THE LOWDOWN
After a three week international break, Arsenal are back in WSL action for the first time since 8th February as they travel to Bromley to take on London City Lionesses on Sunday lunchtime. With the 15th February fixture away at Brighton postponed, Renee Slegers’ team will look to build on their 1-0 win over Manchester City at Emirates Stadium six weeks ago.
The extended international break at least means most players will have a one week run-up at this game with another six days before they take on West Ham at the Emirates. With the games against Brighton and Leicester postponed, Arsenal are behind their competitors in terms of games played but, if they win all their remaining matches, they will finish 2nd at least.
The Gunners do not play any of Manchester City, Manchester United or Chelsea in the WSL for the remainder of the season but the WSL is becoming ever more competitive and few exemplify that better than Sunday’s opponents LCL, who boast globally revered talent like Grace Geyoro, Kosavore Asllani, Delphine Cascarino, Danielle van de Donk and Saki Kumagai.
Yet their highest performing signing from last summer might well be Arsenal academy product Freya Godfrey who has forced her way into the England squad with her performances from the right-wing. With a Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea later in the month and three players away at the Asian Cup, this opens a critical period for Arsenal’s season.
TEAM NEWS
Arsenal will be without Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Caitlin Foord who are representing Australia at the Asian Cup. Beth Mead returns to the squad after a shin injury, while Manu Zinsberger, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang are all out for the season with ACL injuries. Olivia Smith returns after missing the SheBelieves Cup with Canada due to concussion.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 28.Borbe 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 11.McCabe 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little(c) 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 18.Kelly 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
At the moment, they’re very stable in the table. You see that’s hard if you come up from the WSL 2 to stabilise and do the right things to be able to do that; I think they’ve done that. Of course, they recruited a lot of experienced players. That’s been their strategy, as it looks like from the outside, to build something stable in the first season in the WSL. I think they’ve done that well. They have quality players and, like I said, a stable position in the table.
I think they’ve changed since the change in management. If you look at the game we played against them at the Emirates first game of the season, we don’t expect the game to be playing out like that on Sunday because they’ve changed tactically. But they might do. But a little bit more positional and maybe zonal in their defence rather than going player for player. That will be different.
Then, of course, if you look at the players that are playing for them and how they play them to their strengths, you see that they’ve been really good with fast attacks and doing things on the dribble and counter-attacks. They’ve had tight results against top teams. That’s the way they’ve played those types of games. I think set-pieces is an area for the game as well.
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at Emirates Stadium on the opening day of the season, Arsenal ran out 4-1 winners. LCL took the lead through a Kosavore Asllani penalty before goals from Olivia Smith, Chloe Kelly, Stina Blackstenius and Frida Maanum sealed the points for the Gunners.
THE OPPOSITION
London City Lionesses’ name has been regularly juxtaposed with the term ‘disruptors’ this season. Promoted from WSL2 last season, under the ownership of billionaire Michelle Kang, LCL have made a splash in the transfer market with the procurement of global superstars like Grace Geyoro, Kosavore Asllani, Delphine Cascarino, Danielle van de Donk and Saki Kumagai.
They tried to add Beth Mead last summer too and very nearly managed it. LCL are comfortably midtable in the WSL which is significantly better than promoted teams usually manage in their inaugural season but everyone knows they have their sights set a lot higher in the coming years.
They made a surprise managerial change mid-season with French coach Jocelyn Precheur replaced at the beginning of the winter break by Spanish coach Eder Maestre which, again, hints at their high ambitions. Freya Godfrey, signed from Arsenal last summer, has probably been their star performer this season from the right wing.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Chloe Kelly has endured a stop start season in 2025-26 due to a knee injury. Her only WSL start this season was in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season, which emphasises the issues she has had with her knee. Kelly has probably been a victim of her summer exertions with England in a similar way to Leah Williamson, who has also missed large chunks of the season with injury.
But with Caitlin Foord away at the Asian Cup and Beth Mead unlikely to start after injury, Kelly will become even more important than she already has been during her second spell with the club. Much like Olivia Smith, the only other fit recognised winger, she can play on the right and the left and I would expect to see Smith and Kelly swapping sides frequently in the coming weeks.
It will be interesting to see who starts on the left and who starts on the right between the two but wherever Kelly and Smith start, I wouldn’t expect to see either glued to one side. On the right, I think Victoria Pelova and Smilla Holmberg will undergo some shifts on the right wing but I imagine that Renee Slegers would prefer for that to happen from the bench in a relatively safe game state.
I wrote in more detail about Chloe Kelly for this week’s Arsenal Women Newsletter.
PREDICTED LINE UPS
Subs: 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 13.Votikova 21.Pelova 24.Hinds 25.Blackstenius 28.Borbe 31.Holmberg 44.Harwood
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Bromley’s Copperjax Community Stadium at 11.55am on Sunday and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. Full global listings are available here.
COMING UP
We will have the lineup posted on the site around an hour before kickoff, we will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report, every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference will be posted on the site around an hour after full-time. Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday.
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