Arsenal Women's head coach Jonas Eidevall spoke of his delight after seeing his side overcome rivals Manchester United 3-1 in front of a record-breaking WSL crowd at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The club announced they had sold out for the first time ever 24 hours before kick-off, smashing the previous WSL record also held by Arsenal.

And Eidevall acknowledged the contribution of the crowd, as the tactical nous of the Swede also came to the fore.

“United are a very strong team, but I think they do open up some gaps when they are stepping out," Eidevall told reporters.

“It’s really important to have movement against that and I was pleased with many parts of our performance against [Manchester] City, but I thought we lacked that in the first half, and I think we had that better today."

United manager Marc Skinner started Nikita Parris in a narrower, pressing role on the day, and the threat of the England forward was nullified early on due to a player of the match performance from Gunners’ defender Lotte Wubben-Moy.

Yet Eidevall preferred to focus on the collective defensive effort of his players.

“The unit was important today because it was a new back four for us,” he added.

“We had Leah Williamson injured, we had Amanda Ilestedt ill and Emily Fox at the Gold Cup, so we had to rejig, and you could see that now a player like [Laia] Codina has trained very well, so she was ready to play.

“It was still a new back four to play together, but in that unit, we have to acknowledge a player like Lotte Wubben-Moy. We have to acknowledge the levels she has been playing at this season and seeing how much she develops and a performance like today, I think that’s incredible.”

On the performance of Cloe Lacasse, the Gunners’ boss specified what he had in mind for the Canadian forward prior to the game, suggesting her role was the most pivotal on to unlocking the United backline.

“Cloe was great, but I also think what we need to acknowledge is to see that this is still the fact that when you see us as a team, we come up against low blocks more often than any other team in the league," he said.

“Today we did not come up against a low block and there was space for us when we played out of their pressure. We’ve seen that in the season that we are really good managing that, and we have progressed against low blocks as well.

"But Cloe – she did what she does really well. She used her pace, she went on the outside of their full-back, and there are very few players it the world that can deal with Cloe Lacasse.”

The Gunners now face a two-week wait for their next fixture when they welcome arch rivals Tottenham to the Emirates Stadium on March 3, with Eidevall’s side hoping to avenge the 1-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of their north London neighbours in December.