THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal Women continue their defence of the Continental Tyres Cup with the second game of the group phase as they travel south to face Lewes at the brilliantly named Dripping Pan Stadium. The Gunners won their opening group game 3-1 at home to West Ham three weeks ago at Meadow Park thanks to two Katie McCabe goals.
Lewes won their opening group game with a 5-0 thrashing of Charlton Athletic, but slipped to a 4-1 defeat against West Ham a fortnight ago. A win will take the Gunners top of their group (the top two from each group qualify) against the Championship side. Arsenal do not have a large enough squad for mass rotation, but may well be inclined to make a change or two. They will be red hot favourites to win comfortably.
TEAM NEWS
Arsenal are without Leah Williamson, who felt a recurrence of an ankle problem while playing for England against Kazakhstan last week. The issue is not thought to be significant, but Leah will almost certainly not play in this match. Dan Carter, Tabea Kemme and Viki Schnaderbeck are all out with long term knee injuries.
Sari van Veenendaal and Emma Mitchell were rested for the 5-0 win over Liverpool last weekend and may come back into the side, while Jess Samuelsson could be in line for her first start for 11 months after a foot injury. Jess came on as a substitute in the West Ham and Liverpool games to build her fitness.
LAST TIME OUT
Arsenal and Lewes have never met before. The Gunners ran out 5-0 winners in their previous match against Liverpool in the WSL last weekend with a hat trick from Vivianne Miedema and a pair of goals from Lisa Evans and Kim Little. Meanwhile, Lewes opened their Championship campaign with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Millwall Lionesses.
3 goals, 2 assists for Arsenal's Viviene Vivianne Miedema in their opening WSL fixture ???
Posted by The FA Women's Super League on Monday, 10 September 2018
PLAYER TO WATCH
Dominique Bloodworth established herself at the base of midfield last season, shielding a defence that kept 8 clean sheets in a row during the spring. The versatile Dutch international has played at right-back during pre-season and for the opening game against West Ham. Last weekend, Bloodworth filled in at centre-half for the injured Leah Williamson.
?? @DominiqueJansse has a few words for the fans who made the trip to Meadow Park yesterday ?#WeAreTheArsenal ? pic.twitter.com/fEydX2KREx
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 10, 2018
Dominique will be asked to fill in at centre-half again on Sunday. She perfectly fits Montemurro’s vision of versatility and given her grounding in midfield, she, like Williamson, is very adept at playing the ball out from the back. Dominique will be once again charged with starting the Gunners’ attacks with her passing between the lines.
PREDICTED LINE-UP
1.van VEENENDAAL, 12.SAMUELSSON, 16.QUINN, 20.BLOODWORTH, 3.MITCHELL, 19.WALTI, 8.NOBBS(c), 24.KUYKEN, 17.EVANS, 7.VAN DE DONK, 23.MEAD. Substitutes; 10.Little, 11.Miedema, 15.McCabe, 18.Peyraud-Magnin.
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game will not be screened live, so follow @ArsenalWFC on twitter for updates (I will also be tweeting updates). The match takes place at the Dripping Pan in Lewes for a 2pm kickoff. Tickets are available here or on the gate for £7 adults and £3.50 concessions.
COMING UP
We will have exclusive post-match reaction from a player on the site on Sunday evening. The Arsenal Women Weekly Round-Up will be posted on the site on Monday evening, where we will post the match highlights.
As I was born in the town of Lewes I have been keeping an eye on The Rooks all my life, I was always destined to be a Gooner but I used to visit the Dripping Pan to watch them struggling and usually losing throughout the fifties and early sixties. Lewes is 50 miles from London and although today you would think nothing of jumping into the car and nipping up, in those days it was like a trip to Scotland, miles away. The Dripping Pan got it’s name from the St Pancras Priory the ruins of which are nearby.… Read more »
Awesome! Lewes also pay their men and women’s team the same ?
Thanks Stillberto, I’ll happily take awesome! I mentioned equal pay in my ramblings, quite something for such a little club. The population is around 40,000 in the home gates are around 1,000 for the men’s team. I’ve never actually seen a report with the women’s crowd shown so I have no idea how popular they are within the town. I moved away when I became a Merchant Seaman at 18 and have rarely been back especially after my parents died and also by then my siblings had scattered across Sussex, Kent and other parts of the Western World. It’s a… Read more »
Not much to add to the comprehensive introduction to Lewes FC by Bren, apart from a hearty “Welcome” to our lovely town, Arsenal! Hopefully I’ll get a chance to pop down to the Dripping Pan tomorrow and see the game. It’s a great club and a nice day out, if anyone fancies the trip South. Special mention should go to the hilly pitch, slightly less even than what Arsenal Women might be used to! In fact, players who take corners from the left side at the far end of the pitch have a distinct advantage – they just have to… Read more »