THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play at home to Bristol City on Wednesday evening in their rearranged FA Cup Fourth Round tie, a home tie against Championship side London City Lionesses awaits the winners of this game. The initial tie bit the dust after arctic conditions across the country just over a fortnight ago made the playing surface unplayable, with the match called off the day before the match.
There should be no such issues on this occasion and while the scheduling of this game, between away WSL games at Chelsea and Manchester City, seemed suboptimal, Arsenal could use it as a palette cleanser if they perform to the right level. At Chelsea, they were slightly unfortunate to lose 1-0 but, in the cold light of day, Chelsea had greater resource on the bench to reach for.
Arsenal will want to use their squad for this game but with some injuries beginning to take hold, it is difficult to see wholesale rotation. The visitors come into this game on a high having beaten Birmingham City 3-1 away from home on Sunday, bringing them level on points with their opponents at the top of the table.
For the Gunners, with any feint hope of the WSL title put to bed by defeat at Chelsea on Sunday, the FA Cup remains one of three trophies they can win. The club has won it a record 14 times, a record that won’t be equalled for several years at least with Chelsea having won it five times and Manchester City three, but they haven’t won it since 2016 and they will want to change that this season.
TEAM NEWS
Katie McCabe will miss this match and Sunday’s game at Manchester City due to suspension after receiving a straight red card for foul and abusive language at Chelsea on Sunday. Kim Little fell awkwardly on her hand during the Crystal Palace game and had it heavily strapped at Stamford Bridge and that could put her participation in this game at risk, while Caitlin Foord limped out of the Chelsea game with a muscle injury. Victoria Pelova and Amanda Ilestedt are in the final stages of their rehab and Lina Hurtig is out.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 26.Wienroither 62.Reid
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 16.Kafaji 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
LAST TIME OUT
The teams met in April in the WSL at Meadow Park and Arsenal ran out 5-0 winners with braces from Beth Mead and Alessia Russo and a Powell own goal.
THE OPPOSITION
Bristol City were relegated from the WSL last season, having been relegated in 2020-21 also, they have become something of a yo-yo club. But given that every club in the WSL is currently affiliated to a Premier League men’s club, Bristol City’s achievements as a club that has not been in the men’s top flight since 1979-80 should not be sniffed at.
In 2013, Bristol City finished 2nd in the WSL only being pipped to the post on the final day of the season by Liverpool. That season qualified them for the Champions League in 2014. Players from that teams like Jemma Rose, Siobhan Chamberlain and Natalia made their way to Arsenal once the WSL salary cap was lifted.
The Championship is always a hotly contested league at the top of the table and this season is no different. City are level on points with Birmingham at the top but Sunderland, down in 6th, are only two points away. It’s been quite climb considering they started the season with two points from their first three games of the Championship season after the summer departure of manager Lauren Smith, who was replaced by Stephen Kirby.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Stina Blackstenius hasn’t scored since the 4-0 win over Aston Villa on 8 December and her recent substitute appearances have lacked a little punch. In fairness, she was ruled out of the Crystal Palace game, where she very well could have scored, with illness. Then she was not quite recovered well enough to start the Subway Cup win over Brighton.
Blackstenius is very much a player that suits certain game states that have not really cropped up in recent encounters she has been available for. While Arsenal’s injury list makes wholesale rotation difficult, surely she will start this game at centre-forward in place of Alessia Russo.
It gives Blackstenius the opportunity to kickstart the second half of her season. It’s a difficult task for her at the moment because it is difficult to dislodge Russo in her current form, however, there is plenty of football to be played before the end of the season with domestic cups kicking in and Stina’s goal scoring record in the UWCL has always been strong against higher line defences.
PREDICTED LINE UP
Subs: 2.Fox 6.Williamson 13.Walti 14.van Domselaar 23.Russo 26.Wienroither 40.Williams
HOW TO WATCH
The game kicks off at Meadow Park at 7.45pm, you can watch it live for free here on the Adobe Women’s FA Cup YouTube channel.
COMING UP
We will have every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference on the site around an hour after the match finishes. Then we will have all the usual build-up and post-game content for Sunday’s WSL clash away at Manchester City.
I hope Mariona, KCC, Catley, rest for the game against city, what happened to Lina, Laura? being without Foord who is injured. three casualties, and we have 7 substitutes, 3 of which are goalkeepers, this worries me.
two gk*
Is Wälti not fit enough to start the game?
Poor Steph if she has to play LB tonight on top of her exertions on Sunday. The club must have started on the Nighswonger transfer well before last Sunday but it’s unfortunate we didn’t get the player in a week ago. A while ago, I said I hoped Renée had a defensive plan that wasn’t predicated on Catley, so if she does, now is the time…
Good luck, ladies!
If Wienroither isn’t starting this game even when McCabe is unavailable, it’ll be safe to say that she’s not in Sleger’s plan.
The fact that Wienroither has been on the bench lately but when Fox wasn’t on the field we’ve been fielding Reid instead was quite telling. If we don’t play Fox today but Laura still doesn’t start then I think she’ll be gone in the summer… which would be a goddamn shame.
If the unavailable list is as long as you think, I’d want a couple of academy players on the bench