Jordan Nobbs says Arsenal Ladies must replicate their performance level from last month’s Wembley success to get their league campaign back on track.

The Gunners return to Women’s Super League action following the mid-season break when they face Sunderland Ladies on Saturday at Meadow Park, Borehamwood (kick-off 2pm).

It will be the first competitive outing for Pedro Martinez Losa’s side since they overcame holders Chelsea at Wembley to lift the Women’s FA Cup six weeks ago.

Midfielder Nobbs, currently recovering from a hamstring injury, feels that display should be the benchmark if Arsenal – who lie fifth in the table – are to make up ground on front-runners Manchester City Women.

“The perfect scenario would have been to have another game straight after the final, but sometimes winning a trophy like that and getting time to refresh is not a bad thing,” said Nobbs.

“We truly deserved that win against Chelsea and hopefully the performance is one we can produce more of, pressing as a team and passing the ball well.

“In the past few league games we’ve probably not reached that sort of standard – we’ve dropped points that we shouldn’t have done and we need to learn from that.

“At a club like Arsenal you want to be winning every trophy possible and, even though people might be saying we’re out of the league already, we just need to think about our next game and go from there.”

The Gunners have already met Sunderland this season, winning 7-0 in their FA Cup semi-final clash despite the sending-off of Emma Mitchell – although five of those goals came during a frenetic last 15 minutes.

And Nobbs, who began her career with the north-east club before joining Arsenal in 2010, does not anticipate anything approaching a repeat of that scoreline in this weekend’s rematch.

“That was a bit of a crazy game for us – we went down to 10 and then we scored five goals late on, but we can’t do that every time. We need to be putting in a strong performance from the first minute and getting in their faces,” added the 23-year-old.

“I believe in the talent we’ve got here. Seeing the way everyone’s been in training, as long as we start well against Sunderland I’m confident we’ll go on to win the game.

“Sunderland need to get points on the board as well and, while they’re having some ups and downs at the moment, they’ve still got a strong side that can put pressure on us.

“I played for them from the age of seven and I’m grateful for the way the club helped to develop me as a player and a person – that’s something I’ll never take for granted.”

The Gunners midfielder’s recent injury denied her the chance to play for England in the victory over Serbia that sealed their place in the 2017 European Championship finals.

Team-mates Casey Stoney, Fara Williams and Alex Scott all featured in the England side and Nobbs is hopeful of joining them at next year’s tournament, to be held in the Netherlands.

“I was disappointed to miss out on the England stuff,” she added. “But I’m very proud of the girls and what [coach] Mark Sampson and the squad have done. We really deserve to be in the finals.

“It’s an exciting time. We’ve shown what we can do on the world stage by finishing third in the World Cup, now we want to be winning in Europe and I believe our time is very close right now.”