THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal take on West Ham United in the WSL on Saturday lunchtime at Emirates Stadium in the first of four consecutive London derbies. The Gunners opened this ‘block’ following the extended February and March international break with a comfortable and largely uneventful 2-0 win away at London City Lionesses.
Arsenal continue their London derby mini series at home to West Ham on Saturday before taking on Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a North London derby squeezed between those two legs. But first and foremost, Arsenal need to take care of business against the Irons who earned a creditable 0-0 draw at home to Manchester United on Wednesday evening.
Renee Slegers’ side are on a run of eight consecutive wins across three competitions and will want and expect to continue that against Rita Guarino’s side. United dropping points against the same opposition on Wednesday puts Arsenal in the box seat for Champions League qualification again next season, they are three points behind Marc Skinner’s side with two games in hand.
With a massive game against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals at the Emirates on Tuesday, Arsenal will need to be careful to keep their eye on this game first and foremost. With the Matildas qualified for the Asian Cup Final on Sunday morning UK time it’s also one more game they will have to do without their three Australians.
TEAM NEWS
Frida Maanum is likely to miss the game with illness, while Renee Slegers says that Leah Williamson has been managing a small hamstring issue and is unlikely to be risked. Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Kyra Cooney-Cross are all unavailable following Australia’s qualification for the Asian Cup Final against Japan in Sydney on Sunday morning UK time. Katie Reid, Manu Zinsberger and Michelle Agyemang are all out with ACL injuries.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 28.Borbe 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 11.McCabe 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little(c) 21.Pelova
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
We know what they can bring with really hard work with holder play, with runs behind the dribbles. We have to be really disciplined when we defend so that’s one part of the game. The other parts are the transitions, so both attacking and defending transitions and we also expect West Ham to come out disciplined.
They got reward for their hard work against United and they kept spaces really small. They defended as a unit altogether. So if they do that against us as well at the Emirates tomorrow, then we’ll have to be prepared to break them down and they won’t make it easy for us. It has different sides to the game tomorrow, but definitely managing Martinez and Asseyi up top.
The pitch is big, the pitch is going to be good. The ball will move quickly and there will be more noise and there will be a lot of red and white at the Emirates cheering us on, so they’ll have to deal with that energy in the stadium because that energy will go towards us and not the opposition so you have to be able to manage that. I think it’s the 1st time they play at the Emirates against us.
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met on match week two in Dagenham, Arsenal ran out 5-1 winners. They went behind very early on to a Daphne van Domselaar own goal but goals from Frida Maanum, Stina Blackstenius, Caitlin Foord and a brace from Alessia Russo sealed the victory for Arsenal.
THE OPPOSITION
West Ham parted company with manager Rehanne Skinner just before the start of the winter break. Skinner had cultivated a survival first brand of football that had clearly begun to wear a little on the club hierarchy (of course, there is a debate to be had there about survival football and club investment!)
Skinner was succeeded by Italian coach Rita Guarino, who has coached Juventus and Inter Milan. Under Guarino, they have achieved big wins against Leicester and Brighton, as well as a draw with Manchester United. Those results keep them three points clear of basement club Leicester City.
West Ham will be shorn of Riko Ueki, Katrina Gorry and Yu Endo due to the Asian Cup, which robs them of three important players but that didn’t stop them shutting out Manchester United on Wednesday. While Ueki is a very important player in their attack, Asseyi and Martinez are two of the best attackers in the bottom half of the WSL.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Prior to last Sunday at London City Lionesses, Arsenal had only once lined up in the WSL without Steph Catley as the left-sided centre-back in over 12 months. The ill-fated game away at Aston Villa immediately on the heels of the UWCL semi-final win in Lyon was the game in question which, I think we can all agree, doesn’t really count.
Lotte Wubben-Moy played at left centre-back against LCL, a position she is well accustomed to. One of the reasons Wubben-Moy has been such a trusted lieutenant for Arsenal is due to her ability to play on both sides of the defensive partnership. Even when she hasn’t always been first choice, the fact that Lotte can play left or right has extended her value to club and country.
While West Ham will likely collapse into a low block for much of this game, they managed to go 2-0 and 3-1 up in this fixture last season. While West Ham are relegation battlers, Martinez and Asseyi are not a pair of relegation level forwards. They give West Ham significant threat on the break and Wubben-Moy and Williamson will need to be cognisant of that.
PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 5.L.Codina 10.Little 11.McCabe 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 15.Smith 23.Russo 31.Holmberg
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
Arsenal’s game against West Ham takes place at Emirates Stadium on Saturday at 12noon, the game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK. Full global listings for the game are available here.
COMING UP
We will have the line-up posted around an hour before kickoff, then we will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report. Renee Slegers’ full post-match press conference quotes will appear on Arseblog News around an hour after full-time. Jamie and I will have a podcast ready for you on Sunday morning UK time given the Chelsea game is on Tuesday.
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