Manchester City Women v Arsenal Preview
THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday at 4.30pm to face Manchester City in the WSL. It has been a very trying opening to the season for the Gunners who have won only once since the opening day of the season with a stoppage time penalty at home to Koge. The pain of tossing away a 2-0 lead in Paris on Wednesday night led to the team feeling very pained.
So much so that Renee Slegers handed her post-match commitments to assistant manager Aaron D’Antino. Slegers ‘fronted up’ on that decision in her Friday press conference, explaining that she felt it was important to be with the players in a moment of difficulty for the team.
Slegers also explained that she wanted her team to use that hurt and that anger to take them forwards. They come into this game already seven points behind defending champions Manchester City and anything other than a victory probably does spell the end of any hopes of a WSL title challenge. It is a very tall order and Arsenal will hope they can use adversity as energy.
Arsenal are without a win since their opening day victory at Brighton and they are yet to score more than a single goal in a game in the WSL this season. Any victory would likely go against current logic but, as we saw on Wednesday evening, football is not always a logical game. It’s all on the line for Arsenal and Renee Slegers on Sunday.
TEAM NEWS
Steph Catley should be back in the squad after missing Wednesday’s game with a lower back injury. Chloe Kelly is still out with a hamstring issue. Elisa de Almeida could return to the squad following amuscle injury. Daphne van Domselaar (knee), Michelle Agyemang and Katie Reid (both ACL) are out.
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 32.Cooney-Cross
FORWARDS: 9.Foord 11.Smith 19.Baum 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 29.Cerci
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘I want to be good for the group. I want to be a good leader. I want to be strategically good for them. I want to get the best out of the group. So that’s where I perceive most of the pressure. But I also understand I’m the manager of Arsenal now and we have a season ambition, and, so far, we haven’t been able to execute what we wanted. So I understand that’s part of the role, and I have to take it.
‘It’s an important one, of course. It’s hugely important. We go for the three points. That’s all we can do in our preparation now, and execution on the match day and it’s an important one. But then again. It’s October now, It’s still early season and we’ve had a long block with challenging games. This is one of them, we knew that beforehand and if we want to achieve what we want to this season, then it’s an important game. It was regardless.
‘We always see opportunities, of course, but at the same time, I was really impressed with Real Madrid yesterday. They made it very hard for Manchester City, especially in the first half. But of course, they’re a really strong team with a lot of individual quality, and what they’ve shown is that late in games, they always stay in it and come back. We have to be super-focused and see the opportunity on Sunday.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in this fixture last season, Arsenal were beaten 3-2 at the Joie Stadium. Bunny Shaw gave City the lead, Mariona equalised, Casparij regained the lead for City before Chloe Kelly equalised. Beney’s late goal gave City the win. In February, the Gunners beat City 1-0 at Emirates Stadium thanks to a first half goal from Olivia Smith.
THE OPPOSITION
City are the defending champions and have started the season in good shape too, they have won all their WSL games so far but all of those have been against teams who either finished in the bottom half of the WSL last season or else were promoted from WSL2. In the Champions League, City have drawn away at Bayern Munich and at home to Real Madrid.
City’s real point of difference to Arsenal recently has been their goal scoring ability, that is currently a real pinch point for Arsenal whereas City, supercharged by probably the world’s best striker in Bunny Shaw, have very few problems in that respect. However, City are reasonably open defensively in this pursuit and Bayern and Madrid were able to expose that in the Champions League.
Last season’s game in Manchester was potentially instructive, it was a yoyo game where both teams went at one another- but City had superior firepower. Coached by the very experienced Andree Jeglertz, who was the Umea coach when Arsenal won the Champions League final in 2007, City once again look like the team to beat domestically this season.
PLAYER TO WATCH
In the away fixture last season, Stina Blackstenius started. When she was injured for the home fixture in February, Slegers decided to start Olivia Smith as a centre-forward. Smith was put through on goal by Mariona and scored the winning goal. Arsenal often identify the ability to play the ball in behind City’s high line and that is pretty much Blackstenius’ speciality.
Stina has been a thorn in City’s side in recent seasons. She scored the winner against them in the Conti Cup semi-final in February 2023, the winner against them in the WSL home game in November 2023, a late brace in a 2-1 win at the Joie Stadium in May 2024 and she was on the score sheet in a 4-3 win over City away in February 2025.
In short, I am expecting Stina to start this game. She, like every other attacker bar Lisa Baum, has not had the best start to the season. Arsenal have faced a lot of low blocks in the early part of the campaign, which suits her qualities less. This game should suit her qualities.
MY PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 7.Catley 9.Foord 11.Smith 12.L.Maanum 14.Reuteler 16.Misa 29.Cerci 31.Holmberg 32.Cooney Cross
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at 4.30pm on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. Full global listings are available here
COMING UP
We will be in Manchester will full coverage from the game
– [ ] Line ups posted an hour or so before kickoff
– [ ] Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report
– [ ] Every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference
– [ ] Jamie and I will record a post-match podcast Monday evening UK time
– [ ] Don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly Arsenal Women Newsletter
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