Jonas Eidevall explains thinking behind Emirates training session

Arsenal Women held an open training session at Emirates Stadium on Friday afternoon ahead of a huge week for the team. Members of the press were invited (including Arseblog News of course!) Coach Jonas Eidevall revealed in his pre-match press conference that it was his idea for the players to train at the Emirates with a game against Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday and a Champions League match against Barcelona on Thursday evening.

“For us it was a good opportunity for us to come and look at the Emirates today for a number of reasons,” Eidevall explained. “One, was so we could do it at a bigger stadium, also to get more familiar with being here and using the locker rooms, for example and the pitch.”

Arsenal piped crowd noise into the stadium during the closed part of the training session to acclimatise the players to not necessarily being able to hear one another during the next two games, a scenario they are not accustomed to in front of smaller crowds at Boreham Wood.

ICYMI: We were at the Emirates for Arsenal's open training session ahead of the Women's FA Cup Final against Chelsea. @Stillberto was pitchside to try and get a sense of what the team has planned for Wembley 🎗️

Watch the full video: https://t.co/wQXJiPXqoM pic.twitter.com/KZYrzWDk8N

— arseblognews (@arseblognews) December 4, 2021

“We used the audio system here as well so we can practice with the noise of the stadium. That’s not possible to do at our training ground.” Eidevall also revealed that he hasn’t changed any other details in the team’s preparation, allowing the players to have Thursday off as is customary following international rounds.

“We could have got the players in on Thursday because there is a lot of information for them ahead of a Cup Final, but we made the decision to let them have a day off on Thursday because that is usually what we do.

“It’s important that we don’t try to give the players more information than usual just because it’s a very important game. We will give the same amount as usual but we just have to prioritise so we are prepared.”

Arsenal play Chelsea in the FA Cup Final on Sunday afternoon at 2pm at Wembley Stadium and then they play Barcelona on Thursday at 7pm at Emirates Stadium.