Arsenal shrugged off the pressure of having collected just one point from a possible nine in their games against other teams in the top four with a convincing 4-0 win over fifth-placed Everton on Sunday.
Related: Arsenal 4-0 Everton: Women's Super League - as it happened
The three points give the Gunners some much-needed breathing space as they head into the winter break second in the Women's Super League, albeit having played two games more than Chelsea in third and one more than Manchester City in fourth.
Having reached November unbeaten, Arsenal have fallen to two defeats and a first draw in their last four games - against title rivals Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea.
It has been bruising, with manager Joe Montemurro's tenure called into question by a vocal minority of fans as the Gunners' failure to beat a big rival stretched to 14 months. The team's consistency against those outside the current top four, of which they are one, is staggering though. Montemurro's side have not lost against that kind of opponent since a 3-0 defeat to Birmingham in April 2018.
Everton began the season in similar form, with four wins from the team's first four league fixtures. Since then, though, things have unravelled. Willie Kirk's team stuttered with a 2-2 draw against Brighton in the league before a muscle injury to star striker Valérie Gauvin (signed in the summer from Montpellier) in the team's FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City turned the league stutter into a slide.
A 4-0 mauling by Chelsea was followed by a 1-1 draw with Reading, then a 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City, while an ankle injury to Danish defender Rikke Sevecke picked up in theCity game has further hampered their progress.
© Provided by The GuardianArsenal's Caitlin Foord (left) breaks past Everton's Alexandra MacIver at Meadow Park. Photograph: Alex Burstow/Getty Images
Montemurro explained his decision to begin the game with WSL and Dutch record goalscorer Vivianne Miedema on the bench before the game. "We've got 22 players that all contribute and it was a choice today, I'm sure she'll make a contribution," he said, squashing fears of injury. "We build a team where we can get goals out of midfield and even the defensive unit."
It meant there was debate aplenty ahead of kick-off and, with Arsenal desperate to get back to winning ways, the raised eyebrows made sense. Any fears, though, were quickly quashed by an explosive start by the home side, who darted passes around the edge of the Everton box and, in the fourth minute, Jill Roord held off the challenge from Maéva Clemaron, fed Beth Mead out wide and the England forward's cross was prodded in by Jordan Nobbs.
On 10 minutes Arsenal doubled their lead. Centre-back Leah Williamson's long ball was collected by Roord, who raced behind the Everton centr-backs, slipped the ball to Foord and the Australian coolly sidefooted in her eighth goal of the season.
In the second half the Everton goalkeeper, Sandy MacIver, mis-timed her punch when attempting to clear a Katie McCabe corner and Jen Beattie nodded in at the far post. It was her first goal since she revealed that she has breast cancer, having being diagnosed in October, and her second of the season, the first coming against Brighton, shortly after that diagnosis.
Two minutes later a cross field ball from Roord to Mead set the
England forward free, and she cut inside, past Poppy Pattinson, before curling into the corner with her left foot.
With four different goal this was a statement from Montemurro who has always shrugged off any criticism of his squad's depthIt was also a statement from his players, who had their mentality questioned by the manager last week after another last-gasp goal denied them points against another top four team.