JONAS EIDEVALL hopes Arsenal can bask in the pressure of battling to keep their Women’s Champions League dream alive.
And the Gunners gaffer was tight-lipped on whether Rosa Kafaji and Stina Blackstenius will face their old club BK Hacken tonight.
Tomorrow in Sweden Arsenal play the first of three high stakes games in nine days.
These include a WSL season-opener against Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday.
First priority is collecting a victory in the first leg of the Champions League qualifier second-round and avoiding the shock exit they suffered in this round last year.
Eidevall said: “Of course, everyone feels a little bit of pressure and for me that’s not a negative thing, it’s positive and a necessity for high performance.
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“This is really business time for us where we put everyone’s competence into the hot seat.
“We have prepped for this period because we knew this was going to be busy.
“It’s exciting to be here and close to going into the group stage of the Champions League.
“It’s exciting to go to the Emirates to play Manchester City this weekend, but we need to keep our focus on the day-by-day activity.
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“We’re really hungry and I expect Hacken to be too.”
Tomorrow’s 6:00pm duel at the Bravina Arena in Gothenburg could see Sweden duo Kafaji and Blackstenius return to haunt their former side.
Should Kafaji feature, it would be her first appearance for against her old club since sealing a permanent move to Eidevall’s side for a reported fee between £200,000 and £250,000.
The Sweden-born head coach added: “There is always some emotion and all of us who are from Sweden think it’s nice to come here and to be able show the team this country.
“And it’s a little bit special for Stina and Rosa having played for Hacken before.
“There’s a lot of ingredients for an exciting game between two teams who like to be in possession.”
Elsewhere Arsenal’s WSL rivals Man City will be looking to get their push for a Champions League group stage place off to flier.
They face visit Paris FC who finished third in France’s top-flight last term and are due to play Guincamp in their Division One Feminine opener.
And the match could see ex-Gunners ace Vivianne Miedema make her first appearance for the Cityzens in Europe since joining club as a free agent in
Last season the French side pulled off two major Champions Leagues shocks – knocking Arsenal and two-time contest winners Wolfsburg out of the tournament
Yesterday Man City boss Gareth Taylor said: “They’re a dangerous opponent and will not make it easy.
“They’re a tough opponent for us but actually the signs from our team in pre-season has been really good.
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“Regardless of who we drew, this is a really tough stage of the competition.
“I’ve said previously, that in this round, you will probably face tougher games than you would in the group stages in the league format.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
