Arsenal Women Manager Eidevall is excited about playing European Champions tonight

Arsenal Women Manager Eidevall’s UWCL pre-Lyon presser By Michelle

Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press ahead of Arsenal´s opening Champions League group match against Olympique Lyonnais tonight.

Arsenal face away clash with reigning WCL champions Lyon Women

It´s certainly going to be tough.  According to Arsenal´s Caitlin Foord it will be “the biggest challenge we’ve faced yet”.

You can watch the game live at 8pm UK time tonight.  All UWCL fixtures will be free to stream on DAZN’s Youtube channel wherever you are in the world.

On how excited he is to face Olympique Lyonnais…

It’s a very good reality check to see where we’re at at the moment. That is always very exciting to see, because no matter what, tomorrow you will know exactly where we are at, what we need to continue to improve on and what we are already good at. So I’m really looking forward to seeing where we’re at.

I think when you play in the Champions League, it is a little bit different playing really good teams like Lyon – you can’t think you can play a game with complete control. So this game here will be very different to, for example, the game against Reading. We have to expect that we will be solid also will be. We need to deal with facing tougher opponents, facing more set pieces, so the game itself is very different.

on whether he plans to continue with the Steph Catley and Lotte Wubben-Moy partnership at centre-back…

It’s a good try but I never reveal anything about my starting line-up the day before the game, so you and everyone else – except for the players – have to wait to see who is playing tomorrow.

on whether it’s good to play such a tough opposition in our opening game…

I think we have a pretty good idea of what kind of opposition we’re gonna play at the top level in Europe – both from playing some of those teams that are in our domestic league, but then also from our experience playing Barcelona and Wolfsburg last season. That being said, I still think it’s always a really good opportunity to get that reality check to see where we are at this moment. So definitely look forward a lot to it.

on whether the pressure is on Lyon tomorrow…

Yeah, I don’t really think about things in those terms. I always think that we have an obligation to represent Arsenal. We’re gonna do our very best. To be honest, it doesn’t change if we go here to Lyon or we are away at Reading in the league. It’s the same for me personally. I was here in 2013 with the team I managed in Sweden, so it feels good to be back and hopefully achieve a better result.

Interview courtesy of arsenal.com

Michelle Maxwell

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