The last three games between Arsenal and Manchester City have been high scoring affairs. Last season, a 2-2 draw at the Emirates was followed by a 4-3 Arsenal win in Manchester. When the teams met earlier this season at the Joie Stadium, City were 3-2 victors.
Gunners boss Renee Slegers thinks that there will be spaces for both teams again when they meet at Emirates Stadium on Sunday in the WSL. ‘It’s different, yes. And spaces will be more open. That means that there’s space for both teams, but I think both teams also be very aware to wanting to close down certain spaces for position because there’s so much quality on the pitch at both ends.
‘I look forward to this, to this game. I always do every single game. We face a lot of low blocks that we have to break down. I can imagine that City will come down in low blocks at times as well, just like us. But there will be more moments of other phases in the gamenwhich we have to manage well where we have qualities and they have qualities as well. So I look forward to it.’
Arsenal will come face-to-face with club legend Vivianne Miedema, who was also an international teammate of Slegers. ‘When I played with her, she was a false 9 and I was the 10. She would always play in the nine. I actually played behind her, she’s such an intelligent player.
‘The way she sees spaces. It was a pleasure for me to play with her. I learned a lot from her, even though she was younger than me when we played together in the national team. I think that says something about Viv.
‘I think she she does really well in the 10 role. I think she picks up spaces really well. She has so much quality on the ball and to be able to set other players up. So I think she’s performing really well for City.’ City are the runaway leaders of the WSL and have scored 41 goals this season, 10 more than second highest scorers Manchester United.
Setpieces have been a key part of how City have increased their goal threat. Arseblog News asks Slegers whether Arsenal do extra preparation for teams with such a strong setpiece threat and whether it factors into the team selection to have players who are specifically strong in the air.
‘Those things always factor in how we make decisions. We would always train set pieces ahead of every game. I think this is a big area that’s grown in the game as well. But different teams have different strengths. I think there’s a lot of teams in the WSL with set piece power.
‘So we always have to prepare accordingly and the same as for City. They’ve scored the most corner goals in the league. So far they had their targets and so we’ll have to manage that really well and ideally not conceding to many corners, of course.’