Every word of Eidevall's pre-Chelsea presser

Jonas Eidevall held his first press conference of 2023 ahead of Sunday's huge game against Chelsea in the Women's Super League.

Our head coach fielded questions from the media on a variety of topics, including new signings, the departure of Jordan Nobbs, and how our Gunners are approaching this top-of-the-table clash. 

Here's everything he had to say:

On how big of a game it is against Chelsea…

It's the next game, so it's the most important one. We've played some thrilling games against Chelsea before and we like to play these kinds of games, and we have the privilege to play it at the Emirates in front of our home fans. With the number of tickets sold, I think it's going to be a great occasion.

On finding a way to play with Mead and Miedema injured…

I think it's been difficult for the team, and I want to send my condolences to Beth Mead and her family for the loss of her mother. That's obviously something that has been taking a lot of energy for us as a team to have a teammate that goes through that. The players have asked to play with black armbands to honour that, and that we are going to do.

When we look at the football side of things, I think that's part of where you need to prioritise and be efficient if you want to have success. We will have a January that will be changing for us and when things are changing, you need to develop and that means that you have to invest time, energy and knowledge into the team and you can't take things for granted. So, we are trying to make our best use of the time available and I'm so proud of everyone's work.

on our record against Chelsea...

I think when you look at the team, we see togetherness in the foundations in order to achieve something. When you feel togetherness, you feel safe and you feel that somebody will have your back. If you try and you're not successful, somebody will have your back. When you create that and when you create that togetherness, you will get to a team that plays without fear. A team that is brave, front-footed, and wants to seize opportunities. A team that plays to win, not to avoid losing. 

For me, that's the transformation I would like to see this team going through. You're right, probably many players have been involved in all these seven games against Chelsea, but that doesn't mean that the eighth game has to be the same way. And that's what impresses me most with individuals within teams, it's about being able to change and develop, and to go from one situation and transform it into another. So, for us, this is an opportunity to change that. We can't change history, but we can change the future.

on his pride over the club’s togetherness across both teams…

Definitely, and I mean you see on so many occasions the togetherness in the club, but also in the way that we we've prepared. Before we played against Lyon, we had pitches here that couldn't be used because of the snowfall and in minutes the club managed to arrange it so we could go to the Emirates and prepare for that game there. Now we’re here and we could go to the Emirates and play some training minutes against Tottenham here last weekend, which was really important for us because we have new staff and new players who have never been to the Emirates before. So, to bring them there to experience that before will make us better prepared here now for the weekend. We see all these small things as well, but all these things together. That's what builds togetherness.

I think it's about enjoying that as well and starting to play with it also. I think we are going from one-off occasions to having a lot of people at Emirates, to now saying in the WSL this is the third game now in a row that hopefully gets over 40,000 people coming here. Maybe there will be a new record here against Chelsea as well. So now, how do we play with the crowd? How do we use that crowd to energise the state of the game to make it as difficult as possible for the opposing team coming here to play at Emirates? These are the things that we now start to think maybe can be able to gather momentum.

on the importance of this game in the title race...

Last year, we played Chelsea twice and we took four points off them. They took one point off us, and we didn't win the trophy, so it shows that you can be better in a head-to-head but still not win. Of course, it helps. Of course, we want to win. But as we saw last season, the team between one and two that take the fewest points there, still managed to win the trophy. So, the answer is that every game is important if you want to win the league.

On whether he’s ever experienced having two key players out at the same time with the same injury…

I don’t know if I’ve experienced that before. We had a mini version of it when we had Leah Williamson and Rafaelle out at the same time in almost the same period. Of course, that’s going to be a hole to fill. It’s an opportunity for other players to step in. It’s an opportunity for us to develop and grow as a team. It might be an opportunity in the transfer market, to bring in replacements as well. I tend to try and look at opportunities and be forward-thinking and look at what we can do in our actions. That’s what we need to do and that’s what we need to put our focus [on].

On the decision to let Jordan Nobbs leave…

It was a tough decision because Jordan was a very valued team member. She played a very important role, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch. What created a situation why Jordan asked to go was that her role in the team in regards to playing minutes was not what she liked. That’s how it is sometimes. For her, it was even more significant because it also impacts the probability of being selected for England, which created a desire for her to go elsewhere.

We had to look at it from that perspective. We had a player that we valued so much but we also had to look at the history and see that she has given us everything for 12 years and she was now asking us for a favour to go. Then we reached the conclusion and saw how it would look elsewhere if we allowed Jordan to go because that’s her desire. Then we identified to see that we had a player like Kathrine Kuhl from Denmark, a player with a very bright future, and there might be a possibility to bring her in.

She’s ready to come into the squad and play a role, and then we could also grant the wish of Jordan because her service to the club was so excellent. That’s a way of showing that as well. You have to look at it from a squad perspective. Of course, I would have liked to have kept Jordan but that was our way of showing respect for the history that she has in the club in order to let her go.

On the impact of players moving for record fees in the WSL…

We can see that in the transfer market already - transfer fees are going to be a more regular theme. Clubs are more seldom going to let contracts run out. I think transfer fees, together with salaries, are going to increase. That’s the way the game is progressing at this time. Transfers between English clubs are even more ]regular] because it goes from a different regulation than when it goes from international transfers.

For international transfers, you can speak to a player when she has six months left on her contract. Between English clubs, you’re not allowed to do that, which obviously puts everything in a totally different perspective. I don’t think any player is just interested in playing their contract out until the end and then standing without a contract. What happens if you get an injury in the last week of the contract? Who’s going to take [the player]? That makes it more difficult to do a free transfer between English clubs. That [means] there’s going to be an increase in transfer fees, of course.

On similarities between the men’s and women’s teams and their style of playing…

Are you asking me if I steal Mikel’s ideas? When I see our men’s team play, that gives me a lot of inspiration. I think they do a lot of things positionally that is on a very interesting level. We look at many different teams and the way they play, and we draw inspiration from that. That’s probably one of the reasons for it - I think another reason for it, when we talk about togetherness, is that the overall philosophy of how we want to express ourselves on the pitch at Arsenal comes from the same foundation, so it would be very weird if the two teams looked very different. I don’t think you could talk about togetherness and identity in that sense [were that the case], so I’m happy you can see some similarities with it. That’s important when we look at the togetherness and how we showcase that on the pitch.

On whether the young profile of our new transfers was deliberate…

Good question. I think when we look at how we're going to progress the team long-term, we are not in the position in the market where we go after and buy the best from a global perspective. 26/27/28-year-olds who might be at a peak age. We have to be smarter with that, go and take the players earlier, identify them, see that we can grow together with these players. So, we take players with the potential - no guarantees but the potential - to be the best when they develop and that means that we as a team also can be the best.

On whether there’s room for a goalscorer to be added in the transfer window…

I would be disappointed if we can't bring in a prolific goalscorer in addition to the signings we have done. That should be a really important priority for us in this window with the number of games and the level of the games that we have

On whether the long break over Christmas was welcomed…

I honestly think we were shattered when we got to the break. I think everyone looked forward to it so much. We played on the 22nd of December and now we're going to play on the 15th January, so it's three weeks we had off. That's probably the sensible thing if you're going to have more than a week totally off football. You need two weeks to build into this game here. I think it was a good balance and if we would have kept on pushing, we definitely would have paid a price for that later. So it was vital that we got that break.

On whether Caitlin Foord’s role will change in Beth and Viv’s absence…

Yes, so at the moment, we know Caitlin is a versatile player. She can play as a wide forward, she can play as the nine. We have used her in different roles. But before we set the squad at the end of the transfer window, we need to ask certain players – Caitlin is one of them – to be versatile, be able to cover more than one position. Of course, that's going to be important for us, so that we can play the right way, at the right moments of the games

On whether Caitlin has shared any tips on handling compatriot Sam Kerr…

I couldn't reveal them, right? It could ruin their friendship! I have to keep them to myself.

On facing Emma Hayes in the dugout on a regular basis…

I look forward to it. When you play against teams that are very good, and Chelsea is that, every detail matters. You don't know beforehand which one is going to make the difference but any detail has the potential to make a difference. So, you have to be so good in your preparations and you have to be so alert during the game as well to spot the things so that's very exciting.

On how Victoria Pelova is settling in…

Good. Yeah, it's early on in the process, of course, but you're going to see that she has all the qualities that we signed her for. She’s very good on the ball, has good balance, is good at receiving the ball in small spaces, has a lot of good pressing triggers, and runs a lot for the team. So that looks all very, very promising. But with her and with all the new players, of course, you move to a different country. You get into a different culture. You get into a new team. We know that time is important to build relationships and they will all need to do that but the start has been very promising.