Sunday marks a huge moment for women’s football. Two of England’s best sides – Arsenal Women and Chelsea Women – go head to head for the 2020/21 FA Cup. For Arsenal captain Kim Little, she will lead out her side at the iconic Wembley Stadium.
“It’s an honour to captain the club and the girls. We’ve got such a great team here so I’m looking forward to that, and the game being at Wembley,” she exclusively told Sky Sports’ Charlotte Marsh.
“It’s such a great pitch and environment and atmosphere. It’ll be one to savour, they don’t come around too often during the seasons, so I’m definitely going to be as present as possible and enjoy the moment.”
Ahead of this weekend’s cup final against their London rivals, Arsenal and adidas teamed up to create Paint It Red Ltd. Lead by Little, the service will be delivering ‘Arsenal Red’ paint to fans to celebrate Arsenal Women’s historic success and provide Arsenal fans with the tools to paint London red in the build up to the final.
Sunday’s game comes with its own quirks too. The two sides will compete for last season’s trophy after later rounds were postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions, spilling over into the current campaign. But ever the calm and composed captain, Little is not fazed by the unusual timings.
“I’m so excited for it. It’s a little unusual having an FA Cup final in December, [it is] in May normally, but it’s nice to have a game of that magnitude at this time of the year,” she said.
“Being at Wembley and I think there’s about 40,000 tickets that have been sold, which is incredible. It shows where the game is at now, the interest in it and the entertainment we’re producing on the pitch as teams and a league. It’s really exciting to be part of that generally so I’m really looking forward to that on Sunday.
“We know Chelsea are a great team and they’ve been so consistent for several years now at the top of their game as well. It’s going to be an exciting game, we’ve played once already this season at the start of the WSL and we came out on top.
“It was a great game too, I think a lot of people watched the game and thought it was a great spectacle to watch and really entertaining. I’m sure that will be the same on Sunday and it’ll be two great teams playing at the top of their game.”
It’s not over exaggeration to say that either. Arsenal and Chelsea occupy the top two spots of the Women’s Super League, with the domestically unbeaten Gunners just ahead by a point.
But there have been surprise packages. Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by north London rivals Tottenham a few weeks ago, with the WSL becoming increasingly competitive, as well as entertaining.
Little reflected: “It does feel like teams are competing more consistently and it’s harder, even for the top teams like us, Chelsea and others. It really feels like you have to be on your game at the highest level every week and you have to minimise your opponents’ strengths.
“That’s credit to clubs like Brighton and Tottenham, who have really worked on improving their club set-up and infrastructure, then bringing in good players.
“You can really see how they’ve done that progressively and got better and better and are able to compete more than they have done before. That makes for a really competitive league.
“Even as an individual, I need to go into every game and I need to make sure I’m doing as best I can and playing at the top level to make sure we get the outcome that we want.”
Adaptation at Arsenal
Little is currently in her second stint at Arsenal – first playing for the club between 2008 and 2013, winning three FA Cups in the process – and is shining on the pitch this season as part of a talented midfield three
Her attacking stats are impressive too. Little has scored six WSL goals this season, doing so from 10 shots with an impressive conversion rate of 60 per cent and a shot accuracy of 90 per cent.
However, it has not always been plain sailing. A string of injuries on her return in 2017 saw the midfielder facing extensive rehabilitation periods for the first time in her career, a fact that took some getting used to.
“When I first came back to the club from America, I picked up quite serious injuries,” she explained. “I was out for 10 months with an ACL, got back to form then broke my leg and then had a stress fracture in my foot.
“I hadn’t really been injured for any length of time before that so it was quite a change in that sense, just being away from playing the game. It definitely makes you more open minded and see things from a different perspective.
“Now coming back, the best thing is being fit and being able to play all the time, and you’re definitely much more appreciative of that when you’ve missed it for so long. Football is all about momentum, individually and as a team, and when you accumulate a lot of games over a period of time, that’s what builds performance and how you’re able to do it week in week out.”