Jonas Eidevall ended his three-year stint in charge of Arsenal Women on Tuesday when he resigned as head coach following a poor start to the 2024/25 season [Daniela Porcelli/SPP]

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ARSENAL kick-started the post Jonas Eidevall era in style last night (Wednesday) as they earned their first win of the season in the Women’s Champions League group stage.

Eidevall’s decision to step down as Gunners boss dominated the pre-match build up. But his former players did their talking on the pitch at the Emirates Stadium as they sealed a 4-1 victory against Valerenga.

The north Londoners made a dream start when Emily Fox calmly slotted home from close range after only two minutes.

Arsenal doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark when Caitlin Foord riffled the ball into the roof of the net.

A mistake from defender Laia Codina allowed the Norwegian visitors to pull a goal back through Olaug Tvedten, but this always felt like a night when Arsenal just might start turning their season around, and they put deserved gloss on the scoreline late on thanks to goals from Caldentey and player-of-the-match Alessia Russo.

While the noise that Eidevall was a man under mounting pressure had started to ramp-up in decibels, Tuesday’s news that the Swede had resigned still came as somewhat of a shock.

In many ways, perhaps it shouldn’t have: one win in four Women’s Super League games and a 5-2 tonking by Bayern Munich in Europe were hardly the results the Arsenal hierarchy had hoped for after investing heavily in the squad.

Eidevall has continued to be a massive advocate for growing the number of fans turning out to watch women’s football. So it was an ironic twist that the almost 46,000-strong crowd that watched the Gunners lose 2-1 against Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday made the unrest surrounding the club that much louder.

There was a growing demand for change, but few expected that the London derby would be Eidevall’s final game in charge – even if those fans holding up mock P45s hoped so.

“I was shocked by the news,” said assistant coach Renee Slegers, who has taken charge of the first-time on an interim basis. “I was very sad because he’s been a good leader for the staff.”

Arsenal captain Kim Little was keen to press home “the foundations” that Eidevall leaves behind.

She said: “This incredible club has got everything in place for us to succeed, so we move forward with that and refocus.

“We’ve gone through the taxing stuff and we look forward to that, just bringing everyone together and refocusing. Ultimately, our job is to get out there and play as players and that’s what we need to focus on.”