Continental Cup Final EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal and England’s Alex Scott on whether her team can make it four in a row

Alex Scott blogs exclusively for The Offside Rule (We Get It!). Arsenal Ladies are in the final of the Continental Cup for a fourth consecutive year, as the season draws to a close will Alex be celebrating another trophy as well as her 30th birthday? I remember last year's final, when Steph Houghton lead us out at The Hive against a hard-to-break-down Lincoln Ladies team – since renamed Notts County - who we beat in the semis last month. This year Steph will be leading out Manchester City Ladies, who are our opponents and in their first ever final, looking to gain their first ever bit of silverware in the top flight of women’s football. It's a headline in the making isn’t it? Well, sorry to be a party pooper… but, my team, Arsenal Ladies, want to hold onto this cup and will not be going down without a fight.

Who are the favourites going into this game? I’m not too sure. I think we may tip that one: we have had a fine run to the end of the season and the last time the two teams met, we ran riot with a 4-0 win. The thing is though, it’s easy to write down all the facts, but when it comes to final, all that goes out of the window.

Quite honestly none of that matters, players know it’s a one-off game and it really is all to play for. I think Man City and Arsenal stack up nicely against each other to make this an interesting final. No disrespect to last year’s opponents Lincoln, but they came to that final to defend for 90 minutes and hope they got the rub of the green that day. Casey Stoney, a defender for Lincoln in that final, was the first to admit that was their game plan. Casey, who has been at the heart of our defence this season, knows that those tactics will certainly not be on our agenda going into this game. I don’t think City will approach it like that either.

Manchester City have invested a lot into their women’s team this season, there’s some exciting talent in their ranks who are comfortable on the ball and can play. I believe this game is going to be an exciting one with both teams really going for it and I can’t wait for it to come around.

When I think about this season overall I actually have a little giggle to myself. I’m proud of my club and the character we have shown throughout. Starting off the season dropping points and losing games – they said Arsenal Ladies’ glory days were behind them. Then our manager Shelly Kerr resigned from the club a week before the FA Cup final. Losing eight senior players was always going to be a tough one and people were right to write us off I suppose. It was all doom and gloom from the outside!

Well, this season has been quite the opposite, as strange that seems. I’m sure if you ask any other player at the start of the season, they’d love the chance to walk away at the end with two of the three domestic trophies. They would bite your hand off. We work hard all season and it’s about wining medals to show the work you’ve put in.

So for me, as strange as this season has been, I’ve actually enjoyed every minute of it. I have loved working under new management in the England set-up with Mark Sampson, who is pushing me to reach new levels and I am already enjoying life under our new management at Arsenal, with Pedro Martinez Losa in charge. I’m also excited that this season we have managed to bring through a lot of young and exciting talent at Arsenal. There is a good mix of  youth and experience in our team and I am really hoping that I can top off a special birthday for me with a cup double to end this season on a real high. Either way, this Gooner is a happy one and still has a big smile on her face.

Thank you to all our fans across the league who continue to support and help the game grow in this country.

We’ve got five pairs of tickets to give away to the Continental Cup final on 16 October here don’t miss your chance to see Alex in action!

Read more from Alex Scott here!

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