Arsenal Women have sold out the Emirates Stadium for the very first time, with over 60,000 tickets sold for tomorrow’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi final against Wolfsburg.

The Gunners have enjoyed three crowds of over 40,000 at the Emirates this season, with the highest ever attendance for a WSL game enjoying Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Spurs back in September.

Arsenal set out their stall at the start of the campaign by scheduling every one of their Champions League games this season for the Emirates rather than Meadow Park. Home wins against Zurich and Juventus as well as a remarkable thrashing of European champions Lyon helped the Gunners top Group C, before goals from Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius helped Arsenal overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit to beat Bayern Munich in the quarter finals.

The second leg of that tie was watched by 21,307 at the Emirates, which at the time was the highest Women’s Champions League attendance in the UK, a record that was beaten by Chelsea’s slightly larger crowd in their semi final against Barcelona last weekend.

Tomorrow’s crowd will be the highest ever at an Arsenal Women home game, and what a difference it could make as the Gunners go head to head with Wolfsburg in their first European semi final in ten years. Arsenal’s marketing campaign for the game, among many excellent social media initiatives, has urged fans to “Be the home advantage” for an Arsenal side that came back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Germany.

The difference that not only a record breaking crowd, but a sold out Emirates Stadium will make to Arsenal’s hopes of progressing to the final in Eindhoven should be a significant one. The Gunners have become used to regularly selling out the 4,500 capacity Meadow Park, and there has been talk from the likes of Vinai Venkatesham of eventually moving all games to the Emirates, and Monday’s events will surely lend plenty of weight to those suggestions.

Venkatesham was in attendance for the first leg in Germany, and said “We would like to say thank you to our supporters, with over 60,000 tickets sold for Monday’s match. We also say thank you for your fantastic support throughout the season – at Emirates Stadium, at Meadow Park and at grounds across England and Europe. It promises to be an exciting night in north London and we’re delighted that Jonas and our women’s first team will have the backing of so many supporters on this big occasion in the club’s history.”

On the pitch, both teams could be boosted with some players returning from injury, notably Alex Popp for Wolfsburg and Caitlin Foord for Arsenal, who’s notable list of absences seems to have made the squad even more resilient and determined to win these games for their injured teammates who cannot play their part in landmark occasions like these.

A full preview for the second leg is to come on the Gooner Fanzine’s website, with the Gooner’s Arsenal Women writer Freddie Cardy set to cover the game at the Emirates with a live blog, player ratings and post match reaction. We simply cannot wait for this one!