Olga Ahtinen on Women’s FA Cup tie: “It’s not going to be an easy game”
Fri 09 February 2024, 11:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Olga Ahtinen looks ahead to our Adobe Women’s FA Cup tie against Charlton Athletic on Saturday evening (5.15pm KO) and reflects on her time since returning from injury.
We welcome the Addicks to Brisbane Road in the fifth round of the competition, reaching this stage after beating Sheffield United 3-2 in the previous round, where Rosella Ayane scored a last-minute winner to secure the victory.
Karen Hills - who was our manager for over a decade and guided us to promotion to the WSL for the first time in 2019 - is the current head coach at the Addicks and is having a fantastic season in the FA Women’s Championship as they currently sit top of the table and unbeaten in 12 league games.
So, it’s no surprise that Olga is heading into the game with the same focus as any other game.
Speaking earlier this week with SPURSPLAY, the Finnish international said: “We have had so many games recently, so I think we need to be prepared like any other game, it doesn’t matter that they don’t play in the same league as us.
“We still need to prepare ourselves well, it’s not going to be an easy game. We also played against them in a friendly last month, so it will be an interesting encounter on Saturday.”
The 26-year-old was sidelined for around two months in the first half of the season, suffering a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injury in the draw with Liverpool back in November, and made her return to action in the FA Cup last month against the Blades.
I have started to feel like myself the more minutes I have got and, hopefully, I can help the team.
She made an instant impact, playing a lovely ball over the top to Rosella for the forward to calmly finish deep in injury-time, and Olga has enjoyed being back on the pitch and the style of football under Robert Vilahamn.
Olga added: “Like I said, we had many games since then, it has been quite busy for us. But, of course, it feels good to be back, it’s never nice to not be able to play the games. I have started to feel like myself the more minutes I have got and, hopefully, I can help the team.
“I feel I fit quite well into Robert’s style of football, I think we are improving but we all know that we still have a lot to work on and we can do so much better, we all see the potential we have.
“But, I think it’s fun football to play as we want to be brave and look to keep the ball, and that’s one thing that will be important from now on.”
