THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal resume their 2024/25 season after a month away at home to Crystal Palace in the WSL on Sunday afternoon. Renee Slegers has been appointed as the full-time Head Coach after a hugely successful 11 game spell as interim and this will mark the first game of her more permanent tenure.
For the Gunners that will mean trying to pick up from where they left off at the end of 2024 having won their last eight games in all competitions. The postponement of last weekend’s FA Cup tie against Bristol City has delayed their comeback from the winter break, which they probably didn’t really want at that point anyway due to the momentum they had built.
Now they must harness that momentum and positive energy again after a month without a game. Last season Arsenal went to a warm weather training camp in Portugal and played a friendly against Feyenoord. They have opted not to do the same this time around, though they did have an 11 v 11 game in training on Friday to get back up to speed.
Palace currently sit bottom with two points from their last seven games, however they are only one point behind Leicester City and are by no means cut adrift in the basement. They don’t tend to have a problem scoring goals on the road, with seven goals in their last four away games, but they have shipped eight in their last two. Arsenal will be heavy favourites for this game.
TEAM NEWS
Lia Walti returns after undergoing surgery for an abscess in November, while Victoria Pelova and Amanda Ilestedt are stepping up their recoveries from an ACL and maternity leave respectively but neither will be in the squad for Sunday. Kathrine Kuhl will not be in the squad as she puts the finishing touches on a permanent move to Roma. Emily Fox and Lina Hurtig are in the squad after having an extended winter break.
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 26.Wienroither 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 17.Hurtig 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
I am very happy sitting here now and we together made the decision to move forward like this. I have seen what the players have been doing and how we have been connecting with staff and the club and the fans. That has really put into my decision to want the job. When I got thrown into it it was very sudden and very unexpected.
Under my period as an interim it started to grow and we could see longer term things were going as a team and there was a connection with the fans. I think I mentioned the game at Manchester United when we don’t get the three points, we get one and perform really well and the fans were really backing us and supporting us. That was a critical moment for me to see that there is something we can create here.
We try to create a light atmosphere where togetherness and enjoyment are very important and we empower players and staff. Until the end of this season there are four trophies we are actively in and we want to do our very best and win trophies. We want to do it the Arsenal way, in a way we get enjoyment from and that makes us feel like we are progressing and developing.
LAST TIME OUT
The teams met in the FA Cup 5th Round at Meadow Park in May 2021 and Arsenal ran out 9-0 winners with goals from Kim Little, Beth Mead, Danielle van de Donk, Noelle Maritz (2), Jordan Nobbs, Vivianne Miedema, Jill Roord and Katie McCabe. This was Joe Montemurro’s final game in charge of the club.
THE OPPOSITION
Palace were promoted from the Championship last season under the guidance of Laura Kaminski, who came into the job with extensive experience as an assistant at Tottenham when they were promoted into the WSL, as well as assistant coaching stints at Charlton, Arsenal, Chelsea, Watford and Brighton.
Palace secured a second tier license in 2018 and became one of the founding members of the Women’s Championship and steadily increased their investment. They made a big bid for promotion in 2022-23 with a big injection of quality into the squad but the Eagles finished 5th and manager Dean Davenport was suspended and eventually sacked following allegations of misconduct.
Kaminski took over in the summer of 2023 and led Palace straight to promotion. They have since bolstered their squad with WSL experience with players like former Gunner Katrine Veje and Scottish midfielder Chloe Arthur. But their preparations for the season were hit when they lost last season’s top scorer Elise Hughes to an ACL injury at the end of last season.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Alessia Russo is in the form of her life, she scooped the Arsenal.com player and goal of the month awards for December, as well as the WSL player and goal of the month awards. She has six goals in Arsenal’s last four matches and six in the last five in the WSL. Russo is on a hot streak and the winter break was probably ill-timed for her in terms of her momentum.
The challenge for Russo now is to prove that she is not streaky or a confidence player. She ended last season very strongly indeed but then came into this season shot shy and low on confidence, before building back into this period of form. Now the challenge for Russo is that we no longer talk about ‘form’, that this level becomes normal.
Nobody describes Bunny Shaw as in form, everyone just expects that she is going to score goals and play brilliantly all the time. Russo is absolutely capable of that and at the age of 26, she is emerging into a crop of players such as Emily Fox, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Frida Maanum who are becoming the senior core of the team.
PREDICTED LINE-UP
Subs: 1.Zinsberger 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 9.Mead 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 25.Blackstenius 62.Reid
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Meadow Park at 2pm on Sunday, the game will be streamed live on Arsenal.com.
COMING UP
Hopefully you saw our exclusive interview with new Head Coach Renee Slegers on the site yesterday. Jamie and I also recorded an Arsenal Women Arsecast reacting to the appointment and assessing Jonas Eidevall’s recent interviews on his time at the club.
We will have all the usual post-match coverage from this game, with every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference, Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report, the analysis piece and Jamie and I will have an Arsenal Women Arsecast for you on Monday too.
Spot on about Alessia, especially. Hopefully you’ll find you need to have a “1-0 Russo” tweet lined up for every match.
look at this bench
Crystal Palace is a tough opponent to play against, they almost made life difficult for United, who managed to score a goal, I hope Arsenal can get that second place tomorrow. 🙏, Vamos!!!