Arsenal Ladies midfielder Rachel Yankey is confident they can overcome Wolfsburg in the semi-final of the Champions League and set up an “amazing” final at Stamford Bridge.

The Gunners host the German outfit in the first leg at Meadow Park on Sunday before travelling to Lower Saxony for the return leg a week later.

Arsenal have lost at the penultimate stage of the competition in each of the last two seasons but Yankey is hopeful they can go one step further this year.

“There’s always a desire to get to the finals of major championships,” she said. “The other teams are tough and it just shows how consistent we are getting to the semi-final stage but hopefully we can go one step further.”

In two of this season’s three knockout ties, the Ladies have won the first leg at Meadow Park before finishing the job off away from home and the England international is keen for that trend to continue.

“You want to make sure you win your home tie,” she explained. “We’ve always looked at Boreham Wood as being a bit of a fortress so we want to make sure we get a good result there and then who knows what can happen in the second leg.”

Despite losing manager Laura Harvey to Seattle Reign, the Ladies have started the new season well. The two victories against ASD Torres in the quarter-final were followed by an emphatic 7-0 win against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and Yankey says the team is playing with confidence under new manager Shelley Kerr.

“Everyone is really confident. We listen and learn to what the new manager wants to do and we take that on board. We’re really enjoying it and playing with confidence but I think we can get better and better as the season goes on.”

The match against Forest twice fell victim to the weather and has led to an early season fixture pile-up but Yankey believes they have a squad capable of coping with such demands.

“It’s going to be tough because we play Tuesday in the FA Cup and Sunday in the Champions League,” she said. “We need to be together and make sure we battle for each other. It’s going to take the whole squad to do it.”

The 33-year old was part of the Arsenal team that won the competition in 2007 but that final was played over two legs and she believes it is a different type of challenge to win it nowadays.

“This final’s slightly different because it’s a one off final, rather than the one we played in 2007. That final was over two legs so it was even more difficult.

“This year there is the added incentive of it being at Stamford Bridge, in London. It would be amazing to get there and we’ll try our best.”

Arsenal Ladies v Wolfsburg kicks off at Meadow Park at 2pm on Sunday, April 14, with tickets priced at £5 for adults, £2.50 for concessions and £1 children under 16.