Published: 6 June, 2013
by CATHERINE ETOE

FORMER Arsenal Ladies assistant manager Emma Hayes will come face-to-face with her old side for the first time tonight (Thursday) when Chelsea line up against the Gunners in the Women’s Super League.

At least eight of the current Arsenal first team played under Hayes in 2007 when she helped lead the club to a quadruple of titles that included the prestigious Uefa Cup.

Today, the ex-Parliament Hill School pupil is in her first full season as Chelsea boss following a spell as a head coach and technical director for various teams in the women’s professional league in the USA.

The 36-year-old returns to her old stomping ground of Meadow Park tonight in a televised match, but insists she will not let her emotional attachment to the club she played for in her teens interfere with the task in hand.

“I’m looking forward to it and I think it will feel strange at first,” she said.

“But my job is to do the best for Chelsea.

“As much as Arsenal have been part of my history, this is what I do now and I have to concentrate on preparing my team to play the champions of England.”

Hayes’s opposite number Shelley Kerr insists her players will be just as professional when they face their old coach.

“They are so professional that they don’t look at who is coaching. They are just trying to focus on the team they are going to play,” she said.
“Chelsea have some really talented players so it is going to be a tough encounter, but every game has been against tough opposition this season.”
The pressure is on Arsenal, who currently sit sixth in the eight-team league after a patchy start that has seen them take four points from three games.

But Kerr, who joined the club in February, believes that their recent FA Women’s Cup trophy triumph has given the players a filip. “We’ve had a run of form and some good results and performances in the last four or five games and it’s something we want to build on,” she said.

“It was good to get the first piece of silverware and that gives us a boost.

“The big thing with the team is they are starting to gel and show consistency in their play and that is really pleasing.”

Kick off at Boreham Wood FC tonight is 7.45pm but there will be activities for children at the ground from 5.45pm in a special fanzone.