FORMER England stars Lianne Sanderson and Fara Williams claim Arsenal should not feel any pressure to retain their Women’s Champions League title this season – because all the expectation is on Chelsea.
The Blues are yet to get their hands on the European trophy despite winning the WSL for the last six years.
They reached the semi-final stage in each of the last three campaigns but were knocked out by three-time winners Barcelona every time.
And having splashed the cash on the likes of Naomi Girma, Keira Walsh, Ellie Carpenter and £1.1million forward Alyssa Thompson over the last 12 months, they now have to go one step further and take the silverware back to West London.
Sanderson – who won the competition with Arsenal in 2007 – told SunSport: “The pressure is on Chelsea. I don’t think the pressure is on Arsenal.
“I don’t think there were any expectations last year. I mean, this time last year, Renee Slegers was an interim manager on an unbeaten run.
“She’s done an amazing job, and she continues to do an amazing job.
“But the pressure is on Chelsea. They have to deliver this year.
“As a former Arsenal player, being there last year to see them win the Champions League, the fact they even got to the final, we were all so proud.
“So if Arsenal don’t win it this year… I don’t think anybody expects them to. It’s a bit like Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup. It’s one of those ones.
“That’s like saying, do you expect Palace to win it again? Like it doesn’t work like that.
“They should be in the running, there’s no doubt they will be, but I think Chelsea have to win. They have to.”
Former Chelsea midfielder Williams claimed Arsenal should feel some internal pressure to replicate last season’s incredible win, but also suggested that all eyes elsewhere will be on Chelsea and Barcelona.
“The outside noise will be that Barcelona should go and win it again and that Chelsea have spent a lot of money and have squad depth so they should go and beat everyone,” the most-capped former England Lioness explained.
“So I don’t think there’ll be outside noise that will create pressure. I think in house, knowing their capabilities and knowing they’ve done it before, they will have their own expectations and standards that they want to set in the Champions League given what they’ve done.
“For them, it’s about can they do a repeat of what they did? But I don’t think they have added pressure from the outside.”
Arsenal kick off their title defence tomorrow against eight-time winners Lyon at Meadow Park.
Meanwhile, Chelsea take on Twente and Manchester United host Valerenga on Wednesday.
The UEFA Women’s Champions League kicks off on 7 & 8 October, with every game live on Disney+ as part of existing subscriptions
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