It was a pre-season friendly some 3,650 miles in the making as Arsenal took on London rivals Chelsea at Audi Field in Washington on Sunday [Rebekah Wynkoop/SPP]

JONAS Eidevall has urged the Arsenal faithful to be “loud and proud” as the club prepare to kick off their European campaign on Wednesday.

The Gunners’ head coach will be hoping that the home fans make some noise at Meadow Park when the north Londoners go head-to-head against Rangers in the first round of qualification for the group stage of this season’s Women’s Champions League.

“The supporters are such an important part of the journey that we’re on,” Eidevall told the club’s official website.

“They really are the 12th player for us. They’re going to be super important in the Champions League as well. We need to be loud and proud.”

The winner of the one-off tie will return to Borehamwood a week on Saturday, September 7, to face either Spanish side Atletico Madrid or Rosenborg BK of Norway for a place in the second qualifying round.

While Arsenal would be favourites to win on Wednesday even without home advantage, Eidevall knows that his players can’t take their opponents too lightly.

Rangers have been in formidable form so far domestically, and sit proudly top of the Scottish Women’s Premier League having won four games out of four – scoring a staggering 33 goals in the process while conceding zero.

The Gunners, meanwhile, are still in the throes of pre-season, and will be looking to sharpen their skills further this Saturday when they travel to St Mary’s Stadium to tackle Women’s Championship side Southampton.

Arsenal will go into that match on a little bit of a downer after their US tour ended in a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea on Sunday at the Audi Field Stadium in Washington.

Sandy Baltimore’s well-taken winner early in the second half proved enough to separate the two teams as new Blues boss Sonia Bompastor gained an early psychological advantage over her Women’s Super League rivals.

Eidevall, though, pulled plenty of positives from Arsenal’s trip Stateside as he insisted his squad were “in a really strong place” ahead of the new season.

He said: “If you take into account where you’re travelling to, it puts challenges on the whole organisation, with the logistics and the operations. You come to new training pitches, you’re in new facilities, you play at different stadiums. You play in this heat that we’ve done two times now. I think there are a lot of positives for us on this US trip.

“We played two games here that have been really challenging for us. We’ve got some great answers in what’s working well and what we need to continue to improve on, and by taking on those learnings and putting them into practice, hopefully we can take another step against Southampton. I think we’re in a really strong place against Rangers.”