Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall is hoping to witness a slick attacking display from his side when they face Danish club HB Køge in their latest UEFA Women’s Champions League group fixture tomorrow evening.
The Gunners are set to come up against an opponent who are expected to play a low block and who will look to catch the Barclays FA Women’s Super League side on the counter attack.
When speaking in his pre-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Arsenal boss Eidevall said that the key to breaking down HB Køge’s resistance will be to attack them with pace.
“I hope that we attack with a lot of pace and move the ball quickly,” Eidevall said. “We also need to force them to come out from their low block in order to put pressure onto us which will open up spaces behind them.
“I hope that we then have a lot of movement when they do that so that they have to take a lot of decisions in their defence if they are going to follow our runs or stay high with their lines. That’s what I hope to see.”
It has not been uncommon to see a Scandinavian club feature in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League in recent seasons, however, that theme looks unlikely to continue this season. With the rapid growth of the game in countries such as England, Germany, Spain and France, Eidevall believes that it will only get tougher for clubs such as HB Køge to become more competitive in Europe in future years.
He said “The Swedish league is the strongest league in Scandinavia, it is still a very competitive league and attracts a lot of national team players from a variety of national teams but what you see in other leagues across Europe and in the NWSL is that the competition for high quality players is so intense.
“I really think that there is a limit to that player pool and obviously, then at some point, it will come down to finance, not other values when players choose their clubs. I think the Scandinavian league will then have a harder time to compete because it is a smaller market for broadcasting revenue.
“Also, from a fan perspective, there are still a lot of clubs like my former clubs in Sweden that are traditionally women’s only football clubs, they don’t have the backing of men’s clubs that could help build it which makes the fanbase a little bit smaller.
“I think the direction where it is going is bigger clubs getting involved, more competition for the best players. The most important thing is to have the best players if you want to win something.”
The UEFA Women’s Champions League group fixture between HB Køge and Arsenal kicks-off at 5.45pm tomorrow evening and will be available for fans to stream live on DAZN.
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