Everton hoping to challenge Arsenal's domination with Cup win

Everton will renew their attempt to take over Arsenal's mantle as the country's top team when they face Leeds Carnegie in Thursday's Premier League Cup final. After the Merseyside club beat the Gunners in the 2008 final the manager, Mo Marley, said her team could follow that success by moving ahead of the club that has dominated the women's scene for the past decade. Instead Arsenal won the treble for the second time in three years last season. In the process they knocked Everton out of both cup competitions and also beat them on the final day of the league season to pip them to the title. Marley said: "Arsenal have created an environment of natural born winners and we must achieve that if we're going to get to where we want to be. We just haven't delivered on most of the really big occasions against Arsenal. We beat them in the league halfway through last season but then in the crunch game on the last day too many of our big players didn't perform. "It was the same against Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final two seasons ago – we'd won the League Cup and were maybe content with one trophy. But our mentality is stronger this season. We showed it by beating Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final and now we've got to show it against Leeds in the final; and if we win, then this time we have to kick on, not sit back." In preparation for the final, to be played at Rochdale's Spotland, Everton trounced Portsmouth 7-0 in today's FA Cup fifth round while Leeds lost 3-2 at Arsenal. In the quarter-finals Arsenal will entertain Doncaster, who won 1-0 at Birmingham, and Everton will be at home to Blackburn following their 1-0 extra-time victory over Lincoln.