Chelsea Women v Arsenal Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday lunchtime with very faint hopes of creating a title challenge of sorts, but they simply must win against the unbeaten league leaders in West London to make that so. After a slow start to the season, the Gunners trail Sonia Bompastor’s side by seven points at the summit.

Arsenal have moved up to 2nd in the WSL after the run of form new boss Renee Slegers has overseen and for the neutral too, only an Arsenal win prevents a sixth straight title for Chelsea becoming a formality. Arsenal do come into the game in very good form, even having made six changes on Wednesday evening, they beat Brighton away 4-0 in the Subway League Cup quarter-final.

It’s a very key period for Arsenal’s domestic ambitions, with back-to-back league games away at Chelsea and Manchester City, as well as an FA Cup tie at home to Bristol City and a League Cup semi-final at home to Manchester City. If they can navigate that well, the fixture list does start to ease for them a little bit.

It will also be the first run of fixtures of this ilk since Slegers took over. While she led Arsenal to a 3-2 home victory over Bayern Munich in the UWCL, Arsenal are yet to play Chelsea or City under her charge. It’s a big game for Arsenal and a big game for the WSL too, if Chelsea open up a 10 point lead at the top having won the least five league titles, the league’s claim of competitiveness will come under scrutiny.

TEAM NEWS

Lia Walti and Caitlin Foord are fit to play after being withdrawn from Wednesday’s game against Brighton as a precaution. Amanda Ilestedt and Victoria Pelova continue their rehab programmes after long spells out.

Available squad
GOALKEEPERS: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar
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
If you look at the stats from the last game against them we do quite well, Chelsea won the game so we know the details we need to focus on. At the same time, we have to believe in what we are doing at the moment. We know what we want to do on Sunday so it will be exciting to see where we are at but me and the players believe in what we are doing.

We are humble for the task, we know how good Chelsea are, they have been on an impressive run of games. Very impressed with what they have been doing, we want to take this game and approach it like any other. I think the things we have been doing really well is being calm and composed about any opposition that we are going to play and we are humble but we have a big belief in what we are doing and we approach this game in the same way.

They have some big strengths in their attacking line, they have dribblers and shooters and finishers. That is definitely is going to be a big challenge for our back line and our 6s to defend that really well. They are a team that when they get chances in a game they are likely to take them, when they have momentum they capitalise, so we have to have high concentration levels the whole game through. But we see opportunities against Chelsea and we try to play our game as much as possible.

LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at Stamford Bridge last season, Arsenal put in an impoverished display and lost 3-1 with a late Kim Little penalty giving the scoreline a sheen Arsenal probably didn’t deserve on the night. When the teams met in September at the Emirates, Chelsea were 2-1 winners with goals from Ramirez and Baltimore before Foord got one back.

https://youtu.be/mA4hSn3UuyI?feature=shared

THE OPPOSITION
Chelsea said goodbye to the end of an era last summer when long-term manager Emma Hayes left the club to take over the USWNT job. Her departure looked set to leave a chasm but former Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor has stepped into Hayes’ shoes and they already look like a comfy pair of slippers.

Bompastor has led Chelsea to a big lead at the top of the table with no defeats so far this season. In truth, they have probably been slightly fortunate not to lose once or twice but that still puts them several rungs above the other title contenders, who have all had their own issues. Even the ACL injury incurred by Sam Kerr last January hasn’t halted their stride.

Chelsea just have such a variety of goals in their team. Chelsea have scored 36 goals in their 11 league games this season, the second highest total in the division is Arsenal’s 25. They have 14 different scorers for the campaign already even with Kerr and Mia Fishel out. Frankly, they look like a shoe-in for a sixth WSL title and will be very competitive in the UWCL too.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Of the 990 league minutes Arsenal have played this season, Kyra Cooney-Cross has played 600. Add 190 UWCL minutes and 90 League Cup minutes to that and the Australian has a total 880 minutes already in this campaign. She has already played more league minutes this season than last.

Victoria Pelova has been out for the whole season, while Kim Little and Lia Walti have both had injury issues during this season, which has propped the door open for Cooney-Cross and the rhythm and regularity of first team football is beginning to show. She has improved her off the ball game and looked comfortable playing on the right of the partnership with Lia Walti on Wednesday night.

That hadn’t always been the case for Cooney-Cross. I suspect Slegers still planned on a Little Walti double pivot for this game but Walti’s calf strain will likely put paid to that. It gives Cooney-Cross another chance and this time in a huge game with the world watching. Cooney-Cross has been quietly improved this season and this will be the sternest examination of her development.

PREDICTED LINE UP

Subs: 1.Zinsberger 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 25.Blackstenius 26.Wienroither 32.Cooney-Cross

HOW TO WATCH
The game takes place at Stamford Bridge on Sunday at 12.30pm and will be screened live on BBC Two in the UK.

COMING UP
We will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report, followed by every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference on the site around an hour after the final whistle. Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday and there will be the usual tactical analysis piece on Monday or Tuesday too.