Charlton Athletic will travel away to Arsenal on the 18th of March, after being drawn against the Women’s Super League side for the quarter finals of the SSE Women’s FA cup.
After beating Cardiff 3-1 in the previous round, The Addicks will be full of confidence going into the tie, and head coach Riteesh Mishra spoke to the officlal club site following the draw, expressing his ‘overwhelming sense of pride’ in his side’s efforts and progression into this stage of the competition.
Underdogs
Charlton are the only side within the Women’s Premier League remaining in the competition, and are facing what could be the toughest test of their season so far.
Mishra said: “I think everyone in the draw would have wanted to pick us out of the hat being the lowest seed. I would have really wanted a home tie so we could have got a crowd at Thamesmead and also it would have helped the club financially but to be honest we’ve got one of the biggest clubs in women’s football so it’s going to be a massive occasion for us.”
After winning the competition a record 14 times, Arsenal will be the favourites as they seek to secure a semi-final spot. Whereas Charlton, who have only won the competition once in their history, will no doubt favour the role of the underdogs with their last triumph coming in 2005, a 1-0 win against Everton with former Addick Eni Aluko scoring the only goal.
Speaking again to the Charlton Media, Mishra stated that “I think it’s a proud moment for the football club itself. We are the lowest tiered side (remaining in the SSE Women’s FA Cup). I think a lot of it is down to the hard work our staff have put in but mainly the amount of work and application of our players. It shows that the players that we’ve got are good enough to compete at a higher level and we’re trying to get there through winning the league this year.”
Charlton currently sit in second place in the Women’s Premier League Southern Division, only a point behind league leaders C&K Basildon, with a game in hand over their rivals, having accumulated 36 points from 14 games.
Arsenal who currently sit in third place in the Women’s Super League, eight points behind league leaders and current SSE Women’s FA Cup champions Manchester City, last won the competition in the 2016, when they beat rivals Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley, thanks to a winner from their forward Danielle Carter-Loblack.
No Pushovers
Despite being underdogs, The Addicks have shown this season that they can pose an attacking threat, and will no doubt try to attack going into the game, showing that they won’t just sit back and invite pressure, their impressive record speaks for itself, with 56 league goals in 14 league games only conceding 10 in the process.
Mishra spoke very highly of the Arsenal side to the Charlton Media saying that “They are full of internationals. The biggest difference between our level and them is that they are full time. They are full time athletes. I think that you will see that physically they are more dominant than us, technically advanced. They’ve got players that can hurt you in all areas. We’ve got time to digest it and think of a game plan that can hurt them. It’s going to be an occasion that we’ve got to try and enjoy and play football as well.”
With plenty to look forward to, Charlton will now focus their attention to their next game against on the 25th, at home against Leyton Orient in the Capital One Cup semi-final.