It seems like a lifetime since we last saw our women on the pitch, but Jonas Eidevall and his Arsenal Women team will be hosting Watford at Meadow Park for the Women’s FA Cup fourth round. Arsenal supporters will be looking for a revitalised team to emerge from their warm weather training trip to Portugal, but as it’s a Cup game, I predict plenty of rotation and opportunities for players who might not often get minutes.
Alessia Russo or Stina Blackstenius—who do you believe will be the line leader, even if I anticipate a few changes? Both have had decent seasons, however in my opinion Blackstenius has produced a little bit more. It also stands to reason that Russo would take longer to settle in and truly get going. Additionally, it looks like Eidevall has a lot of faith in Russo and her ability to succeed eventually, even if I believe she has had enough of opportunities to do so previously.
Though she occasionally scores a monster goal and always appears to be in the right spot at the right time, Russo, in my opinion, does much more than just score goals. What really strikes me about her is what she does off the ball. She’s been a key component of our build-up play this season because of her ability to hold up play and her preference to receive the ball with her back to the goal, which creates opportunities for her teammates.
Russo has a proven track record of scoring goals in the WSL; during her time at Manchester United, she was a key contributor to the team’s goals. Since joining Arsenal, she has managed to rack up four goals and two assists, which isn’t bad at all. However, I believe that supporters were hoping for a bit more and for her to start playing right away.
Despite playing in less games than Russo, Blackstenius has also had a decent season and has scored four goals. However, it appears that she doesn’t have the same level of confidence as Russo. I know Russo was a big addition to the team, but Blackstenius seems to deliver results on a regular basis.
For me, I think as much as Eidevall wants Russo to shine, he also needs to factor in how good Blackstenius is and there’s been a couple games where I personally, would have gone with Blackstenius over Russo. Although I am aware that Russo is his top pick, I would want to see Blackstenius start the cup.
