackstenius who fired the ball high into the net over Leat.
It took the Swede two minutes to double Arsenal’s lead with a tap-in, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Villa, who looked stunned by the scoreline, fell behind 3–0 after 18 minutes when Frida Maanum curled in a shot from the top corner.
And Katie McCabe almost made it four by crashing into the woodwork moments later, before Blackstenius fired home just before half-time.
In the second half, Villa shuffled their decks, with Simone Magill coming on for Alisha Lehmann.
4
And they came close to a goal back, with McCabe having to clear Ebony Salmon’s low, dangerous cross over the bar.
Shots of “we want five” rang out from the fans towards the closing stages, with the Gunners seeing out the match with a clean sheet.
Tonight, Man City or Chelsea will claim the remaining spot in this year’s Conti Cup decider, with the rivals going head-to-head in the second semi-final of the competition.