Chelsea defender Maren Mjelde has revealed that she has spent the last four years dreaming of another appearance in a Vitality Women’s FA Cup final.
The Norwegian international played the full 90 minutes of The Blues’ 3-1 victory over Arsenal in the 2017/2018 final but a phased return from injury meant that she didn’t feature in the latest showpiece between the two clubs back in December.
In an exclusive interview with FAWSL Full-Time ahead of Chelsea’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final at Arsenal on Sunday, Mjelde labelled her final success with The Blues in 2018 as one of the proudest moments of her career whilst adding that she has spent a long time dreaming of another outing in Wembley final.
“I’ve been dreaming of playing in an FA Cup final again since the first time that I did it,” Mjelde said. “Playing in the final in 2018 in the first year that I was here was probably one of the biggest and proudest moments of my career and I want to experience that again.
“I was on the bench but not ready to play in December. It was so much fun watching the team play but at the same time, you want to be a part of it on the pitch. I’m going to do everything that I can to support the team (for the Arsenal game) because I want to play in an FA Cup final again.”
After stuttering just before Christmas, Chelsea have been in exceptional form in 2022 and Mjelde went on to say that her side can take lots of confidence into what will be a tough game at Meadow Park this weekend.
She said “I think it is always hard going there, it is their home ground and everyone knows how much we love playing at Kingsmeadow but it is the semi-finals of the FA Cup and anything can happen.
“I think we have done really well after Christmas, the results have been getting better and better, the performances have been excellent so we have to bring that confidence into the game on Sunday.”
Chelsea’s grip on the domestic trophies loosened last month when the South West Londoners were defeated 3-1 by Manchester City in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup final. Mjelde believes that the defeat has only made the team stronger.
“It’s always hard losing, especially finals but it does something to you,” she said. “You can’t win everything but when you lose, you want to win everything even more. We regrouped after that game and I feel that we have got even stronger. It hurts losing finals but I think that did something for us.
“We are Chelsea, we want to win trophies and we have another chance now. We need to beat Arsenal on Sunday and we will do everything that we can to do that but we know that it is going to be tough.”
Chelsea’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final tie at Arsenal kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.
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