Chelsea’s Guro Reiten: ‘This is the game you love to win and hate to lose’

At Chelsea “everything is about winning” says Guro Reiten. “You do it once and you want to do it again and again, and it doesn’t change. We love to play finals; the last FA Cup final, against Arsenal with the fans back, was unbelievable. We want to get there again.”

To get to Wembley this time, less than five months since they emphatically beat Arsenal there in last season’s delayed final, Chelsea must defeat the Gunners again in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final at a sold-out Borehamwood.

This season the two teams have been neck and neck, sharing hammer blows ever since Arsenal’s 3-2 WSL opening-day victory over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium. Chelsea lifted the FA Cup in December, then the teams battled to break the deadlock in a thrilling 0-0 draw at Kingsmeadow in the league before Emma Hayes’s side leapfrogged Arsenal to reach the top of the table for the first time this season.

“That was a tough game and we felt a bit lucky after,” says Reiten with a grin. “Everyone knows everything about each other, so it’s more difficult to work out how to beat them. Sometimes you have to change stuff, but that is up to Emma. We’ve just got to go on the pitch with a lot of energy, be really aggressive and play our game and believe in ourselves, because both teams are so good. But I think, and I believe, that we are the best, and that’s what we have to show for 90 minutes – hopefully – maybe 120, you never know.”

While Chelsea, the holders and league leaders, are the slight favourites, Hayes says games held after an international break are a lot more unpredictable.

Reiten describes it as “always hectic” after an international camp but adds: “We’re used to it … It’s like this every single time we’re done with camp, we always have like