Soccer

Jonas Eidevall says Bayern loss left Arsenal with ‘bitter feeling’

Unbeaten Chelsea make the short trip to north London for Saturday’s game at the Emirates.

Jonas Eidevall wants Arsenal to bounce back from their Bayern defeat
Jonas Eidevall wants Arsenal to bounce back from their Bayern defeat (Steven Paston/PA)

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall has urged his side to put their disappointing midweek Champions League trip to Bayern Munich behind them ahead of their Women’s Super League clash with Chelsea.

A late hat-trick from former Blues forward Pernille Harder saw the Gunners defeated 5-2 in Munich on Wednesday night, just days after a frustrating goalless draw in the league to Everton.

Reflecting on the Bayern defeat, Eidevall told a press conference: “I think it’s the same as I said after the game, our first half is in many parts a decent game of football from our side.

“We’re really disappointed with how we acted in the last 15-20 minutes in the game and I think the last two goals we conceded should not happen like that.

“That of course leaves us with a bitter feeling; it’s a tough learning point for us to take but we need to do that in order to get to where we want to be and we need to look forward to tomorrow.”

Arsenal sit sixth in the table coming into Saturday’s game against Chelsea and Eidevall insisted he is looking forward to a challenging game.

“The games that they have played, you can see that (Sonia Bompastor’s) set a clear trademark on how they’re playing, both in and out of possession,” he added.

“I think they look like a really good football team, so it’s going to be a match between two really good football teams and we look forward to that challenge.”

After last weekend’s fixture against Manchester United was postponed due to congestion concerns, Chelsea were in Champions League action on Tuesday, opening their campaign with a 3-2 win against Real Madrid.

Head coach Bompastor reflected on a good performance from her side, telling a press conference: “I think we played on Tuesday and had a good result.

“We were able to manage the week the way we wanted to and we’re ready for tomorrow, a big game, a derby and that’s the most important for us to get in a place where we want to.”

Unbeaten Chelsea make the short trip to north London for Saturday’s game at the Emirates and Bompastor is looking forward to the derby experience.

She said: “Being a manager I know what it is to play a derby from my experience, even if it was not the same ones, it was still derbies.

“When you are a competitive person – I know my players are competitive, I am competitive – we just want to play these games in front of fans, in a nice stadium with a very tough team.”