Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that creating favourable situations will be important in their Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Chelsea this afternoon.
One of the tournament favourites will exit the competition at the last-16 stage while the other will move to within two wins of another Wembley appearance.
Arsenal and Chelsea have already met in 2023, the pair played out a 1-1 draw at The Emirates Stadium last month. The Gunners looked set for the victory until Sam Kerr headed Chelsea level in the 90th minute.
When discussing the learnings from that match in the pre-match press conference, Arsenal boss Eidevall said that creating favourable situations against Chelsea is important.
“I think it is important in these games to create as many favourable situations as possible for your team,” Eidevall said. “It is so easy when you play a team like Chelsea to focus on what they do well and their strengths to try and nullify them in those moments or situations. The best way is to make sure that those situations never happen at all.
“Of course, they try to avoid that happening but what was so clear to me when I watched that game was whenever the team, both we and them, had good moments where they were successful, they were forcing the other team into situations that they don’t like. That was a real clear sign of success in that game. I think that is true in general in all matches but also, specifically to Arsenal and Chelsea.”
Arsenal have struggled for wins in the Barclays Women’s Super League in 2023, The Gunners are yet to collect maximum points. Eidevall went on to say that he does not treat league and cup performances any differently. He also commented that his side have been playing well despite not winning games and that the gruelling fixture schedule has been problematic.
He said “It is a very important competition and we want to do everything that we can to win. It doesn’t change with pressure, I still have those high standards on us.
“With regards to the league, I look at performance and results differently. I know that we haven’t won in the league in 2023 but the two performances against Chelsea at home and West Ham away, they were two good performances. I felt that when it happened, I felt it after when I reviewed it and saw it in the stats as well.
“The City game in the league was a poor performance and a poor result for us. There are reasons for that; we are not performing to the levels that we can and I take responsibility for that.
“We also have to say with regard to the playing schedule that we had to play late Sunday night against West Ham, midweek and then Saturday lunchtime, it is really tough. I cannot see any other women’s club team in England being asked to play in a schedule like that for the whole season. People will say that I complain about it but it was the same point when we played Tottenham away last season. When the playing schedule gets that congested, it is going to be a disadvantage for the team that is forced to play those games and that can’t be Arsenal all of the time.”
Arsenal’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Chelsea kicks-off at 2pm this afternoon.
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