Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that this afternoon’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final at Arsenal is just another game.
The Blues are the current holders of the trophy after defeating The Gunners 3-0 in the 2020/2021 Vitality Women’s FA Cup at Wembley in December.
Chelsea lost their grip on the FA Women’s Continental League Cup last month while they are battling with Arsenal for the Barclays FA Women’s Super League title. With a potential Wembley appearance on the line at the LV Bet Stadium this afternoon, Chelsea boss Hayes says that her side are treating every game the same.
“You have to show up for every game, you can’t pick and choose the games which you turn up for,” Hayes said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “For us, it is just another game in the quest to win trophies.
“The players have really developed into being a top professional team that compete on all fronts every year and this is the place that we want to be in, we want to be competing for a place in the FA Cup final. We are the holders and we want to hold onto that.”
Hayes went on to praise opponents Arsenal for their impressive season so far whilst adding that her own side have the qualities required to hurt The Gunners.
She said “They’ve been good battles over the years between us and Arsenal. I think Arsenal have had a tremendous season, they really have, we’ve been going neck and neck in every competition with them the whole way.
“They are at home and we are going to have to suffer at certain points in the game. I am sure that with the threats that we have got, we will cause problems but I think it is difficult for the team to remember that previous results are not indicative of future results.”
The Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final tie between Arsenal and Chelsea kicks-off at 12.30pm.