THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play at home to Valerenga in the Champions League on Wednesday evening as they start the post Jonas Eidevall era. Eidevall resigned on Monday with the decision being announced on Tuesday morning, by Eidevall’s own admission in his post-Chelsea press conference, ‘there is no point in hiding from the reality that this is a bad start to the season.’
After a week which started with a disappointing 0-0 draw with Everton, a 5-2 defeat to Bayern Munich and a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, it was a rough week for Arsenal and Eidevall and, ultimately, the Swede decided he couldn’t continue so the reigns for this game will be handed over to Dutch assistant Renee Slegers, who, it just so happens, succeeded Eidevall at Rosengard in 2021.
New! Emergency Arsenal Women Arsecast with @jamiespangher and I running the rule over Jonas Eidevall's resignation, looking at how events unfolded and what might come next 👇🔴⚪️ https://t.co/qIoFanT1UX
— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) October 15, 2024
Arsenal need to focus on kickstarting their Champions League group stage with a victory after last week’s chastening late collapse in Munich. It remains to be seen whether Slegers will look to rotate the team with players like Kathrine Kuhl, Rosa Kafaji and Steph Catley in need of minutes and Lina Hurtig in the squad for the first time in 11 months.
After this, Arsenal have a big away game at West Ham on Sunday and, after the international break, a huge game away at Manchester United. Since their ambitions for the season have probably moderated back to UWCL qualification, those are must win games. There will be an air of expectation about winning this game that Arsenal will need to justify with their performance.
TEAM NEWS
Lina Hurtig is set to return to the squad for the first time in 11 months after a combination of muscle niggles and personal issues and she is set to be on the bench. Victoria Pelova (ACL), Laura Wienroither (muscle injury) and Amanda Ilestedt (maternity leave) are unavailable.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little 12.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 22.Kuhl 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 53.Lia 56.Godfrey
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
You can read every word of Renee Slegers’ pre-match press conference here.
LAST TIME OUT
These two teams have never met before, in fact, Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Rosenborg last month was the first time the Gunners had met a Norwegian side in this competition. Arsenal were beaten 5-2 away at Bayern Munich on match day one while Valerenga were beaten 1-0 by Juventus in Oslo.
THE OPPOSITION
This is Valerenga’s third UWCL campaign and their group stage debut. They debuted in 2020-21 before the group stage was created where they were eliminated by Brøndby in the round of 32. Last season, they were eliminated in the second qualifying round by Real Madrid.
Valerenga won their second Norwegian Toppserien title in 2023 by a point and lead the table at the moment and they have won 11 consecutive league games. Valerenga boast former players like Natasha Dowie, Celine Bizet and Sherida Spitse. Coached by Nils Lexerod, who previously coached the Norway U-19 team.
Like a lot of women’s teams, Valerenga’s history is fractured, formed in 1982 the club was disbanded between 1991 and 1996 before they were relaunched. They spent much of the intervening 15 years between the second and third tiers before being promoted to the Toppserien in 2011. They won the Norwegian double in 2020 before winning their second league title last season.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Kathrine Kuhl came on for the final four minutes of the 6-0 win over Rangers in early September and has not featured since. I would be shocked and quite unpleasantly surprised if she did not play in this game. It always felt to me as though Kuhl would find minutes difficult to come by unless there was an injury crisis.
I would imagine that she will partner Kyra Cooney-Cross in midfield and, in that situation, they are probably going to have to share some defensive responsibilities. But, frankly, if Kuhl cannot get a start for this game she should probably submit a transfer request pretty much immediately.
I asked Jonas Eidevall about Kuhl’s position a few weeks ago and he said, ‘That is the situation we have in the squad when we have a lot of competition, sometimes really, really good footballers don’t get to play that much. I have to say when I see Ke in training, she is developing a lot and she is a great football player. The primary position I see her in is an 8, cos she is a hybrid between 6 and 10. She is comfortable on the ball and can go great distances and she can go box to box and really, really good in covering pressing distance.’
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
Subs: 1.Zinsberger, 6.Williamson, 8.Mariona, 9.Mead, 10.Little, 13.Walti, 17.Hurtig, 23.Russo, 40.Williams, 56.Godfrey, 62.Reid
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Emirates Stadium at 8pm on Wednesday evening and will be streamed live on DAZN’s website and YouTube channel. It is also live on TNT Sports.
COMING UP
We will have every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference online shortly after full-time, as well as all the usual build-up ahead of Sunday’s match away at West Ham.
A side who will be in the groove. We have to bring our A game. Good luck to the girls and Renee.
What a load of nonsense – in my opinion. Why on earth would you start players in a “must win” game that have barely played any minutes this season ?; however “deserving” they might be. Perhaps bring them on when / if we are 2 or 3 up in the second half. COYG !!!
Don’t quite see the line up as being what we see above but good luck AWFC.
I agree that KK should start – she is hugely skilful player whilst our Captain Marvel needs a rest.
I would like to see her use a 4-3-3 with aggression and a lot of pressure, because it will be a game in which both teams need to win, so I hope Arsenal can solve this in the first half. And may the gods be with our team tomorrow.
My guess is that RS will follow the plans that JE had, perhaps with a tweak or two, rather than change loads last minute.