Arsenal are keen to ruin Emma Hayes’ Chelsea swan song as Gunners midfielder Lia Walti has had some fighting talk before the London derby.
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Gunners to host Chelsea Walti determined to spoil Hayes' farewell Wants to stop Blues' juggernaut in England WHAT HAPPENED?
Hayes, set to become the highest-paid women's coach globally, will join the US Women’s national team after this season. She boasts of an impressive record in West London with 13 major trophies at Chelsea, including four consecutive WSL titles. However, Walti is determined to stop Hayes and Chelsea at the Emirates when the two sides lock horns in a blockbuster London derby on Sunday.
AdvertisementWHAT WALTI SAID
Speaking to reporters ahead of the game, Walti, said: "Emma has done so much for women’s football in the English league. We all have the biggest respect for what she did here. But we also don’t want her to finish that era on a high. We’re here to compete with Chelsea, we’re here to win trophies and we’re not going to be nicer to them just because it’s Emma’s last year, that’s for sure.
"We have respect for everything she’s done here and she has a really exciting job ahead but the focus is on us. We want to beat not only Chelsea, we want to win the league, we want to win trophies and I hope we can make it a little bit hard for her to finish on a high this year.”
Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Arsenal have recovered from a challenging start to the season and currently sit second in the WSL, three points behind Chelsea. A win would take them level on points with the reigning champions but history is not on their side as the Gunners have not beaten Chelsea in the league since 2021.
"The season is still very young but we all know these games can make the difference in the end,” she said. “I think we did well with the results against Manchester City and Manchester United but it’s going to be even bigger against Chelsea.
“Firstly they’re three points ahead of us and secondly Chelsea vs Arsenal – it can’t really get much bigger. From the games we’ve had in the past, they’ve mostly been tight games so it’s about who’s better on the day and maybe the subs can make a big change as well for both teams. I’m excited and really looking forward to it," he added.
“We’re having great momentum with our team right now but we’re going to focus on ourselves. For sure in front of our home crowd, there is only one goal for us and we want to win that game. That would set us up well for the next games after that for the new year.”
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR WALTI?
With more than 57,000 tickets already sold, Arsenal aim to break their own WSL attendance record in the upcoming contest, underlining the heightened anticipation for this crucial encounter. And Walti remains determined to stand up to the expectations of the crowd and project themselves as "role models" to the young fans.
"You can hear the passion from the fans and I think the club is building a great culture. We can be role models for the little kids," she said.
"They come and look up to us and they want to do what we’re doing. That’s the best part. To see kids in the crowd smiling and screaming at us and wanting to be exactly where we are one day is just incredible."
