Crisis looms at Arsenal: Jonas Eidevall already facing must-win Chelsea clash after the Gunners' disappointing WSL and Women's Champions League starts

It might seem dramatic to label the Gunners’ fourth league game of the season as being as important as this, but the WSL is unforgiving. There are only 22 rounds of fixtures and the top teams rarely drop points to those below them in the table, making any slip-ups particularly damaging to hopes of winning the title.

This is emphasised by the fact that, until Chelsea picked up three defeats last season, no eventual champion had ever lost more than two games on their way to the trophy. Only Liverpool, in 2014, and that same Chelsea team have ever dropped more than 10 points and been crowned champions of England. Arsenal are already at four through their first three matches, drawing at home to Manchester City on the opening weekend before that grim goalless game against Everton.

It was a dismal display from the Gunners to drop points against the Toffees, but not a surprising or particularly new one. Breaking down teams that sit back in a low block has been a persistent issue for Eidevall’s side.

Last season, Arsenal had the best record in the league against the 'Big Four' of Chelsea, Man City and Manchester United, winning four of those six games and losing only one. The reason they finished some five points behind Chelsea, and were out of the title race before the run-in really began, was because of results against other teams. Defeats to Liverpool, Tottenham and West Ham were particular lowlights, while Everton also managed to snatch a point on Merseyside in April.

Ahead of this new season, Eidevall believed he had seen an evolution in the team here. “I’m super-confident that if we came up against a low block then we have tools and qualities and processes on how to play against that, and I have full belief in them,” he said.

However, the games since have suggested otherwise. After a first-leg defeat to Hacken in Champions League qualifying, which was at least atoned for in a 4-0 second-leg victory, and a narrow 1-0 win over Leicester last month, that draw against Everton was in the post.

It must be particularly frustrating for fans because of how good Arsenal’s recent record is against the ‘big’ teams. In the 2021-22 season, Eidevall’s first, the Gunners didn’t fall to defeat in either of their league meetings with Chelsea, even beating them in a thriller at the Emirates. Yet, when the season came to its conclusion, it was the Blues that lifted the trophy, not Arsenal.

If they could just solve this problem against low blocks, then they could challenge for the big titles, right? But that that is still the case three years on is quite damning when assessing the progress made under Eidevall.

Arsenal legend Ian Wright didn’t hold back when discussing the Everton draw on his podcast, Wrighty’s House, earlier this week. “We look like a mid-table club, a mid-table playing style, the way we play, the inconsistency of the way we play, we're playing like a transitional team. Counter-attack games, that's how a mid-table team plays,” he said. “You're at the Emirates against a team that is bottom of the league and you're not controlling that game to the level that's supposed to pull Everton all over the place.”

It was a point he doubled down on when discussing that big-game record too, adding, in rather damning fashion: “It's like a mid-table team. When a big team comes, they find their game.”

Worst of all, when Arsenal got the opportunity to bounce back from that disappointment a few days later, in a meeting with a ‘big’ team in Bayern Munich, and in a game that was more open and theoretically less problematic in terms of style, they were abysmal. After a strong first half-hour, the Gunners ended up being absolutely picked apart in a 5-2 defeat.

The German champions were outstanding in that second period, with former Chelsea star Pernille Harder netting a hat-trick in a wonderful individual display. But one can give credit to the hosts while also wondering just what the visitors were doing. It’s difficult to choose the right words to describe Arsenal’s defending in the second half; it was appalling.

For some of the goals, it was difficult to point the finger at Eidevall rather than the players themselves, who did not cover themselves in glory with the marking – or lack thereof. But one criticism of the coach that emerged again was in his substitutions.

Katie McCabe was fantastic at left-back in her 66 minutes on the pitch, assisting both goals before going off just after Arsenal had levelled at 2-2. Why Eidevall subbed her off was baffling to many. It’s a decision that has only received further scrutiny given what happened once she was replaced. It seemed to be associated with minutes and loading, which was a particular talking point against Everton.

In need of someone to unlock the Toffees’ defence, it was a game crying out for Rosa Kafaji, the exciting No.10 signed from Hacken in the summer. Yet, the coach left her unused, introducing centre-back Leah Williamson and left-back Steph Catley, who had both been out injured, ahead of her. Asked about that decision after the game, he said: “We have had so many minutes on our back four and it is really important for us that we invest minutes in Leah Williamson and Steph Catley so we can get them going in a really heavy week for us.”

Wright was, like many fans, unhappy with the explanation. “The league games, especially against a team that's bottom of the league, it should be a game that firstly, you do not take for granted, you get it done, then you start saying about giving people minutes," he said on Wrighty's House. "You don't do it before the game and stuff like that. You get it done and then you move on.”

We’ve been here before with Arsenal. Last year, they were on the brink of an even bigger early-season crisis. The Gunners had crashed out in the first round of Champions League qualifying and then lost to Liverpool at the Emirates on the opening weekend of the WSL season. Yet, the club showed faith in Eidevall and announced his new long-term contract just a few days after defeat to the Reds.

Things did turn around. A trip to United came next and Arsenal scored a late equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw, before going on a 10-game winning streak. Yet, their title challenge was already hanging by a thread when that run was ended by a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham just before Christmas.

This year, the situation is somewhat different. Arsenal have navigated Champions League qualifying and still have five more group-stage games to bounce back from defeat to Bayern. However, it’s also different because there is much more pressure on Eidevall to deliver a title challenge this term.

In the last two WSL seasons, the Gunners haven’t been close enough to Chelsea, who have won each of the last five titles. Pundits across the game have stressed how important it is for that to change this year – and fans feel the same. After back-to-back third-placed finishes, all associated with Arsenal want to be mixing it with the Blues at the very top of the table. That includes Eidevall.

“The years that we’ve had here building, the expectation of what is a good season for us, it is to win the league, to be honest,” he said before the new campaign kicked-off. “We are past that point where we were coming away and saying, ‘Oh we were two points off winning the league, maybe it was still a good season.’ We are here to win, that is the expectation, the ambition. Is that easy? No, it’s not, it’s very challenging. Will there be more teams with that ambition? Of course there will be. But for us going forward and to measure what success is for us, success for us is winning. Period.”

If Arsenal lose to Chelsea on Saturday, they will have already dropped seven points in their first four league outings. Even if they can secure a draw, it means they will have let their two biggest title rivals, Man City and the Blues, get a result at the Emirates, putting more pressure on them in the reverse fixtures.

It therefore feels like a must-win. Without three points, Arsenal will surely have to assess whether or not they believe Eidevall is the man to help the most successful team in the history of English women’s football, but one that hasn’t won the league since 2019, get back on track.

Twelve months ago, when they handed him that new deal, they were confident he was. Whether they feel the same a year into that contract, we could be about to find out.