Dominique Bloodworth says Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro has instilled a huge amount of confidence into his side and that this may be behind the Gunners’ dazzling start to the campaign.
Montemurro’s charges maintained a perfect start to the Women’s Super League season with a 4-0 win at Bristol City on Sunday thanks to goals from England ace Jordan Nobb and Danielle van de Donk, as well as a brace from Holland goal-getter Vivianne Miedema which gave them a sixth win on the spin. It means they are strong favourites in the betting to lift the title.
The Gunners sit top of the pile with an unblemished record, with Manchester City in second spot. And Bloodworth has been full of praise for Montemurro as she reflected on such a wonderful start to the season.
Montemurro, who has just penned a new long-term deal with Arsenal, has “created something good” says Bloodworth. adding:
“He’s good with this team and we can all see that we’re playing better and with a lot of confidence, so it’s good that he can just continue to put his style into the team, we can move on and get better and better.
“I just think it’s confidence and now we know what we can expect from each other. The team spirit right now is brilliant and that’s something that you can rely on.”
Bloodworth says the mentality of relying on your team to keep a clean sheet means you only have to score one goal, adding:
“But once we start scoring we have some players that can keep on going and finding opportunities, so that’s a positive. As long as we can keep a clean sheet we always have a big chance of winning games. It feels really good, especially as a centre back.
“Every single game matters. Last season we drew against Yeovil where we lost the points to probably play Champions League football, so this season we know that even if it seems like an easy game or a really hard game, every game matters. We want to approach every game with the same mentality so that way we know that today’s a big game and we need to get the three points that will help us at the end of the race.”
Elsewhere in the Women’s Super League, there was defeat for new Liverpool coach Vicky Jepson as Chelsea won 1-0 at Kingsmeadow with Magda Eriksson grabbing a second win of the term for the reigning champions. West Ham jumped above opponents Everton into eighth position thanks to a 2-1 victory. The Toffees took the lead through Claudia Walker but Jane Ross and Alisha Lehmann put the Hammers in front before the interval.
Meanwhile, Brighton snatched their first top-flight win by seeing off with Jodie Brett and Victoria Williams scoring for the Seagulls while Yeovil scored through Ellie Mason’s second-half strike.