Yeovil Town Ladies v Arsenal Match Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal Women travel to Dorchester Town FC to play their second WSL match of the season away at Yeovil Town on Wednesday evening. The Gunners will be looking to build on the early season momentum they have created, having scored 14 goals in their last two matches.

Lewes were beaten 9-0 on Sunday at the Dripping Pan in the Conti Cup, but Yeovil will provide a sterner test of their mettle. That said, Arsenal will be big favourites to win and win convincingly. But that was also the case the last time they made the trip southwest and a shock 0-0 draw ensued. Arsenal eventually finished 1 point off Champions League qualification, so the result had huge ramifications ultimately.

With 17 goals in their first three matches this season and Vivianne Miedema with consecutive hat tricks at her back, Arsenal will be confident of not allowing lightning to strike twice at Yeovil. The girls will follow up with a home game against West Ham this Sunday again in the WSL. Yeovil registered only 2 points and 2 goals in the league last season.

TEAM NEWS
Lia Wälti hobbled off late on in the victory at Lewes with a knock on her ankle and will be checked, but she seemed to be removed more as a precaution and should be fine to start. Leah Williamson came on as a substitute on Sunday after an ankle problem of her own, but she may not be risked from the start with a view to the West Ham match on Sunday.

Jess Samuelsson played a full 90 minutes at Lewes for the first time in 11 months, but she may also drop to the bench with the West Ham match in mind. Sari van Veenendaal picked up a slight knock in pre-season, so Pauline Peyraud-Magnin should continue in goal. Williamson, Samuelsson and van Veenendaal could all be on the substitutes bench. Tabea Kemme, Viki Schnaderbeck and Dan Carter are all out with long term knee injuries, Ava Kuyken is unavailable.

LAST TIME OUT
A shock 0-0 draw at Yeovil in April was the first the Lady Glovers managed in the WSL and proved hugely costly for the Gunners, who missed 2nd place and Champions League qualification by a single point. Per BBC Sport, Arsenal enjoyed 75% of the possession, forced 22 corners and amassed 36 shots on goal to no avail. Yeovil were thrashed 4-0 by Championship side Tottenham on Sunday in the Conti Cup.

PLAYER TO WATCH

?? @VivianneMiedema can't stop scoring for @ArsenalWFC ?

1️⃣7️⃣ starts
1️⃣5️⃣ goals
2️⃣ hat-tricks pic.twitter.com/cjl7fiozfs

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 16, 2018

Vivianne Miedema has scored consecutive hat tricks in the previous games. The Dutch striker struggled for fitness last season and, despite scoring the winning goal in the Conti Cup Final, never quite looked at full throttle. That has clearly changed this season, with the ex-Bayern striker in full flow.

Viv grew up as a Feyenoord fan and names Robin van Persie as her idol and the similarities are very apparent in the way she leads the line. Right down to her body movements, it is obvious that she has studied the player intensively. Even though she is predominantly right footed, Vivianne is comfortable on her left side, or her “chocolate leg.”

Miedema is a modern centre forward, capable of just about any type of goal and of popping up all across the front line to combine with teammates. Her runs make room for the likes of Nobbs, Little, McCabe and Evans to run in behind. As well as a hat trick against Liverpool, she assisted the other two goals during that match.

You can see a little bit more on Miedema’s form in this excellent addition of the Breakdown with Adrian Clarke and Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro.

PREDICTED LINE-UP
18.PEYRAUD-MAGNIN, 17.EVANS, 20.BLOODWORTH, 16.QUINN, 3.MITCHELL, 19.WALTI, 8.NOBBS, 10.LITTLE (c), 7.VAN DE DONK, 23.MEAD, 11.MIEDEMA. Subs: 1.van Veeenendaal, 6.Williamson, 12.Samuelsson, 15.McCabe.

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
There is no live coverage of the game on TV or radio, so it will be a case of following the Arsenal Women’s twitter feed. Highlights of the game should appear on Thursday on the FAWSL Facebook page. If you want to go, the game will be held at Dorchester Town FC’s ground and tickets are available online.

COMING UP
I won’t be at Yeovil, so we won’t have a player reaction piece, but we will have a preview of the West Ham game on Sunday online on Friday afternoon. In the meantime, you can catch my chat with Gunners defender Dominique Bloodworth after the victory at Lewes here.