THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal take on Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime trailing the WSL leaders by five points. A win puts Arsenal back into the title race picture, a draw makes things difficult but not quite impossible, a defeat means any semblance of a title challenge is over six months out from the season end. It is a huge game.
The Gunners stumbled through the late summer by going four games without a win, three of those were in the WSL and explain the gap to Sonia Bompastor’s side. But slowly Arsenal have recovered from that blip, an up and down 1-0 win over Brighton, followed by an austere 2-0 win over Benfica. Last weekend a comfortable 4-1 victory at Leicester showed signs of life when it came to creativity.
Chelsea are going to be a very different challenge, however. They have not lost in the WSL since visiting the Emirates in December 2023 when they were soundly beaten 4-1. A similar margin of victory this time for Arsenal would do much to raise spirits and re-ignite the season. In truth, a horrendous one goal victory would do just as nicely.
Chelsea have been far from optimum with their own performances this season but they do just keep finding ways to win. Playing against Leicester’s back three will have been good preparation for facing the same system against Chelsea on Saturday but the quality of players pales in comparison from Leicester to Chelsea. It will be a near sellout at the Emirates on Saturday and the team will need to draw on the energy of the crowd.
TEAM NEWS
Leah Williamson (knee) and Manu Zinsberger (ACL) are out. Lotte Wubben-Moy and Kyra Cooney-Cross return from illness, Olivia Smith and Frida Maanum return from injury, Kim Little is out after hobbling out of the Leicester victory.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 14.van Domselaar 28.Borbe 53.Liddiard
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 24.Hinds 44.Harwood
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
Block one was fairly intense. It was very demanding, it was all the way from preseason and then so we spent several months together and so and the competition is high. So there was a lot of things but I think the way we’ve gone back after the break has been so positive and you see that there’s good energy in the squad, in the building around everything.
They’re putting in an enormous amount of work on the pitch, off the pitch, we ask a lot from them in all aspects and they’re delivering and I think that’s why I’m so happy with the good convincing performance against Leicester because I think the work that they’ve been doing was rewarded on the pitch.
This is a great opportunity that we have ahead of us tomorrow. We look forward to it. This is why the players work so hard and what they live for, to play these kinds of games, where there’s so much at stake, but also a beautiful moment in a fantastic stadium playing for a beautiful club and having so many fans in the stadium. It’s going to be a beautiful moment and we are here to perform and we go for the win always and that’s no different tomorrow.
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at the Emirates last season, Chelsea emerged 2-1 victors thanks to early goals from Ramirez and Baltimore. Caitlin Foord got one back but Arsenal could not draw level. In the away fixture in January, Chelsea were 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge thanks to a late Guro Reiten penalty.
THE OPPOSITION
With Arsenal in disarray early last season and Manchester City beset with injuries, both Chelsea’s title challengers last season switched managers well before the end of the campaign. Chelsea enjoyed an unbeaten season while City and Arsenal did little to threaten their procession to the title. There was hope that the Gunners, fresh from winning the Champions League for the second time, could make this season more of a contest.
That hasn’t been the case so far and while Chelsea have been far from impressive in the majority of their games, they have eked results out as they tend to do. They moved to a back three formation at the end of last season and with the summer signing of Ellie Carpenter, in the Australian and left wing-back Sandy Baltimore, Chelsea have a lot of threat out wide.
Baltimore in particular caused Arsenal a lot of problems in this fixture last season. However, Chelsea’s three centre-backs can lack pace and if Arsenal can get in behind the Blues’ wing-backs, they could expose the defending champions in that area. But what is truly impressive about Chelsea is the wide variety of goal scorers they possess- even the 18-month absence of Sam Kerr barely touched the sides.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Beth Mead perhaps doesn’t have the total and utter prominence she enjoyed for club and country prior to her ACL injury, when the England and Arsenal teams were largely built around her talents. However, her end-product and her ability to create danger in the penalty area has never really left her.
Recently, we have seen Mead get into more of a groove. Injuries to Jess Park, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp meant she had to play the majority of England’s friendlies against Brazil and Australia recently and was excellent in both games. With Olivia Smith nursing an injury, she was moved back to the right wing against Leicester, having already opened the scoring against Benfica in Lisbon.
Mead looks more comfortable on the right, in my view, and she is certainly comfortable playing in front of a big crowd at Emirates Stadium, where she remains the club’s top scorer. Mead is a very reliable end-product player and her performance against Leicester was excellent too. This could be a game decided by small margins and the small margins in the final third are where Mead tends to dance. If Arsenal win this game I will bet my bottom dollar Beth Mead has a lot to do with it.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 12.L.Maanum 15.Smith 18.Kelly 21.Pelova 22.Nighswonger 24.Hinds 28.Borbe
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Emirates Stadium on Saturday at 12noon and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK. Details of where to watch it throughout the world are available here.
COMING UP
We will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report on the site at full-time, as well as every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference around an hour after full-time. Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday and don’t forget to sign up to our free weekly Arsenal Women Newsletter here.