THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal are back on familiar territory as they face OH Leuven in Belgium in the first leg of their round of 16 Champions League tie. By coincidence, Arsenal’s most recent Champions League tie was against the same opposition at the same stadium on matchday six of the league phase.
Arsenal were 3-0 winners on that occasion and they would very much accept the same again against the Belgians. The path to the final has already been drawn and the winner of this tie will face Chelsea in the quarter-finals and Arsenal and Leuven will meet in the second leg at Meadow Park in a week’s time.
Slegers’ side have hit a nice run of form since being slightly unfortunate to lose their Subway Cup semi-final against Manchester United. Victories away at Chelsea and at home to Manchester City have put them in a good position when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League again next season- especially as they have now played Chelsea, City and United home and away in the league. While victory in the FIFA Champions Cup has secured silverware for a fourth consecutive season.
As defending European champions, Arsenal will be disappointed that they have ended up in the round of 16 at all- even a draw from 2-0 up in Munich in November would have granted them safe passage to the quarter-finals. But having beaten Leuven 3-0 already this season they will be strong favourites to qualify.
TEAM NEWS
Stina Blackstenius (calf) and Beth Mead (foot) are out for Arsenal, while Anneke Borbe is still recovering from the blow to the head she received against Corinthians. Taylor Hinds is out with a foot injury. Manu Zinsberger, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang are all out with ACL injuries. Vivienne Lia has joined Hammarby on loan. Smilla Holmberg, Bora Votikova and Naomi Williams have all been added to Arsenal’s Champions League squad.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams 53.Liddiard
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 31.Holmberg 44.Harwood
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 15.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
I think what they did against us in the game here before the New Year they showed different approaches. I think it was a different first half, the seconnd half, I think they gave us some time on the ball in the first half and in the second half they were more aggressive.
This is a different scenario where there’s two legs to play 180 minutes. They’re the first team to be at home and we play the second leg at home. So I’ll have to guess their approach to the game. I think what will be important for them is to to defend really well against us.
But that will be just as important for us as well, because I’m sure they will try and create things with with fast attacks, with counter attacks and we will want to stop that and we respect who they are, they are leading the table in Belgium and they have had a good performance in the Champions League. So even though we came away with a 3 nil win here last time, we’re very humble for the challenge tomorrow.
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in December in Leuven, Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Olivia Smith, Beth Mead and an own goal.
https://youtu.be/nNI1T0I4PYQ?si=\_s1\_sFzEU\_4RJi1L
THE OPPOSITION
In the league phase, the Belgians have drew away at FC Paris, won at home to Twente, lost 3-0 away at Barcelona, drew at home to Roma and drew away at Paris Saint Germain. Only Barca and Arsenal defeated them and they took four points at home overall.
Leuven have the same owners as Leicester City and have built a young squad- 31-year-old midfielder Julie Biesmans is the only outfield player over 24 years old. Leuven currently have a five point lead over Anderlecht at the top of their domestic league. This is Leuven’s first ever UWCL campaign and qualifying from the league phase represents a huge achievement for coach Arno van den Abeel’s side.
They tend to adopt a player for player pressing system and defend narrowly when they collapse into a low block, much as we saw in the first game. It was Arsenal’s wide threats who were heavily responsible for breaking them open in December with Smith and Mead scoring and Foord forcing an own goal.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Olivia Smith broke the game open in Belgium in December with an outstanding solo effort. Smith has also scored against Manchester City and Corinthians this month- her reaction to missing the game at Stamford Bridge due to a red card against Manchester United has been exemplary and she is starting to build consistency now.
The Canadian played as a centre-forward in the victory over City, a tactic that Renee Slegers admits was tailored towards City’s high defensive line. I do not expect to see her start this game there but given how Arsenal relied so heavily on their wide players for goals against Leuven in December, Smith will again play an important role.
Her ability to produce spectacular moments is beyond question and her all round game still needs some refinement, as you would expect from a young player. But in an Arsenal team that can sometimes struggle for that ‘something from nothing’ moment, Smith has quickly become a key player. I would bet on her having some kind of goal contribution in this game.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 13.Votikova 18.Kelly 21.Pelova 31.Holmberg 32.Cooney-Cross 40.Williams 44.Harwood
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off at 5.45pm at the OH Leuven Stadium on Wednesday, it will be screened live on Disney + in the UK. Details on where to watch across the world are available here.
COMING UP
We will have all the usual coverage from on the ground in Leuven, with the line-up posted an hour before kickoff, Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report, every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference and we ought to be able to speak to a player post-match too.
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