THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to Crawley to play away at Brighton in the WSL on Wednesday evening. The Gunners are 11 points behind leaders Manchester City but with three games in hand. Beat Brighton and Aston Villa away and Everton at home and Arsenal will take the WSL title to the final day where they play Liverpool at Anfield.
All that feels a long way away. If Arsenal can win on Wednesday they confirm a top three finish and, at least, entry into the Champions League qualifiers. Second place offers a direct route into the group stage and Slegers’ side are five points behind Chelsea but with three games in hand. Second place probably feels like the most realistic target for the remainder of the season.
But beating Brighton is a difficult proposition. Dario Vidosic’s team defeated Arsenal in the FA Cup a month ago and won this fixture last season. They were 3-2 victors over Manchester City last weekend and were seconds away from winning away at Manchester United on Saturday. They are a tough team to play and they are in good form.
Arsenal are licking their wounds from their Champions League semi-final exit in Lyon at the weekend. After that game, Slegers suggested the players would need at least 24 hours to process that disappointment, before, in her words, ‘making ourselves ready for Brighton. We will be ready.’ They will need to be too.
TEAM NEWS
Beth Mead returns to the squad for this game after missing the last three games for personal reasons. Steph Catley (calf) is still out. Kyra Cooney-Cross is on compassionate leave, while Manu Zinsberger, Katie Reid 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 6.Williamson 11.McCabe 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg 44.Harwood
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 60.Dixon
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘I think Brighton are a very good team. I think they’re very brave and convinced in the way they play, both in and out of possession. But I think what they also have is they have a versatility and they can do things in different ways, adjusting to opposition and circumstances, which I’m really impressed with. So they’ve been doing really, really well and they’re a hard team to play against.
‘We have to look at what we have, what structure we create, what qualities that we possess, to be able to defend it and look at the opposition qualities to be aware of. For both goals we concede is from a throw-in and from a corner at Boreham Wood (in the recent FA Cup defeat) and we’ve seen what they’ve been doing. They have some really, really tall players and threats and strong headers of the ball. So it’s going to be a key area in the game tomorrow.
‘We work with the players that we have here now. I also think we pride ourselves on playing on the ground. We like to have the ball at our feet, but I also think we’ve developed the other sides of the game, where the ball can be in the air at times and it can go more direct, but we are constantly working on it. And the coaches on the training pitch are. That’s often at the end of sessions that there’s some technical heading and we do set pieces on the pitch. So we’re looking at ways to constantly develop plays in all areas, heading is one of them. But then also, of course, looking at the balance in the squad for the future.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in the FA Cup in early April, Brighton ran out 2-0 winners at Meadow Park thanks to goals from Haley and Hayes. In the reverse WSL fixture, the Gunners were 1-0 winners at Emirates Stadium after a first half own goal from Olislagers.
THE OPPOSITION
Brighton come into this game in excellent form having beaten Manchester City and Arsenal recently and coming within seconds of winning away at Manchester United on Saturday too. While Arsenal had a draining UWCL tie at Lyon at the weekend, Brighton, at least, had a tough game at United in a game they led for the vast majority before being pipped at the end.
Brighton also have the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final away to Liverpool on Sunday, which gives them the opportunity to make their first major final. They are 6th in the WSL and cannot catch Spurs in 5th so, in reality, they don’t have a great deal to play for. But then they have been in this area of the table all season and it hasn’t prevented them from bloodying plenty of noses.
In Fran Kirby, they also possess one of the form players in the WSL. Nowadays Kirby has become much more of a creative player, as attackers of that calibre often do in their dotage. Brighton also carry significant setpiece threat- an achilles heel for Arsenal– Manuela Vanegas and Caitlin Hayes are among the most prominent winners of aerial duels in the division.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Smilla Holmberg feels like the player of the moment at Arsenal, after scoring a brace against Leicester during the last midweek, the Swede came off the bench in Lyon and instantly made an impact with an outstanding cross to Alessia Russo to level the tie. Holmberg already has five assists in an Arsenal shirt since arriving in January and her ability to beat a left-back and deliver into the area already look elite.
One way or another, it feels like she has to start this game whether as an out and out winger or as a full-back with Emily Fox rested. Given the lack of rotation options on the wing at the moment, I wouldn’t mind betting that we see her start on the right. I felt it was a mistake to push her back to right-back in Lyon shortly after her assist for Russo.
Holmberg also has a rare distinction of freshness in an Arsenal squad in the midst of a punishing schedule. Her season only started in January having moved from Sweden and she has not played an unsustainable number of minutes in that time. She has been an excellent addition to the squad, at 19 it is exciting to consider how much better she could yet get.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 2.Fox 5.L.Codina 8.Mariona 9.Mead 13.Votikova 18.Kelly 24.Hinds 25.Blackstenius 28.Borbe
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off at 7.45pm on Wednesday at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. Full global listings are available here.
COMING UP
We will post the line-up around an hour before kick-off, then we will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report and I will post up every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference around an hour after full-time.
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