Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that he is baffled by the decision to make his side play a Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Manchester United just days before the first leg of the club’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final tie against VfL Wolfsburg.
The Gunners travel to the Leigh Sports Village this evening to contest what is another huge game in the title race. Title rivals Chelsea are also UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-finalists but they are not in league action this week.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Arsenal boss Eidevall expressed his frustration at the scheduling, commenting that it is very odd.
“We have to play both games in the league and in the Champions League but I find it very odd that we are the only team of the two English semi-finalists that are forced to play before our semi-final,” Eidevall said. “I have had a really hard time getting my head around that, it’s almost like you want one team to have a better chance to succeed than the other.
“We can only focus on us, this is the schedule that we have, we have to go to Manchester and play well there and we need to go to Wolfsburg. It would have been our preference to have the same schedule that the other team does, to have no (league) games at all and to train and prepare for the Champions League.”
Going on to discuss latest opponents Manchester United, Eidevall said that every game is of equal importance at the business end of the season and that his side will come up against a very well-drilled team in Leigh this evening.
He said “Every game until the end of the season is going to be important. The game at Manchester United is no different to that.
“They work very hard, they’re very solid defensively and have a clear idea of how they play. I expect that and we need to deal with that the best way possible.”
Arsenal’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester United kicks-off at 7.15pm.