Jonas Eidevall makes admission after Arsenal's controversial win over Man City
Jonas Eidevall said he was surprised Arsenal were "portrayed as the underdogs" for their vital WSL showdown with Manchester City which the Gunners won 2-1.
Arsenal substitute Stina Blackstenius scored the winner late on following a goalkeeping howler from City's Khiara Keating, after Chloe Kelly's strike look to have salvaged a point for the visitors.
The win moves Arsenal level on points with City, with both sides now chasing title holders Chelsea. City boss Gareth Taylor later accused Eidevall of "bullying" the fourth official, Melissa Burgin in his post-match television interview.
BBC Sport later reported Arsenal were disappointed with the comments, with Eidevall not booked during an entertaining tussle between the two heavyweights. The win means Arsenal have now won all four home games against City since the Swedish coach joined the club in 2021.
City were the in-form team coming into the game, having not lost in the WSL all season. But Eidevall later admitted he was taken aback that the visitors were considered favourites for the Meadow Park showdown.
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"Yeah it's (the win) a big boost," said Eiedevall. "I was a little surprised before the game to be honest because it was like we were being portrayed as the underdogs here.
"In my experience, we won three times out of three while I’ve been managed against Manchester City. This was the fourth out of four if you include the Conti Cup (semi-final last season) I think that’s a very strong record against Manchester City.
Stina Blackstenius celebrates scoring Arsenal's winning goal after an error from Man City keeper Khiara Keating (Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)"It was something we spoke about (before the game) we had a clip of some moments that were good when we beat Manchester City here at Meadow Park. Some of them were technical but it was also physical attributes."
Arsenal led through Steph Catley's superb opener after just 15 minutes. But that came against the run of play, with City having dominated the early stages, with Bunny Shaw and Kelly going close.
"The first 15 minutes stressed me out," joked Eidevall. "I don’t think anyone planned fior us to lose the ball in the way we did here.
Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor (L) accused Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall (R) of bullying the fourth official in the former's 2-1 loss on Sunday afternoon (Photo by Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)"It didn’t surprise us the way they played, but our decision-making was a little bit slow and they had some touches which could have ended really badly for us.
"So no, it didn’t go to plan! But I’m happy the players could cope and we changed a few things to play much better out of their press."
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