Jonas Eidevall insists Arsenal will do “everything we can” to triumph against Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Gunners go up against the holders on Sunday after beating Leeds 9-0 in the fourth round, while the Blues edged to victory against Liverpool.
Their cup clash comes with plenty of history attached after Chelsea knocked Arsenal out in the semi-finals last year and beat the north London outfit in the final the year before.
Despite Arsenal’s tricky start to 2023 in the Women’s Super League, Eidevall insists his team still have “high standards” on themselves to win in the FA Cup.
He told a press conference: “I don’t view the games differently, for me it’s a very important competition and we want to do everything we can to win.
“It doesn’t change with pressure here, we still have those high standards on us. With regards to the league, for me I look differently on performance and results.
“I know we haven’t won in the league in 2023, but the two performances against Chelsea at home and West Ham away, they are two good performances. I felt that when it happened, I felt it after when I reviewed it and I see it in the stats as well.”
Both sides will face each other in the Continental Cup final next month, but more recently they met in January, playing out a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in the WSL but Eidevall is expecting some different challenges this time round.
He said: “It’s the beauty of the game, you play against each other and you evolve and both teams have played different games after that and also evolved.
“So it’s never going to be exactly the same games, but there’s elements in it that we will have a lot of good use for if we can use that against them on Sunday.”
Elsewhere WSL title contenders Manchester United host Championship side Durham and Manchester City face Bristol City.
Cardiff City Ladies are the lowest ranked side left in the competition, playing their football in the FA Women’s National League Division One South West and they face a test against Championship outfit Lewes.
Spurs are also in action when they face Reading. The teams have played each other twice already this season and Tottenham won the first encounter in the Continental Cup, while the Royals bagged three points in the league.
Rehanne Skinner’s side were knocked out in the fourth round of the FA Cup last season, but she is eager to continue their run this year.
“The FA Cup is a competition we’re always really excited to be a part of and it has a massive amount of history within the game,” she told a press conference.
“It is something I have always followed it since I was little. It is definitely a step further forward than what we did last year to get to this point and we want to be able to continue that.
“I just think we’ve been playing well and actually we just want to carry that on.
“We’re confident that when we play well we’ll start to get results, obviously a cup competition is a great way to do that.
“We want to make sure we keep building momentum with the quality of our performances and certainly we’ve been in a good place from that aspect.”
