As has been an all too familiar story this season, Arsenal dominated and looked comfortable but could not score enough goals to make the game safe.
Fortunately for them Twente offered little in attack – an unmarked Sophie Proost headed over midway through the first half, but the visitors’ only other shot of the night did not come until the 84th minute.
“We could have maybe took a few more risks in the final third. We had very good chances today and didn’t put some of them in the back of the net which is very frustrating,” Mead told Disney+.
“We obviously want to score more goals. We had chances to do that. We weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal today. When you have chances you have to score.”
That said, Arsenal’s early pressing was effective and set the tone for a crucial victory.
Caldentey, who became the second youngest player in history to reach 80 appearances in the Women’s Champions League, was particularly impressive, while Olivia Smith and Mead caused plenty of issues down the flanks.
Russo showed her creative qualities by dropping deep and setting up Mead to score, but on this occasion could not add to her competition-leading four goals.
Slegers will be disappointed not to have given Leah Williamson minutes from the bench as planned, but this was not the right time to introduce a defender who has not played since the European Championship final.
Mead said that a top-four finish remains the target, but admitted that her side have not been at their best at times this season.
“We’ve been really close in a lot of games. We’ve let ourselves down in a few moments, Bayern Munich first half was really good, second half we let ourselves down,” she said.
“We know we can compete, it’s just putting it together and getting those results over the line.”
Ultimately Arsenal needed to win and did just that, but they will need to be more ruthless if they are to defend their title.
