‘They’re a brave team’ – Eidevall expects Arsenal to be challenged by BK Häcken | OneFootball

Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that he is expecting a tough challenge from BK Häcken in their UEFA Women’s Champions League Round 2 tie.

The Gunners have travelled to Sweden ahead of the first leg at the Bravida Arena tomorrow evening.

BK Häcken went as far as the quarter-finals in last season’s competition and Arsenal boss Eidevall is not underestimating the threat of the Swedish side.

“They’re a brave team,” Eidevall said when discussing BK Häcken’s qualities in the pre-match press conference. “They’re sticking to their identity; they like to build, they like to play out from the back, especially when they are playing here at home.

“In the Champions League, they’ve shown that they’re good enough to play their brand of football against top teams in Europe. Same thing with their defending shape.

“They’re definitely a team that likes to press, they like to play with intensity. They like to challenge their opponents that way and I expect nothing less from them tomorrow night.”

Arsenal face a hectic run of three games in nine days but Eidevall says that his side are well-prepared for that challenge.

He said “We prepared for this period because we knew it was going to be busy if we were successful with the mini-tournament. Everything that we have done in pre-season has been leading up to this point, to be able to deal with this period.

“We are experienced, we are a skilled organisation in travelling with the logistics, so this is really business time for us where we put everyone’s competence into the hotseat.

“We look forward to weeks like this, it’s exciting. It’s exciting to be here and be close to going into the group stage of the Champions League, it’s exciting to go to the Emirates at the weekend to play against Manchester City but we need to keep our focus on the day-by-day activity. Today is about preparing really well, having a good training session, tomorrow is to play against Häcken and after that, we can look forward.”

Victory tomorrow would put Arsenal in a great position to qualify for the UEFA Women’s Champions League’s group stage but Eidevall is keen to remind everyone that it will only be half-time in the tie.

He said “Changing to European home and away legs, it’s really two games played over 180 minutes and the potential for extra-time. That’s what’s important; it’s important to have a result after those two games and you go through. You’re not going to be awarded three points for the game tomorrow.

“We are going to see this as a two-legged affair that will be played over 180 minutes. After the game tomorrow, it’s only going to be half-time.”

Arsenal’s UEFA Women’s Champions League Round 2, first leg tie against BK Häcken kicks-off at 6pm tomorrow evening.