Leicester City Women v Arsenal Preview

THE LOWDOWN
After the relief of qualifying for the Champions League group stages on Thursday evening, Arsenal are straight back on the horse with a trip to Leicester City in the WSL on Sunday afternoon. The Gunners will feel they should have turned last weekend’s opening day point at home to Manchester City into three. Despite the 2-2 draw, they generated 2.4XG and that didn’t include Caitlin Foord’s disallowed effort.

Arsenal rediscovered their more clinical edge against Hacken, overturning a 1-0 first leg deficit to win the tie comfortably in the end. With three tough games in a week, as well as a pair of competitive qualifiers at the beginning of the month, it remains to be seen whether Jonas Eidevall chooses to rotate a little for the trip to the East Midlands.

https://t.co/hdEtnKs8Zz This week's Arsenal Women newsletter. When the season was on the line, Lia Walti started (and Beth Mead scored. And Katie McCabe and Kim Little played every minute. And Manu Zinsberger griddied in celebration at the end of the game). A piece on the 'core'… pic.twitter.com/dZDu9IFPds

— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) September 27, 2024

Players like Laura Wienroither and Rosa Kafaji might well come into the team, while someone like Kim Little, who has played every minute of every game so far this season, could also be considered to start on the bench. Eidevall was bullish after the Hacken game that he would need to use his squad to its fullest extent now the club are in the Champions League group stage and Arsenal have already been playing to a Champions League schedule due to the qualifiers.

‘The playing schedule will be tough and with a lot of travelling and short turnaround times that is why we built this squad and why we have so many great footballers.’ Leicester forced a creditable away draw at Liverpool on the opening day and play their first home game under new boss Amandine Miquel, it will be an interesting test for Jonas Eidevall’s squad who search for their first win of the league season.

TEAM NEWS

Jonas Eidevall was tight lipped on whether Leah Williamson will be available after incurring a concussion in training last week. Steph Catley is training outside again but this game might come too soon for her, as is also the case for Lina Hurtig, who has recovered from a muscle injury but is building fitness after missing the majority of last season. Victoria Pelova (ACL) is out and Amanda Ilestedt is on maternity leave.

Squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 11.McCabe 26.Wienroither 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little 12.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 22.Kuhl 32.Cooney-Cross 61.Harbert
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 53.Lia 56.Godfrey

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘Leicester have a clear identity, it is a little bit different to last season but it is a very clear identity. They have a strong transfer window and they have a strong squad. If you see them as a club, it is one of the teams that is continuously building in the WSL and they continue to make this competition harder and harder, which is good because it’s a challenge.

‘It makes it difficult for us, they are going to be a tough opponent and you need to have a really good structure in offence and defence if you are going to beat them. We just need to go back to last season and remember being 2-0 down, which we had to turn around. That reminds us of the importance of being switched on from the start on Sunday.’

LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at the King Power last season, Arsenal found themselves 2-0 down at half-time but roared back to win 6-2, with four goals coming in 16 second half minutes. Cloe Lacasse, Alessia Russo, Caitlin Foord, Victoria Pelova, Stina Blackstenius and Lina Hurtig were all on the score sheet in the second half.

THE OPPOSITION
Leicester had to sack Willie Kirk in controversial circumstances last season after it emerged he was in a relationship with a player. They muddled through the second half of the season, making it to the FA Cup semi-final and steering well clear of the WSL relegation battle. This summer, they have appointed French coach Amandine Miquel who excelled at Reims.

Petermann ❌

Amandine Miquel provides an update on her squad heading into the Arsenal game 📰

— LCFC Women (@LCFC_Women) September 26, 2024

It’s obvious why Leicester identified Miquel as a strong fit having overperformed significantly compared to her budget at Reims in a division with a few heavyweights. They finished fourth last season having just been promoted Reims also had a justified record for developing young talent under Miquel’s charge- their average age was 23 last season.

She brought young striker Noemie Mouchon with her to Leicester and she will pose a big threat on Sunday. Under Miquel, Reims played a 4141 formation and liked to play out from the back before switching the ball very swiftly to the flanks and Jamaican centre-half Chantelle Swaby was bought, in part, due to her ability to switch play from centre-half.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Kyra Cooney-Cross was unfortunate not to start in the 4-0 win over Hacken and has made a strong start to the season. But ultimately, when the season and maybe the manager’s future was on the line, he leant on the Little Walti partnership that is Arsenal’s most established duet. However, I expect for Kim Little, who has played every minute so far, to be rested for this game and for KCC to come back in.

Usually, Cooney-Cross plays on the left of the midfield double pivot as Lia Walti does, on this occasion she may well shift over to the right. Either way, it does illustrate the job she has on her hands to really establish herself as a first-choice player, even if Arsenal’s participation in the Champions League group stages means there will be plenty of minutes to go around.

Cooney-Cross’ ability to collect the ball and either drive forwards or else spread the play with cross-field passes are her big strengths and Arsenal will need that with Leicester likely to be compact and solid and look to spring the Gunners on the break. Ultimately, Eidevall said he selected Walti on Thursday due to her ability to cover for offensive full-backs and Cooney-Cross will need to continue to develop in this aspect of the game too.

PREDICTED LINE UP

Subs: 2.Fox 8.Mariona 10.Little 14.van Domselaar 16.Kafaji 22.Kuhl 25.Blackstenius 56.Godfrey 62.Reid

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place on Sunday at 3pm at the King Power Stadium. It will be shown live and free on the Barclays WSL YouTube channel.

COMING UP
As ever, we will have every word of Jonas Eidevall’s post-match press conference on the site shortly after full-time, as well as Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report. There will be an Arsenal Women Arsecast with myself and Jamie Spangher on Monday and the analysis piece will go out on Tuesday.