Jonas Eidevall says Arsenal won't solely focus on Chelsea star forward Sam Kerr in the Women's League Conti Cup.
Kerr has already proven a thorn in the Gunners' side twice in 2023 ahead of a huge clash at Selhurst Park. She scored a last-gasp equaliser in a 1-1 league draw at the Emirates in January and last week found the net on her 100th Chelsea appearance.
Eidevall is looking to clinch Arsenal's first silverware since their Women's Super League triumph in 2019. But the Gunners haven't beaten Chelsea since a 3-2 league win in September 2021, on the opening day of last season.
"I think Sam Kerr is, of course, a very good player," said Eidevall. "But whenever you play a team like Chelsea, you can’t only focus on one player. It’s about how you work as a collective.
"You could see in the game that we played last Sunday that the number of touches and the number of chances Kerr had wasn’t a lot. For the most part of the game, we were doing a really good job and it’s about continuing to do that and doing it to perfection this time."
Arsenal's Swedish coach has also stressed the importance of having a positive mindset despite the Blues' superb recent record against his side. He wants his team, which will be missing star forwards Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, to gain a winning mentality and lift the first trophy of the season.
"It’s about learning and developing," added Eidevall. "You’re right, domestically, that Chelsea have won a lot. If you look internationally, they have a habit of losing when they play important games.
"I think if you ask Chelsea about that, they would say our next step is to grow into being a team that can win consistently on the international level, and they think that’s possible. Of course, we also think that’s possible for us, domestically and at international level. So that’s the mindset we have.
"If you want to be almost imprisoned by your mindset and say, ‘that’s going to be hard, it’s going to be difficult for us’, it is going to be hard and difficult. But you need to have that belief, that optimism that things can change, you can learn, you can develop, and just because it happened one way yesterday, it can be different tomorrow if you’re working toward making it different. That’s what we’re aiming for."
Chelsea and Arsenal meet at 3pm on Sunday at Selhurst Park in the first major final of the season, with the game a sell-out.
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