Arsenal v HB Koge Preview
THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play at home to HB Koge in match day one of the Champions League group phase at 8pm on Tuesday evening at Meadow Park. Renee Slegers’ side have endured a sluggish start to the WSL season with a narrow win at Brighton followed up by disappointing draws at home to Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
They will hope that a different competition can yield a different result and performance and give the team some confidence heading into back-to-back WSL away games at Chelsea and Manchester City. The Gunners also got the hardest possible draw from Pot 1 in this group, with a home game against Lyon and an away game against Barcelona to come.
Banking a gettable three points at home to Danish side Koge is a must for their Champions League campaign and a must in terms of providing a launchpad for the season more widely. Because Koge are likely to come to Meadow Park and erect a barrier in front of their goal and the Gunners need to show far better aptitude against low defensive blocks.
It remains to be seen whether Slegers will make changes with Sunday’s trip to Chelsea in mind though, that said, we have seen three different midfields and three different forward lines in the first three games of the season, so there isn’t really a strong sense of what the strongest possible team looks like. But all told, this is a winnable game and anything less than a satisfying win will lead to more questions.
TEAM NEWS
Elisa de Almeida is still out and our current understanding is that she is not likely to return until after the October international break. Lotte Wubben-Moy will also be assessed ahead of the game. Daphne van Domselaar (knee), Michelle Agyemang and Katie Reid (both ACL) are out. The UWCL permits 12 substitutes so Renee Slegers won’t be in a position of omitting senior players from the match day squad.
Available squad
GOALKEEPERS: 16.Misa 28.Borbe 40.Damm
DEFENDERS: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 6.Williamson 7.Catley 22.O.Batlle 24.Hinds 31.Holmberg
MIDFIELDERS: 4.Stanway 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 14.Reuteler 32.Cooney-Cross
FORWARDS: 9.Foord 11.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Baum 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 29.Cerci
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘I wasn’t aware exactly of their ownership structure. I played against Koge when I was at Rosengard because it is just over the bridge, so we played against each other a lot in training games so I have a picture of the club. I know they have had some investment, it only becomes an issue when an owner is involved in two clubs and they play the same competition. But the investment is there and pushing the game forwards and that is really positive.
‘They are top of the league in Denmark, they are a good team and they have really good counter attacking threats with their two players up top. They will try to close down spaces, whether it is a back four or a back five we will see, but we are expecting to see fast attacks and counter attacks but we are also expecting to face a low block tomorrow.’
LAST TIME OUT
The teams met in the 2021-22 Champions League group stage. When the Danes came to Boreham Wood in November 2021, Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Caitlin Foord, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Vivianne Miedema.
THE OPPOSITION
Based just outside of Copenhagen, Koge’s story is a very interesting one. Founded in 2009, their fortunes changed markedly in 2020 when they entered into a partnership with US sportswear company Capelli Sport and the American Football Academy Slammers FC.
With the investment from Capelli, Koge quickly shot to the top of Danish women’s football, winning the A-Liga in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23. They had two seasons in third place before reclaiming the title again last season to qualify for the Champions League once again.
In 2025, Capelli sold their stake in the club to investment company Ballard Capital, who are owned by Angie and Chris Long, who own NWSL club Kansas City Current. They are now a fully separated business from the men’s side. Given their US investment, they have a number of American players in their squad (Arsenal bought American goalkeeper Kaylene Marckese from the club in 2022).
PLAYER TO WATCH
Geraldine Reuteler has yet to make her Arsenal debut. For the first two WSL games against Brighton and Crystal Palace, she did not make the subs bench. For the United game, she at least made the bench ahead of Frida Maanum but did not get on the pitch. You have to think this is a game where she will finally get her chance, either from the start or from the bench at least.
Reuteler will have looked on at those first three games frustrated that she hasn’t been able to help a team who have struggled to break opponents down. One of her specialties is fast transitions and that is not exactly an area where Arsenal excel. Of course, we’ve no idea whether Reuteler would have helped turn either of the last two games.
But I am pretty sure that we are going to see her in some form in this game and the Swiss will have a lot to prove and will want to start pushing herself up the ladder in terms of the squad hierarchy. Selina Cerci finally made her bow against Manchester United and I suspect we will see her in this game from the start.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 4.Stanway 8.Mariona 10.Little 11.Smith 16.Misa 19.Baum 22.O.Batlle 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 40.Damm
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at Meadow Park at 8pm on Tuesday evening. It will be shown on Disney+ in the UK, full global listings are available here.
COMING UP
We will have the line-ups posted around 75 minutes before kickoff, Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report and every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference. Also don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly Arsenal Women Newsletter.
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