Arsenal Women manager Jonas Eidevall believes his side should progress against Coventry United in the Women’s FA Cup quarter-final on Friday.
Coventry have had their own battles off the pitch this season, fighting back from the brink of liquidation to reach this point in the tournament.
Having only turned professional earlier this season, the players found themselves without an income when on December 23 they were informed the club no longer existed.
After being taken over with a last-minute buyout from businessman Lewis Taylor, they have battled through to reach the quarter-finals, and the Arsenal manager believes it will be an exciting tie.
“Of course, when you read about that (Coventry facing liquidation) you always feel for the staff and for the players, of course, with the uncertainty and everything so it’s of course important that they can carry on and play and now they and we have a very exciting game to look forward to,” Eidevall said.
“It’s a big tournament, the FA Cup, and being in the quarter-finals you only have two games left before you go to Wembley. So, of course, every team that plays a quarter-final is going to do everything in order to take its chances.”
Arsenal are currently in the hunt for three trophies this season, the Women’s Super League, Champions League and FA Cup.
However, despite going into the match as the favourites, Eidevall expects a challenge from Coventry.
“I expect to play against a difficult opponent that will give everything to start having a strong performance against us,” he said.
“Nothing will be done by itself so we need to put in the performance and we have self-confidence in knowing that if we play the way we can, we definitely should progress. But we need to do that and that’s really within our control to start with.”
Coventry United head coach Jo Potter urged her side to go out and enjoy the game against the WSL leaders.
“We’re excited, preparing well, we’re looking forward to the spectacle and going down there and playing an FA Cup quarter-final, which a lot of the girls have never done before,” Potter told the club’s YouTube channel.
“We’re doing what we need to do, we’re coming in on good form and we need to make sure that continues and it’s not just a free hit.
“So we’re coming off the back of four good results and two clean sheets importantly, so we’re in good shape going into the game.”
