The media heard from Jonas Eidevall this morning in an official club press conference, as the Gunners gear up for a highly anticipated Barclays Women’s Super League clash with the current title-holders in Chelsea.

Eidevall’s side will travel West to Stamford Bridge tomorrow evening, hoping to capitalise on a golden opportunity to make up the three-point deficit between themselves and the current dual leaders of the pack, in Chelsea and Manchester City.

This highly anticipated match will prove pivotal in the title race as the league reaches maximum temperature. The Arsenal manager spoke on the fixture, expressing “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.

It’s going to bring out the best in 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.”

The Gunners currently occupy third position on the league table, holding a tally of 34 points and an inferior goal difference to those positioned above them. Despite this, Eidevall was sure in his stance that his mind is not occupied by Arsenal’s current position in the table. He expressed, “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% of my focus is on.“

Arsenal drew out an important 4-1 victory over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium back in December. Eidevall pointed out that despite the gravity of the previous win, he is “Under no illusion” of the task ahead, and remains aware that “We will need to get the performance like that again on Friday to be able to win the game.“

The Gunners will gear up to face both Chelsea and Aston Villa on two seperate occasions throughout March, in both the Barclays Women’s Super League and the FA Continental Tyres League Cup, respectively. Eidevall digested the double-headed face offs with Arsenal’s league counterparts, expressing what the Gunners can derive from the occasions.

“We need to learn from the first game, we need to take that into account into the second game, but also constantly thinking about ‘What did they learn? What are they happy with and not happy with? And I think that’s really the interesting thing with that, to understand what you would like to adapt, but also to understand what they are going to adapt.”

Arsenal’s ‘one club mentality’ was made clear by the Gunners boss, as Eidevall drew reference from the mindset behind Mikel Arteta’s win over FC Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday. Eidevall’s observation of the tense penalty shootout brought him to the conclusion that “If I focus on the process just like Raya and his coach were focusing on the process and the relevant information, I think that increases your chances of winning. That’s where I choose to put my focus.”

Recent times have seen striker Alessia Russo take on a slightly different role to what Arsenal supporters may have expected as she put pen to paper in North London over the summer. During Arsenal’s recent 4-0 victory over Aston Villa in the FA Continental Tyres League Cup semi-final, Russo was played in a primary left-wing position. The head coach affirmed that despite the positional change,“Our priority and her main position is as a nine, but always in teams there will come scenarios and situations where we can use that.”

He also elaborated on Russo’s value as a multidimensional player, adding “I think one thing that is obvious when you use a player like Alessia, for example, on a wide forward, is that you have a really strong player coming in and crossing situations from the other side, and if that works against an opponent then that might be a really good option to use in that game. That’s how we need to use the squad to be able to use them in the right moments and putting them in situations and positions that are most effective.”

Emma Hayes currently faces a predicament at Chelsea, as the West Londoners are without some key players as the injury woes continue to pile. Hayes confirmed today that Nathalie Björn and Mayra Ramirez will not be fit for Friday’s clash, and placed a firm question mark around both Lauren James and Fran Kirby. Eidevall reflected on Chelsea’s difficult situation, expressing that“When you are in that period, you might have to focus on some of the more basic principles rather than details.”

The Arsenal boss also praised Hayes’s approach to the challenge, saying “It is definitely harder to predict their starting line-up than it was two seasons ago. They have managed the situation with a lot of injuries and unavailable players, with having a very very big squad and being able to strengthen on short notice as well.”

Friday’s game will be the last of its kind at Stamford Bridge with Hayes as Chelsea’s manager. On her move to coach the US National Team, Eidevall acknowledged her impact with the upmost amount of praise.

“To be honest, the one thing I am going to miss is the competition. It’s never easy to compete against a team that she will coach because they will also be flexible, they will always have a plan for any scenario or instance and will have players who will be so dedicated to winning the game. I just like the challenge of that, to be playing against the best.”

In terms of team news, the Reds are relieved to have their own squad-depth restored- as Sabrina D’Angelo, Emily Fox, and Cloé Lacasse all return fully-fit from the Gold Cup. The Gunners’ boss emphasised that “We’ve come from a situation where we looked a little bit shallow here a couple of weeks ago with squad depth, until looking with much more competition on much more positions, which is very pleasing.”

Additionally, Laura Weinroither is training with the squad again after suffering a ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligament in May last year. Eidevall appeared hopeful that “She is progressing very nicely. I would imagine if everything goes to plan that she will start being available at the end of this block for squad selection.”

The North London club shared some special news this week, as they announced the pregnancy of Swedish defender Amanda Ilestedt. The manager expressed his support, happiness, and excitement for the player and her partner.

The Arsenal boss said “As a club, we are really committed to helping her in the best way possible through the whole journey, both here up until giving birth, and of course after to return to play.“

Following the immense home support from Arsenal fans last time around, Eidevall appeared optimistic about the positive impact the away crowd will have tomorrow.

“It’s so important. Our fans have been lifting us through the whole season home and away and we hear them. We hear every single one of them. To hear that we’ve been selling out our away allocation for Stamford Bridge on Friday is amazing and let’s hope we can create something special together.”

Chelsea will host Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League tomorrow evening as both contenders searching for three points to add to their respective league campaigns. The game will be available to watch on Sky Sports, with proceedings heading underway at 19:15 GMT.