THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal begin their FA Cup campaign with a home tie against fellow WSL side Aston Villa at Meadow Park on Sunday. The Gunners have not won the competition- which they have won a record 14 times in total- in 10 years and have not reached the final in four. They will want to rectify this record but before they can think about that, they have to deal with Aston Villa.
Villa held the Gunners to a draw at Emirates Stadium in the WSL earlier this season with Villa snatching a stoppage time equaliser after their press suffocated Arsenal in the second half. Arsenal average 174 touches in their own defensive third this season, against Villa that number skyrocketed to 221 at the Emirates.
Better dealing with Villa’s pressure in the final third will be a key touchpoint in getting a better result in this game than the WSL fixture between the sides. In truth, Arsenal probably could have done with a kinder draw in a month that pits them against Chelsea, Manchester United twice, Manchester City and the FIFA Champions Cup.
However, a home draw against a team that Arsenal will be favourites against must be seen as a good opportunity to progress to the 5th Round. Villa were beaten 6-1 by Manchester City just before Christmas after all. The visitors are not in danger of relegation, are out of the Subway Cup and are not in contention for the Champions League spots, they will be very keen to progress in this competition.
TEAM NEWS
Leah Williamson is out for this game with a calf strain and will be out for a few weeks. Daphne van Domselaar is in line to return from a quad injury but Chloe Kelly is still unavailable due to a knee problem. Katie Reid, Manu Zinsberger and Michelle Agyemang are all out with ACL injuries. Jenna Nighswonger has joined Aston Villa on loan, she will not be able to play for the visitors on Sunday.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 14.van Domselaar 28.Borbe 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 7.Catley 11.McCabe 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg 44.Harwood
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little(c) 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘Well you always go and review your games. We do it as coaches, the players do it individually, and we do it together, players and coaches. I think there was a lot of learning after that game (against Villa in October), and how to beat that type of pressure, and what tools we need, and how we can set things up to be able to do that.
‘So that’s definitely an important part of the game on Sunday, because Villa are very disciplined, aggressive in their pressure and it’s a big part of their DNA to do things that way, so it will be a big part of our game plan on Sunday. Playing for Arsenal, you always go in any competition you’re active in. I think we need to respect every competition we’re active in. So we look forward to it. It’s a prestigious cup in England.
‘We really look forward to the FA Cup game on Sunday. It has a big history, and we know what it means to the club, and it’s been ten years since the last win in the FA Cup. So it’s going to be a very, very important one for me personally. I feel very driven for this game, and for the players as well, the club as well. But all five competitions at the moment, and we all want to compete in all five competitions.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at Emirates Stadium in October, Frida Maanum gave the Gunners an early lead before Lucy Parker’s stoppage time equaliser held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in the WSL.
THE OPPOSITION
Aston Villa have been under the charge of Natalia Arroyo for 12 months now and her play style is firmly embedded. Villa are a team who like to press high, they usually play with a back three and use one of their three centre-halves to aggressively track the opposition striker.
They are a very explosive team on the counter attack, playing with their wide players like Chastity Grant and Kirsty Hanson very high, almost as split strikers at times. It makes Villa a difficult team to defend against because they don’t have a single isolated attacking threat for defences to identify and mark, often using deep runners when they counter attack.
Villa have also been busy in the January market to this point, bringing in Jenna Nighswonger from Arsenal and Orian Jean-Francoise from Chelsea, with Sarah Mayling and Katie Robinson leaving the club. Nighswonger won’t be available for Villa on Sunday but there will be plenty of familiar faces for Arsenal with Noelle Maritz and Sabrina D’Angelo likely to play.
PLAYER TO WATCH
With Leah Williamson unavailable, Lotte Wubben-Moy will come back into the defence on Sunday. Against Villa in October, the Gunners struggled with the opponent’s high press. Katie Reid was preferred to Wubben-Moy in that game but with Lotte’s range of passing, Arsenal ought to have more options to play directly away from Villa’s pressure if they need to.
How Wubben-Moy takes on the responsibility of being Arsenal’s main progressor will be key in this game. It also can be tricky defending against Aston Villa since they do not really play with a fixed striker but instead, they operate with two aggressive wingers who like to make runs centrally at different times.
It requires a lot of concentration to defend their counterattacking threat and Wubben-Moy will have to be on her game to be alive to Villa’s diversity of threat. Losing Williamson is undoubtedly a blow but not many clubs have the quality in reserve to start a player like Wubben-Moy in her absence.
PREDICTED LINE UPS
Subs: 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 11.McCabe 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova 28.Borbe 31.Holmberg 40.Williams 44.Harwood
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off at 2pm on Sunday at Meadow Park, it will be broadcast live by TNT Sports and Channel 4 in the UK. It will not be broadcast outside of the UK.
COMING UP
We will have line up news one hour before kickoff, Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report, as well as every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference online around one hour after full-time. Jamie and I will have a podcast on the game ready for you on Monday morning.
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