_Before every home game, Renée Slegers gives her thoughts around the team and our upcoming game in her manager's notes published in the matchday programme._
_Ahead of our Subway Women's League Cup semi-final, the head coach is excited to build on our second half performance against Aston Villa as we try to unlock Manchester United well drilled defence this evening._
We are into a run of big games now and this is an important one here tonight because its our first opportunity this season to book our place in a final and ultimately compete for silverware.
We’re heading into tonight’s match with a good deal of momentum from a positive result and performance against Aston Villa at the weekend. As a team, we spoke a lot ahead of the game about how much the FA Cup means to us and how important it is for us to be competing across multiple fronts this season. I was very happy to see that mindset in action.
Our first goal on Sunday was a product of fantastic teamwork and it was also great to see our effectiveness from set pieces to score the second goal. There are always chances to score more and we were unlucky with the woodwork a number of times on Sunday. We’ve examined those moments as a group to see what we could do better, but I really liked our intensity in the second half to find a solution.
Every single player in our squad has an important role to play, regardless of minutes on the pitch. I was so pleased with the work from the players who started the game and the players who finished it, because we’ve got a huge block ahead of us and strength in depth is vital: a League Cup semi-final, Chelsea, Manchester City, our two games at the inaugural FIFA Champions Cup and our first Champions League knockout – all in less than a month. It’s going to require a monumental effort from everyone to continue our standards across all five competitions, but we’re prepared for the challenge.
What was lacking against Manchester United at the start of the month were those final details. We have another chance against the same opposition to find a breakthrough and put our learnings into practice. We’re determined to continue our recent success in this competition and that means a big performance tonight. Enjoy the match, and COYG!
_Read more about the game, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Manchester United programme either around the stadium or_ [_online_](https://programme.arsenal.com/product/arsenal-women-v-manchester-united-women-wednesday-january-21-league-cup)[_._](https://programme.arsenal.com/product/arsenal-v-manchester-city-sunday-september-21)
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