Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall excited by WSL, UWCL pressure

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall says he is excited by the pressure of both their UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) qualifiers against BK Häcken and the start of the Women's Super League (WSL) season, even with their tough league opener falling between the two crucial European fixtures.

Arsenal face Häcken on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League second-round qualifiers, while Manchester City take on Paris FC at the same time. Both teams will play their second legs at home on Sept. 26.

The English pair will meet on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium to launch their domestic campaigns in the middle of the European qualifiers. Despite the intense schedule, Eidevall said he is confident, adding that his squad is well-prepared to handle three important fixtures in nine days and is looking forward to the pivotal week ahead.

"It's exciting weeks; it's exciting to be here, to be close to going into the group stage in the Champions League, it's exciting to come to the Emirates on the weekend to play against Manchester City, but we need to keep our focus on the day by day activity," he told a news conference in Sweden.

"Today, it's to prepare really well and have a good training session. Tomorrow it's to play against Hacken and after that we can look forward.

"We have prepped for this period because we knew this period was going to be busy if we were successful with the mini-tournament," he added. "So everything we did in preseason has been leading up to this point to be able to deal with this period so this is really business time for us. We put everyone's competence into the hot seat, and we look forward to weeks like this.

"I think if you don't like this, you shouldn't be in professional football," he said. "I had a question before this in Swedish asking if we feel pressure and I think of course we feel pressure, everyone feels a little bit of pressure. For me, it's not a negative thing, its positive. I think it's a necessity for high performance. [I'm] really looking forward to playing exciting games."

Eidevall also revealed that defender Steph Catley and forward Lina Hurtig are both unavailable for selection due to injuries. The pair were also absent from the first-round qualifiers in the 6-0 win over Rangers and 1-0 victory against Rosenborg.

Arsenal failed to qualify for the group stage of the UWCL last season, losing on penalties to Paris FC in the first qualifying round.