Frida Maanum pays tribute to Arsenal’s “team effort” in friendly win over West Ham | OneFootball

Frida Maanum in WSL action for Arsenal against Chelsea (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Second-half substitute Frida Maanum scored twice as Arsenal finished their pre-season prep with a 2-0 win over fellow Women’s Super League side West Ham United.

Her first was a header from a cross courtesy of Jenna Nighswonger, her second a finish from a Victoria Pelova through-ball.

And the Norwegian international paid tribute to the quality of her team-mates.

“I think it was a team effort and a team performance, which was nice as well,” she told the club’s official website afterwards.

“They were two great goals, so it’s easy to play with good players like that.”

She added: “We created a lot of good chances in the first half too and there’ll be momentum in that and into the second half. I think we just kept going in the second half and made a lot of changes, which is sometimes difficult, but I think we adapted well into the game in the second half and came up with a good win.”

Arsenal’s previous match had been a 4-3 friendly defeat to North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but Maanum was happy to take the positives from the match, describing the two fixtures as “two tough tests, tough against Tottenham and now today, but it’s good to get a win, a good feeling going into the season.”

Slegers: I’m really happy with pre-season

Head coach Renee Slegers was pleased with what she saw, explaining her reasoning behind seven half-time substitutions with Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly, Kim Little, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Emily Fox and Caitlin Foord replaced by Maanum, Nighswonger, record signing Olivia Smith, Laia Codina, Katie Reid, Taylor Hinds and Beth Mead.

“It’s pre-season, so we’re trying different things, different players in different positions, different constellations.

“A big factor is still to get the right minutes and in the right players, to make as many players as possible ready for the first competitive game.

“So from that perspective, I’m really happy with pre-season so far, to get as many players as possible ready. And of course, it’s always nice to keep a clean sheet and score goals.

“What we wanted in the second half was not too much change. So what we spoke about in half-time was, even though we made a lot of changes, we still wanted to be us and make sure we communicate and connect well on the pitch, so we just kept playing our game.

“I think they did that really well in the second half, so I’m really happy with that.”