West Ham United ladies are relishing the prospect of a FA Cup sixth round tie against European champions Arsenal.
The club have been drawn with their north London rivals after a 7-0 fourth-round home success against Colchester United FC at the weekend. For manager Tony Marshall, the trip to play Arsenal, a league above his side, at Borehamwood on 27 January is one to be relished.
"We all hoped for a top side in the next round and you cant ask for a bigger tie than Arsenal," he said. "They are the European champions and if they field their strongest eleven it will more or less be the entire England team.We have a young side that are learning and improving all of the time.
"Obviously we will be the underdogs but I will be instilling it into our team not to go there as lambs to the slaughter. We are going to the Arsenal to give them a game and to give our best on the day.We will be playing the top side in Europe, I am sure that in the long term we will benefit from the experience"