Emma Mitchell and Beth Mead both scored twice as Arsenal put London Bees to the sword in their opening match in the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup at Meadow Park.

The Gunners seemed to take out some of their league frustrations from the last two weeks on their WSL2 opponents, who simply had no answer to their rampant attackers.

Arsenal broke the deadlock halfway through the first half when Mead did well to turn before sliding Lisa Evans through on goal and the Scotland international finished calmly into the bottom corner.

The hosts then struck the woodwork twice in a matter of seconds as Evans’ superb strike was tipped on to the bar by Sophie Harris before Mead’s follow-up from Alex Scott’s cut-back struck the far post.

Mitchell then struck twice in three minutes to put the hosts 3-0 up before half-time, first lashing in a half-volley from 25 yards, before her header beat Harris to a Jordan Nobbs’ corner.

The Gunners then brought England striker Jodie Taylor into the action and within seven minutes she found the net, following up after Harris had beaten away Mead’s powerful strike from long range.

Mead then struck a post again, this time with a header from Scott’s cross, but she got the goals her performance deserved, as she struck twice from the penalty spot.

And there was still time for Arsenal to make it a magnificent seven, as Louise Quinn had ample space to take down Evans’ cross before forcing the ball in.

Mead said: “I think that was some of the frustrations of the last two weeks coming out. We needed to put a performance out and that’s a result we needed, to score some goals and play good football.

“These sometimes are your harder games because teams can come to get draws or try to frustrate you and we beat that trap. We got the goals and it was a professional performance from us.

“We’ve got a lot of strength in depth and a lot of competition in the team and that’s shown, maybe not in our performances, but in training and hopefully that can only make us better, as a squad.

“Sometimes you get a little bit frustrated and you’ve just got to keep going and I managed to get my goals off penalties, but I think the girls took their goals well and we’ve put some good play together to get those goals.”

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Arsenal (3-4-3): Moorhouse, Rose, Quinn, Williamson, Scott (O’Reilly 67), Nobbs, Janssen, Mitchell (Hinds 46), Mead, Miedema (Taylor 46), Evans. Unused subs: van Veenendaal, Carter, van de Donk, Samuelsson.