Every word of Jonas' pre-Chelsea presser

Jonas Eidevall held his pre-Chelsea press conference at Sobha Realty Training Centre on Thursday. 

The head coach fielded questions on our London rivals, Amanda Ilestedt's pregnancy and the latest team news. 

Here is everything he had to say: 

on Amanda Ilestedt’s pregnancy…

We're really happy for her and her partner, Rainer, of course. I think that's a feeling that is shared with the whole team. Everyone is really happy and excited by the news for her and as a club, we're really committed to helping her the best way possible through the whole journey. Both here until she gives birth, and then of course, after to return to play.

on how difficult it may be for players to take time off for pregnancy…

I hope not. And I think, to have a child, it's maybe the biggest blessing that you can have in life. It should be special and I think it shouldn't be anything where you think that you shouldn't be able to be entitled to that or to be entitled to that happiness. So for me and the club, that's a very easy standpoint to have, and I hope that a player like Amanda feels that as well.

on team news…

[The Gold Cup players have] returned very well, which is very pleasing. And we've come from a situation where we looked a little bit shallow a couple of weeks ago with squad depth but we're looking much more with more competition in more positions, which is very pleasing.

on the Chelsea rivalry…

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 out of both teams. Margins, details - they are going to matter. We will need to fight so hard for every inch to try and get the competitive advantage in the game. And everything we will do will matter for it and I honestly love that.

on our performance to beat Chelsea 4-1 last time out…

It was one of the better ones. As I said before, I think we've had a few of those really, really good performances in the last two seasons. But I'm under no illusion, we will need to get the performance like that again on Friday to be able to win the game.

on his message to the players this week…

Focusing on what we need to do. Some games require external motivation. In some games, the motivation is already there and you just need to focus on the process.

on whether the title race will be decided on Friday…

I don't think like that. It's not a thought that's in my head. The only thought that is in my head is what do we need to do in order to maximise our way to win the game? And that's where 100% of my focus is on.

on the rule to sign a player outside of the transfer window due to pregnancy...

Yes, I actually think it’s a FIFA regulation that you’re allowed to do that. It’s all very new for us. I think it’s great that you have that option to go outside the transfer window because to relate to the question earlier, how do you make it easier for players and clubs to have situations like this? This is definitely one of them, to not be restricted by a transfer window. It’s still of course very difficult at the time because a club that would release a player to us wouldn’t have the same option to be able to release that in a chain reaction, which makes it very tough to get any club to realistically want to release a player with being at the business end of the season.

on Laura Wienroither’s progress...

Yes, she’s progressing very nicely and I would imagine, if everything goes to plan, that she would start being available at the end of this block for squad selection.

on Chelsea’s current struggle with injuries...

It’s definitely harder to predict their starting lineup than it was two seasons ago. They have managed a situation with a lot of injuries and unavailable players with having a very big squad depth and being able to strengthen on short notice as well, which I think is a strengthening sign for them, to be able to do those businesses within that short notice and are ready to invest in that moment. 

But, as I said, it’s hard to predict their starting lineup and that obviously then comes to the thing about relationships and spending time together and then to your observation to being when you are in that period you might have to focus on some of the more basic principles rather than details and I think you see a very very good team in Chelsea but they are focusing on those principles, naturally, because that’s where they are with the relationships at the moment. It’s just the state of things.

on player-coach relationships...
I think it’s very inappropriate for a number of reasons, but it’s a clear no with relationships between player and manager. I think if you look in women’s football, when you look in the past, there’s no doubt and if you read NWSL, for example, reports, there are major issues within the game. There have been major issues in the game in the past as well, which probably unfortunately tells you that there are still issues at some places. 

That concerns me from a player welfare perspective and I absolutely think that governing bodies, leagues, clubs, and associations need to be strong on that because I do think it’s very inappropriate and I think it goes over the player welfare, which is very sad.

on regulations to prevent this…

Yeah, I think it's like in most situations where it will be like, do you have whistleblower mechanisms in place, like what different ways of communicating do you have if you feel that inappropriate things are going on in the environment that you are in? Or are you in a closed environment where you feel like ‘Oh, I don't have any good way out of this here’?

That's just to make sure that the players in this instance have the relevant communication ways to be able to report if anything inappropriate goes on. I mean, that could be an inappropriate relationship, but it could also be other things. I think that's safeguarding and making sure that people are safe.

on playing Aston Villa and Chelsea twice in quick succession…

Yeah, I think the City one was a little bit different because it was so short in time as well. I think we went to extra time in the Conti Cup there for under 20 minutes and then two days later, we travelled up to Manchester. I think there were a lot of physical factors going into that game. 

But I mean this is what we do in Europe, in knockout stages, all the time. We play an opponent we need to learn from the first game. We need to take that into account in the second game but also, constantly think about what did they learn? What are they happy with from the first game? What are they not happy with? 

And I think that's the really interesting thing: to understand what you would like to adapt, but also to understand what are they going to adapt, to understand how they think, and hopefully we have a good idea about that we can have a real advantage about playing the team the first time, but I don't believe in having too many secrets to it. We're not on that level where we can say that we can only be 90% in the first game, in order to be 100% in the second game. No, we need to be at our very best in both these games.

on Alessia Russo’s role on the wing against Villa…

At times, yes, but 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.

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's what’s on against an opponent, that might be a really, really good option to use in that game. And I think that's how we need to use the squad to be able to use them in their right moments and put them into situations and positions that are most effective.

on rumours about Daphne van Domselaar…

No, and it has nothing to do with her. It has more to do with me and not commenting on any individual externally. So, no comment. 

on how important away support will be tomorrow…

It's so important. Our fans have been lifting us through the whole season home and away, and we hear them, and we hear every single one of them and to hear that we've been selling out our away allocation at Stamford Bridge here on Friday. It's amazing, and let's hope we can create something special together. 

on what he will miss about the rivalry with Emma Hayes…

That’s a question I wasn’t prepared for! I hope I won’t be able to miss that. I think Emma is a very, very intelligent person to have conversations with about the game and I’ve really enjoyed those conversations when I met her when it’s not been on the sidelines. 

That’s something that sometimes people miss because you see something as a rivalry because you have two managers who really want to win with their respective teams, and of course, that’s how it should be, but it doesn’t mean you can’t communicate, learn and exchange ideas outside, so hopefully I won’t miss that and I will still be able to do that when she’s in her other role. 

To be honest, the one thing I am going to miss is the competition. I really like to compete. 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. 

on playing every WSL game at Premier League grounds…

I’m really happy when I see a game like this on Friday being played at Stamford Bridge and see the number of tickets sold for it because I really think that what we have done at Arsenal, playing more and more games at Emirates has been absolutely phenomenal. 

But where we want to go as a league and to your question, we will need more and more clubs investing in that journey and investing in getting games played at grounds with more attendances and filling those seats as well. The more clubs that will be able to do that, the better the league will be and that’s going to be good for all participating clubs in the league. 

on whether this is a game that we can’t afford to lose…

I had an interesting observation when I was watching the penalty shoot-out between Arsenal and Porto. After the final whistle of extra time, there were two very different approaches between the two goalkeepers. 

The Arsenal goalkeeper was taking a seat on the bench together with the goalkeeper coach and they were reviewing footage of what to expect from the Porto penalty takers and they were focusing on that. I saw the Porto goalkeeper inside the team huddle getting high fives from different team members and getting hugs and good wishes and best of luck. 

The intention of both ways is obviously to be successful, but what I believe in is doing things that will help your process and so for me to hope that we will win or to think about what will happen if we don’t win, it’s not going to help me, but 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.