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Eidevall relishing blockbuster clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall after the final whistle during the Barclays Women's Super League match at the Emirates Stadium, London, February 17, 2024

ARSENAL Women’s boss Jonas Eidevall is relishing the blockbuster clash against Chelsea Women tomorrow evening.

The Gunners sit in third place in the Women’s Super League on 34 points, three behind Emma Hayes’ table-toppers as the mouth-watering London derby looms.

Since losing at home to second place Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round at Meadow Park last month, Eidevall’s side have since reached the League Cup final — where they will also face the Blues — while also beating Manchester United and Spurs in front of sellout crowds at Ashburton Grove, leaving the Gunners boss buoyant. 

“For me, the games we play against another top team on a good occasion, that’s one of the reasons why I love working at football on this level,” said Eidevall, speaking ahead of the match.  

“It’s going to bring the best out of both teams. Margins, details — they are going to matter. We will need to fight so hard for every inch to try and get a competitive advantage in the game. 

“Everything we will do will matter and I honestly love that.”

With memories still fresh of the Gunners demolishing Hayes’ Chelsea 4-1 in front of another 59,000-plus crowd in N5 back in December — their heaviest league defeat in five years, and the first time the Blues conceded four goals since their Champions League clash with Barcelona back in 2021 — Eidevall is calling for the same intensity and commitment in the eagerly awaited return fixture at Stamford Bridge.

Reflecting on the pre-Christmas victory over the Blues in Islington, Eidevall said: “It was one of the better ones. As I said before, I think we’ve had a few of those really, really good performances in the last two seasons. 

“But I’m under no illusion, we will need to get the performance like that again on Friday to be able to win the game.”

Chelsea have never before hosted Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and it is understood more than 30,000 fans are expected on the night — with the attendance substantially boosted by more than 6,000 travelling Arsenal supporters set to fill the away end.

While US-bound Hayes currently leads Eidevall 4-3 in their head-to-head, with the teams’ WSL h2h standing at 10 wins each, the canny Chelsea boss will be plotting to beat Gunners to all but end their hopes of a first title since 2018-19 — which was the prelude to Hayes and the west Londoners landing four in row since then.

However, Eidevall is not entertaining thoughts about the title race. 

“I don’t think like that. It's not a thought that’s in my head. The only thought that is in my head is what we need to do to maximise our way to win the game. That’s where 100 per cent of my focus is on.”

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