Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that the club’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Arsenal could be a thriller.
The two clubs meet at Kingsmeadow on Sunday afternoon. Chelsea are two points clear at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table while Arsenal need to win to keep their own title hopes alive.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Chelsea manager Hayes said that she always enjoys London derbies with Arsenal and she expects the latest meeting to be a thriller.
“I love them (games against Arsenal), I’ve made no secret of that,” Hayes said. “I think it’s fair to say that we haven’t performed to our best against Arsenal, particularly in the last game.
“Arsenal have shown their spirit, their qualities. Even with their injuries, they’re a top team and they are deserving of all of the good stories that have come their way because I think they’ve been a fantastic team this year. They’ve shown that through adversity, they can cope and they have players that can step up. I know that Jonas (Eidevall) will be proud of his team for that reason.
“I think it’ll be a cracker, there are two top teams on show and let’s hope that the sun’s out.”
Chelsea will be champions on Sunday evening if they beat Arsenal and Manchester United fail to win the Manchester derby later in the day. That combination of results would see Chelsea players having to celebrate a title win in their homes but Hayes says that she wouldn’t see that as an anti-climax.
She said “You’ve just got to focus on what you can do and just keep chalking up results. That’s the priority; just think about that, don’t think about the game later on in the day and what the outcome might be. I don’t worry about that.
“Listen, we won a league in COVID once where we were given it on the telephone, nothing’s going to be more anti-climatic than that is it?
“First of all, we have to be really respectful, we haven’t won anything. We are playing arguably one of the best teams in Europe this year in Arsenal and that will be extremely challenging. I think they’re a top team.”
Chelsea’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Arsenal kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets for the game have completely sold out.