Leah Williamson still needs to shake off the summer rust
The Gunners took down the NWSL high-flyers in Washington D.C. as a number of young players also impressed
Everything that a club wants to get out of pre-season was evident when Jonas Eidevall's Arsenal side took the field for the first time on their United States tour on Sunday, beating the Washington Spirit 2-1 in a hard-fought encounter. Getting minutes into players' legs, giving them a test in tough conditions, allowing different names an opportunity, bedding in new signings, forging new partnerships and building the confidence of the group - it was all on show as the Gunners triumphed thanks to two goals from Alessia Russo.
The England star's first strike was sublime, a gorgeous flick beyond the goalkeeper coming just 10 minutes into a game that saw Arsenal dominate the ball and the Spirit - third in the NWSL, the top league in the U.S. - cause real problems on the counter-attack. Most of that threat came from Ouleymata Sarr, the France forward who forced a good early save out of Manuela Zinsberger, fired just wide a few minutes later after turning Leah Williamson inside-out and eventually equalised for her team before half time, thanks to poor defending and a goalkeeping error.
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