Blackstenius up for challenges at Arsenal Women

"

I just went for it,"

Stina Blackstenius

told Lynsey Hooper in an interview for 

Sky Sports

, talking about her decision to join the Women’s Super League.

She chose to make a move to

when her contract expired at Swedish club Hacken.

"

I get a really good impression from Arsenal as a club and everything just felt good when I took the decision,

" she said.

"The WSL is one of the most attractive leagues right now because it is a really competitive league to be in.

"I was out playing in France a couple of years ago [Blackstenius spent two seasons at Montpelier before returning to Sweden] but then I felt maybe I wasn't ready to take that step.

"But now having been [back to] Sweden, I thought I was ready for a new challenge now."

She has now joined some of her compatriot in the WSL, like Magdalena Eriksson at Chelsea and Hanna Bennison at Everton, but she didn’t ask them for advice when she was making a decision.

"

I have heard so much good stuff about the league and the teams here in England, I felt like I didn't need any!"

she says.

Although there are not any Swedish players at the club, she can see one familiar face there.

"

I know Frida Maanum from when we played in Linkopings,"

she explains.

"She can speak Swedish so I was talking to her a bit on my first day.

"I got good first impressions from everyone. There's a lot of good girls in the group and I feel well taken care of."

Manager Jonas Eidevall is also Swedish.

Blackstenius said:

"He knows that I want to fight for trophies and that I want to keep winning stuff. And I know that he's a coach who wants the same.

"I feel like the mentality in the group is that we are here because we want to be better players, and we want to win stuff. We want to go as far as we can in the Champions League and also in the league. I feel like that's just something we do here."

She is keen on competing for a place in the front line of Arsenal.

"

There's so many good players here and there's high quality across the whole team,"

she said.

"So I know it will be tough for me to play but I wanted to take that challenge, to try and be better and be as competitive as I can.

"The football way [here] will be different. I have already seen in training that the quality is really high, and that it will be a challenge for me to try and adapt to this as best as I can.

"Of course I hope that [Miedema and I] can play together, but I can't actually answer that question! I would need to pass it to Jonas.

"But it will be really fun to play alongside such a good player as Viv. She has shown for a long time what a player she is and what quality she has. So that would be a good opportunity for me to grow as a player."

She is also very keen on improving herself to succeed.

"

I think every player wants to be better,"

she said.

"And when it is competitive, you really need to make the best you can out of every training and every game. For the players and the team."

Not only is she trying to do her best on the field, but she is also settling off the field.

"

I've had so much help from everyone at the club and the girls in the team,"

she said.

"It means a lot that I can call someone or ask someone for help because I'm new here and I don't know exactly how things work. But it makes everything easier that I can speak English, which I couldn't when I was in France.

"I have never been to London before so I think I will just enjoy seeing everything! I have heard there are so many nice things to do here."

Arsenal will now get ready to face Manchester City in the WSL and she is eager to have her debut in the league as well, with her debut coming in the Continental Cup.

She said:

"It was nice to get the debut the other day, even though we didn't win. I'm so happy for my first minutes in my new jersey. I'm looking forward to making my league debut too.

"I'm just so happy to be here. I'm looking forward to all the games, and to meet the fans, and everything around them."

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