Arsenal take on London rivals Chelsea this Sunday in the fifth round of the Vitality Women's FA Cup at Kingsmeadow.
It will be the second time the two sides have met this season and the first of back-to-back cup clashes over the next week. They're set to meet again on Sunday, March 5 at Selhurst Park in the Conti Cup final.
The meeting in January at the Emirates Stadium didn't sway the title race as the spoils were shared after a 1-1 draw. Kim Little's second-half penalty was cancelled out by a late strike from Sam Kerr in the 89th minute.
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As is usually the case when these two teams meet, it's expected to be another tightly contested affair with a space in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup up for grabs. Chelsea are the current reigning champions having won the title in the last two seasons, but Arsenal are the most decorated team in the competition with 14, though they haven't won it since 2016.
Before the international break, the Gunners fell to a disappointing 2-1 loss at the hands of Manchester City, while Chelsea haven't played since their Conti Cup semi-final victory over West Ham. In order to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup, Arsenal beat lower league opposition Leeds United 9-0, whereas Emma Hayes' side narrowly overcame WSL rivals Liverpool 3-2 last month.
As the two sides met in the league a mere month ago, Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall hopes to use the past experiences against Chelsea to help them get a result this time around.
"It’s the beauty of the game, you play against each other and you evolve," he said in Friday’s press conference. "Both teams have played different games since we last played and also evolved, so it’s never going to be exactly the same game, but there is an element in it that we have a lot of good views to use against them on Sunday.
"I’ve said it before, I think it’s much more in these games about trying to create as many situations as possible that are favourable for your team. It’s so easy when you play good teams like Chelsea to focus on what they’re doing well and their strengths and try to nullify them in those moments and situations, but the best way to play is to make sure those situations never happen at all."
The Arsenal boss also confirmed he will need to assess the fitness of Lina Hurtig and goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo after they sustained injuries on international duty. Hurtig missed all of Sweden's games as she withdrew from the camp with a foot injury, while D'Angelo had to be substituted in Canada's match against Japan earlier this week.
Eidevall also offered an update on Beth Mead, saying: "She is doing fine, the reports I’m getting from our medical team is that it’s progressing like we’d hope it would be.
"[In terms of new injuries] we had Sabrina D”Angelo who had to come off against Canada and that’s an injury we need to further investigate.
"We have Lina that couldn’t play for Sweden - also an injury we have to investigate a little bit so those two are two question marks, but apart from that, no more."
Kick-off at Kingsmeadow is 2pm and the match will be shown live on BBC Two for UK viewers.
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