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Tonight, we play our 100th match in the Women’s Champions League under the spotlights at Emirates Stadium.
Next up in Group C are Swiss champions FC Zurich, a well-drilled and disciplined team whose intense low block offers a new test for our Gunners after they ran out 5-1 winners against a pressing Olympique Lyonnais side last Wednesday.
Noelle Maritz’s former club are the giants of Swiss football with historic and contemporary success, having won the league 23 times across its 52-year history. Recent ascendancy from Servette, however, meant that FCZ finished second in the regular 2021/22 season and only clinched the title via the playoffs. This season, after only four games played, they sit in fourth place in the Axa Women’s Super League.
FC Zurich had to progress through both rounds of qualifying for the Champions League group stage, beating the likes of KI Klaksvik, Apollon Limassol, and SFK 2000 Sarajevo en route. On matchday 1, they held Italian champions Juventus for over an hour before conceding two goals in the 71st and 85th minute respectively.
Captain and star striker Fabienne Humm may be a familiar name to some, having recently broken Welsh hearts in their October World Cup qualifier. Her winner in extra-time secured 2023 World Cup football for her Swiss side in Wales’ stead. In team news, FCZ are currently missing goalkeeper Seraina Friedli and Austrian international Marie Hobinger.
Since 2021, the Swiss champions have been managed by Inka Grings, whose illustrious playing career in the Frauen-Bundesliga ended with her as the league’s second-most prolific goalscorer ever.
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We kick off at 8pm UK time tonight at Emirates Stadium. All UWCL fixtures will be free to stream on DAZN’s Youtube channel, wherever you are in the world.
We will share an embedded live stream on our website straight after the conclusion of the men’s Europa League match against PSV Eindhoven.
Eidevall on FC Zurich: “From seeing their Juventus game, it painted a very consistent picture. So of course, [their deep block] is one of the ways we could prepare for them to play. It’s game by game. We have to do our part, prepare to be as fit as possible, execute as well as possible. Then we’ll have to see where that leads us in the league table.
For us to play one really good game away to Lyon and get a great result and to start speaking about us winning the whole competition, I don’t like that. I don’t think that’s humble enough. That’s not where we come from. We’re still at a place where we know we’re a very good football team but we need to work extremely hard to develop in order to fulfil our potential as a team.” – every word of the boss’ pre-match presser
Inka Grings on us: “With Arsenal, the next heavyweight awaits us in a fantastic stadium. They showed against the title defenders of Olympique Lyonnais what outstanding players they have in their ranks.
“The game is a showdown between David and Goliath. We will do everything we can to stress Arsenal: for this, we have to leave our heart on the pitch.”
Lina Hurtig missed our recent WSL fixture against Liverpool, but was back in training with the squad on Wednesday. Laura Wienroither missed Wednesday’s training due to illness, as did Lia Walti, but both players are expected to be involved against Zurich.
Rafaelle Souza and Leah Williamson, meanwhile, continue to recover from the injuries they sustained in early October, and Teyah Goldie is taking part in light training duties during her ACL rehabilitation.
For our last meeting with FC Zurich, you have to travel back over 14 years to when the Champions League was still referred to as the UEFA Women’s Cup.
We were 7-2 victors in 2008, courtesy of goals from Jayne Ludlow, Karen Carney, Kelly Smith, and a hat-trick from a teenage Kim Little.
Copyright 2022 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
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