What Olivia Smith said about Arsenal after netting against Liverpool | OneFootball

Olivia Smith faced her former team on Saturday and her goal played a big part in Arsenal’s win against Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.

Smith joined Arsenal from Liverpool in summer for a world-record fee at the time.

Olivia Smith: ‘Arsenal are cohesive’

There have been doubts surrounding Arsenal in the past month with the teams struggling for form on the pitch.

Reports from the Athletic suggested that the Gunners have a ‘splintered’ changing room at the moment which has led to some disappointing results.

Those reports were put to rest by Olivia Smith on Saturday after Arsenal won their first league game following back to back draws.

“For me, I think if you look at us on the pitch, we’re cohesive. We’re together,” Smith said. “I don’t think you should really believe everything that you read because our club is just so together and we’re a family.

“I think we’re just driving really high standards at Arsenal and it’s so competitive. We’re all fighting for a starting spot.”

After their win this weekend, Arsenal are now eight points behind Manchester City at the top of the WSL.

Renee Slegers’ team is still very much in the title race with 12 games to go but they will almost have to win every game to make that a possibility.

Can Olivia Smith keep scoring?

Since scoring on her debut for Arsenal in September, Olivia Smith wasn’t able to get on the scoresheet in her next seven games.

That was until the former Liverpool star scored against her old club on Saturday. Smith had only good things to say about the Reds post-match after spending such a successful period on Merseyside.

“I was really excited, but I have so much respect for them,” she said. “They did so much for me over the time that I was there. It was a great moment for me.”

“I think the biggest thing was going to the second half,” she said. “We knew the first half wasn’t good enough. We needed to put our chances away. That’s something that we’re going to work on moving forward as well.”

Arsenal have a tricky run coming up and they will be hoping that Smith can keep her scoring run going ahead of the winter break.

What next for Arsenal?

Arsenal face FC Twente in the Champions League next. The WSL side has won two and lost two so far in Europe and they are currently tenth in the table.

The defending champions must win against their Dutch opposition this week if they are to get anywhere near the knockouts.

Arsenal will face Oud-Heverlee Leuven in their final league phase game of the season and after the Liverpool win they will b confident on six points from six.