Jonas Eidevall has expressed frustration at the inconsistencies between the challenges facing Arsenal and Chelsea before their Champions League semi-finals this weekend. The Gunners face a tricky midweek trip to play Manchester United while the Blues’ calendar is clear.
Eidevall’s side travel to Leigh for the next instalment in the Women’s Super League title race on Wednesday night before flying to Wolfsburg on Saturday for the Champions League semi-final first leg on Sunday.
Chelsea, who beat Aston Villa on Sunday to secure a place in the FA Cup final, welcome Barcelona to Stamford Bridge on Saturday after a week of preparation and significantly less travel.
“I find it very odd that we are the only one of the two English teams that have qualified for the semi‑final that are forced to play before our semi-final,” Eidevall said.
“I have a really hard time getting my head around that because it’s almost like you want one of the teams to have a better chance to succeed than the others.”
Arsenal’s game against the WSL league leaders, Manchester United, which was due to be played this weekend, was rescheduled on 4 April. On 14 April Chelsea’s game against West Ham was moved to 17 May, three days after they compete in the FA Cup final.
“We need to go to Manchester, we need to play well there, and then we need to go to Wolfsburg,” Eidevall said. “Of course, it’s the preference to, like the other team has, have no games at all, to train and just to prepare for the Champions League. I can’t see the reasons for it and it’s something we need to look into. I can’t see the logic.”
A WSL spokesperson said: “Arsenal’s Barclays Women’s Super League match against Manchester United was rescheduled for Wednesday 19 April. The fixture was moved, following consultation with both clubs, to avoid clashing with Arsenal’s Uefa Women’s Champions League semi-final this weekend.”
The Arsenal manager took time to praise the response of his team to the loss of players to injury this season. Kim Little is the latest to be ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a knee injury.
“It would hurt any team to lose a player like Kim, but we have managed during the season to handle the absence of many great football players and we need to show that adaptability again,” he said. “Keeping the key principles in the way we play but adapting to the individuals.
“This group of players has responded very well in tough situations, in tough moments we stick together, we stick to the plan, we believe in the way that we play, and that’s going to be even more important here at the end of the season.”
The Manchester United manager, Marc Skinner, said he hoped his side had got the rust shown in their 3-2 defeat of Brighton on Saturday “out of our legs” for the visit of Arsenal.
“Arsenal have found their way past Bayern Munich with the same injuries so we know the threat that they have, we know the way Jonas wants to play, we know their adaptations, so it will be a very difficult game regardless [of who they put out],” Skinner said.
“It’s a heavyweight contest, one punch from either can knock the other team out so we have to make sure we’re the team that is the aggressor.”
Skinner was unhappy with 7,500 tickets being allocated to each of the two sides in the FA Cup final, United and Chelsea, with more than 65,000 tickets already issued for the match at Wembley. “I don’t know how many it is in the men’s game,” he said. “But to give clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United 8,000 tickets to sell, it’s crazy.”
Chelsea and Liverpool were allocated 30,500 tickets each for last season’s men’s FA Cup final at Wembley, which has a capacity of 90,000.
A spokesperson for the FA said: “The Vitality Women’s FA Cup final is the showpiece event of the women’s domestic season, and to date we have issued over 65,000 tickets. Chelsea and Manchester United have each been issued with an additional 7,500 tickets for their fans.
“This is to help meet the likely demand for each club and is almost double the amount of tickets that the finalists received last year.”
