Post by ogsdog on Mar 10, 2010 15:16:47 GMT -1
By Tony Leighton
Arsenal will unusually be the underdogs when they face Uefa Cup holders FCR Duisburg in the Women's Champions League quarter-final.
The Gunners, who go to Germany for the first leg on Wednesday, have been England's top club team for some years and won the Uefa Cup in 2007.
But they have lost four key players to America's professional league.
New manager Laura Harvey said: "Duisburg will be seen as favourites but that takes the pressure off us."
Former Birmingham City ladies manager Harvey is preparing for only her third match in charge at Arsenal, having taken over in February.
"The girls have had a tough 12 months, with players leaving and changes of management, but they are mentally strong and they're ready for this match," she stated.
"I've set a tactical plan, the girls believe in what we're doing and we're going to give it everything we've got."
Harvey will send out her players to contain Duisburg in the first leg and then hopes to complete an aggregate victory in the home leg on Sunday.
"We've got to still be in the tie at the end of the first leg," she added. "If we get an away goal or two, great - but the first aim will be to not concede.
"That will give us a building block for the second leg and give us the best possible chance of going through."
Harvey has replaced previous manager Tony Gervaise, who himself had been in charge only since last summer following the retirement of long-serving Vic Akers.
But the new boss knows the Arsenal set-up well, having been part of the Akers coaching team that last season led the Gunners to a domestic treble.