Chloe Kelly Relishes The Prospect Of Facing Her Former Club In FA Cup Semi-Finals

Kelly played a key part in abetting City’s route into the final four, opening the scoring in the quarter-finals against Leicester City with her first goal for the Club – a well-taken first-half penalty.

The pair Manchester City and Arsenal lock horns at the Academy Stadium on Thursday 1 October (7:15pm UK), as the current holders lock horns with the competition’s most successful side.

A Gunner before she made her loan deal with Everton permanent, the forward says she cannot wait to go toe-to-toe with her former teammates and showcase her sparkling ability.

This she has to say:

“It’s great to be in the next round of the FA Cup,” she grinned. “and getting a goal to top it off made it even better.

“We showed fight and we did the dirty work. It’s not all about pretty football – sometimes, you have to do the dirty work and we showed we’re capable of doing that.

“The football will do the talking when it needs to.

“It was a tough surface to play on but we should fight together to get into the next round.

“Arsenal are my old club so I’ve got a point to prove against them! Hopefully, I’ll get a goal!”

Having opened her goal-scoring account for her new Club early into her City career, Kelly, summer recruit, admitted a weight had been lifted from the youngster’s shoulders.

Kelly had impressed with goals in pre-season but hopes that bagging her first competitive strike will spark a fruitful scoring line.

And Again, she says:

“To get my first goal was unbelievable,” she smiled. “I just want to hit the ground running from here.

“In pre-season, I was scoring goals so hopefully; this can push me on for the rest of the season, fingers crossed.

“Players work off confidence and getting the goal is great.

“I’d been working on my penalties and I was really confident. The staff put me on penalties for the game, which I was really happy with.

“I wanted to show I’m confident in front of goal.

“(Although I had to wait a little), I tried not to place the ball too early or think about it too much.

“I held it in my hand for a while, not looking at the ‘keeper.

“I was in my own little world really!”

With each passing week, Kelly declares her confidence on City’s coach and added she believes City are seeing the fruits of manager Gareth Taylor’s labour and is excited to discover how the season will unfold under his stewardship.

“We’re all buying into it,” she stated. “We go on the training pitch and work hard.

“We showed on Sunday we’re capable of getting a result. If we stick at it, it will come.

“It’s been a tough time – we hadn’t been together for such a long time – and we brought in new players.

“As long as everyone is buying into it, it will work.

“We just need to take each game and it comes. We must not focus too much on (the next game at) the weekend.

“We need to focus on Arsenal first and get the work done; then we go again on Sunday.”