White's bright Arsenal outlook

By Paul Saffer & Jan Juhlin

Arsenal LFC are at full strength ahead of their UEFA Women's Cup semi-final return with Djurgården/Älvsjö - and home captain Faye White believes her side have every chance of ending the Swedish champions' hopes.

Final chance
A 1-1 draw last Thursday gave Vic Akers's side every chance both of making their first final and ending Sweden's proud record of having a club in every decider. Defender White, whose team even took the lead in Solna, says her side can finish the job at Borehamwood tonight.

'Strong and confident'
"If we had been asked before the first leg to take 1-1 we'd have been happy with that," she told uefa.com. "We're quite buoyant from that result and we've been working in training on things we've picked up from the first game and on how we want to approach the second. We've got no real injuries or concern on that front, there was a worry about Julie Fleeting but she's fine. We go into the game quite strong and confident."

Good results
Last week's game marked Arsenal's second trip to Sweden this year, having beaten Djurgården/Älvsjö 1-0 in Stockholm in September's second qualifying round. White said: "We've played them twice now and each time they were confident that they would be beat them because Sweden has a stronger league and national team. But we've played 180 minutes and not lost a game. So hopefully we can take that one more game and clear the final hurdle."

Club support
White's side are also on course to defend their English league title, and the defender says that backing from throughout the club, including the men's first team, is a huge boon. "It's highlighted for big games but it goes on throughout the season for the club. Everyone that works behind the scenes and also the players are very supportive."

EURO curtain-raiser
England defender White is in line to face Sweden in the hosts' last UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ group game in June, and each national team will be well represented tonight. White said: "A lot of people will see it as a curtain raiser for that game as they have a number of internationals in that team. It is going to be a good tussle against people like [Victoria] Svensson for me, Mary Phillip and Leanne Champ."

Kalmari cup-tied
One EURO-bound player not involved is Djurgården/Älvsjö's Finnish international Laura Kalmari, cup-tied from before her transfer from Umeå IK, whose record of reaching every final and winning the last two editions was ended by their domestic rivals in the last eight. Otherwise away coach Mikael Söderman has a full-strength team at Meadow Park, just north of London.

'Looking good'
"Everyone is healthy so it's looking good," he said. "We know what we are capable and if we believe in ourselves I'm sure we can turn this around. We have to use our pace, passing and play the ball into the open areas so that we get them to run a lot, that way we can grind our way through their team."

First-leg concerns
He did admit, though, that he hoped for more last Thursday. "We never really got going in the first game," Söderman said. "We should have played fast passing football, but instead we got into a slow tempo, and allowed Arsenal to play the way they wanted. They're a good side and we will have to be at our best to beat them."