Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that he is excited to see which playing style comes out on top when his side face North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium this evening.
The Gunners like to move the ball around and play a possession-based game while opponents Spurs can be more direct with their approach with their game plan being highly dependent upon defensive discipline and organisation.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Arsenal boss Eidevall said that he is looking forward to a fascinating battle of differing styles.
“It is a derby and it will be filled with emotions, it is two different teams who have been performing well during the season,” Eidevall said.
“Statistically, we have had the ball in play the most of any team in the WSL and Tottenham are in the bottom two so one team wants to have the ball in play and the other doesn’t. In the last game that we played against them, Tottenham had 22 fouls and having more than 10 fouls would be exceptional for us.
“It is a very physical, gritty side that we are going to play against that will try to take the tempo out of the game and that doesn’t want the ball in play but they are very good at doing that and I respect them for that.
“We want to showcase another piece of football, we want to create it ourselves and have the ball in play. It is going to be exciting to see which style comes out on top.”
Arsenal have played a number of games at the Emirates Stadium this season and Eidevall went on to say that it is important that the women’s team continue to play in N7 on a regular basis to help grow the game.
He said “It’s important (to play at the Emirates). In order to grow the game, we need to grow the audiences. Of course, we would love to play at a sold out Emirates but we are not there yet, the only way that we can get there is to keep on pushing and to keep putting on displays like we have against Everton and Aston Villa and hopefully, we put on another strong team performance against Tottenham.
“We hope that these kind of performances will lead to even more people coming to the Emirates next season when we are playing games. Let’s hope that we record the biggest attendance of the season so far at the Emirates, that will be a sign of progress.”
The North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium kicks-off at 7.15pm this evening.
About The Author
