THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to Anfield to play Liverpool for the final WSL game of the season on Saturday lunchtime. A point will guarantee the Gunners second place and automatic qualification for the group phase of the Champions League. A point would only not be enough in the event that Chelsea defeat Manchester United at home by 14 clear goals.
A win will certainly guarantee Arsenal second place and Renee Slegers’ side will want to end the season on a high note. Since the April international break, it has been a tough block for Arsenal, with quick turnarounds. Saturday evening in Lyon followed by Brighton away on Wednesday evening, followed by Aston Villa away on Saturday lunchtime followed by Everton at home on Wednesday.
Now a trip to Merseyside on Saturday lunchtime to close out the season. At least Renee Slegers ought to have a fuller squad to choose from now, with Leah Williamson, Chloe Kelly, Caitlin Foord, Stina Blackstenius and Smilla Holmberg all coming off the bench and Taylor Hinds and Kim Little unused. Three of Arsenal’s subs combined for the stoppage time winner against Everton on Wednesday.
This is the first time that Arsenal have played at Anfield since the FA Cup semi-final in 2013- Kim Little scored the winner that day. Liverpool endured another FA Cup semi-final heartbreak last weekend, squandering a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton. It remains to be seen whether that disappointment galvanises them for one last push in the WSL or whether they come into this game deflated.
TEAM NEWS
Steph Catley returns to the squad after more than a month out with a calf injury. Manu Zinsberger, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang are out with ACL injuries, Kyra Cooney-Cross is on compassionate leave. Laia Codina, Beth Mead, Katie McCabe, Bara Votikova, Victoria Pelova and Naomi Williams are in contention for the squad for the final time before departing the club this summer.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 28.Borbe 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 33.Gale
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘Liverpool are a very good team. I think they have individual qualities and a very clear structure and they’re gonna play at Anfield. I think if you look at the way they play and their high pressure and their aggression. I think they’re gonna want to show everything to their own home fans at Anfield so I’m expecting a high intensity opposition, high intensity game.
‘I think their record lately, even though they had the loss against Brighton in the FA cup, but in the league, if you look at the latest performances in the second half of season, they’re a very, very good team. I think from a football perspective, we’ve become more dynamic. We can do different things. We comfortable with different things. We’ve developed our the defensive side of our game so there’s been some steps taken.
‘I think big steps that we’ve been making together with the players. I think again, the culture and the player ownership side of things we we’ve made some steps you want to develop that further as well. And so that there’s there’s a lot of we are very close, but we we’ve only won the Champions Cup this year, we want more and we want to deliver more to the club so we have to look at the margins that are gonna help us win the trophies next year.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in the reverse fixture back in December, Olivia Smith gave Arsenal a first half lead before Bea Olsson equalised. Stina Blackstenius scored a late winner.
THE OPPOSITION
Liverpool are 11th in the WSL, they have managed to finish well clear of the bottom spot and the relegation playoff with Charlton, who finished 3rd in WSL2. Liverpool endured a very tough start to the season and, at the halfway point, they were very much embroiled in a scrap to avoid last place. In the last game before the winter break, they lost 9-1 at home to Chelsea in the Subway Cup.
I thought at that point that Gareth Taylor, appointed last summer after leaving Manchester City, might lose his job. However, Liverpool had left him very underarmed for the season and went some way to rectifying that in January, adding Denise O’Sullivan, Alice Bergstrom, goalkeeper Jennifer Falk, Anna Josendal and Martha Thomas, all of whom arrived in the first half of the window.
That business, together with a squad getting to grips with Gareth Taylor’s style, means Liverpool have been far more impressive in the second half of the season. Had they come into the season with an adequate squad, they would likely be a little higher than 11th. That said, they experienced a big disappointment last weekend, throwing away a 2-0 lead at home to Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final to lose 3-2.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Katie McCabe. Where to start. I tried to put her Arsenal legacy into words this week but sometimes words lack punch- something McCabe certainly hasn’t lacked in her Arsenal career. Katie will pull on the Arsenal shirt for the final time on Saturday and a McCabe-less Arsenal is really difficult to visualise. Not only because she has been at the club for 11 years but because she has been available pretty much the entire time.
For a player that committed, willing to put her body on the line game in and game out for over a decade, it is remarkable that she hasn’t been injured. Katie McCabe doesn’t get injuries, injuries get Katie McCabe, as we discovered in April 2023 when she smashed home a late winner against Manchester City with a lot of padding on her foot and a hole in her boot after leaving the stadium on crutches four days earlier.
McCabe is the sort of player opposing fans hate and boo and that seems to fuel her, if anything. Because when a player like Katie plays for your club, you recognise the blood, the sweat, the tears and, frankly, the quality of this excellent footballer who has played at right-back, centre-back, left-back, central midfield, on both wings and (on one occasion against West Ham in the Conti Cup in Augist 2018) upfront. It really is the end of an era.
MY PREDICTED LINE-UP
Subs: 2.Fox 6.Williamson 7.Catley 14.van Domselaar 15.Smith 18.Kelly 21.Pelova 24.Hinds 25.Blackstenius
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at Anfield at 1pm on Saturday and will be screened live on Sky Sports in the UK. Full global listings are available here.
COMING UP
We will have the line-up posted on the site about an hour before kickoff, then we will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report. I will post every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference online probably around 90 minutes after the final whistle (I will have to write it up on the train!) We are hoping to get a word with a player post-match too. Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday.
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