THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play London City Lionesses in the 5th Round of the Women’s FA Cup at Meadow Park on Sunday afternoon looking to pick themselves up after their last gasp elimination from the semi-finals of the League Cup against Manchester City on Thursday night. That is one trophy, the one Arsenal won in 2023 and 2024, out of sight for the season.
Realistically the league title is very unlikely too, leaving the Champions League, where the Gunners have drawn Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and this competition, the FA Cup. Arsenal have hoisted this trophy 14 times, the team with the second highest number of FA Cup wins is Southampton with eight. Confusingly, that is not the Southampton team affiliated with the Premier League men’s club. Southampton Women’s currently play in the Women’s National League Southwest division.
Chelsea have won it five times, Manchester City three, Manchester United once. Arsenal’s record as record trophy winners is not under threat any time in the next decade. But they haven’t won the competition since 2016 now and it remains their best chance of silverware for this season.
They will play an LCL side who are second tier in name only with a squad that is comfortably of WSL standard. Injuries are starting to rack up for Renee Slegers’ side too so the squad will look pretty thin for this one, with a short turnaround from Thursday evening. Arsenal will be strong favourites but LCL will certainly talk internally of signs of encouragement.
TEAM NEWS
Kim Little (hand) remains out after breaking a couple of fingers last month. Lina Hurtig is out with a muscle injury while Beth Mead was an unused sub on Thursday night and didn’t appear to warm up at any point, so it remains to be seen whether she is carrying an issue. Chloe Kelly is cup tied having featured in the fourth round for Manchester City. Victoria Pelova is close to a return to the squad from an ACL injury but this game might come too soon for her, unless Slegers is minded to use her to thicken out the bench.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 6.Willamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 32.Cooney-Cross 43.Peacock
Forwards: 8.Mariona 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
Out: 10.Little 17.Hurtig 18.Kelly 21.Pelova
doubt: 9.Mead
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
They’re doing well in the Championship, together with Bristol and Birmingham. So I’m expecting them to come out [and give us a game]. I can’t tell what their plan is. If they’re just going to play the game and do what they always do, or if they adjust against us – we’ll see what they do, but they’re definitely going to give us a game.
So we’ll see what [London City] do. We’ll have to prepare for different scenarios, but we play against all kinds of different teams in the league as well. So I think whatever they will do, we will have a solution. It’s exciting where the game is at. And now, when we’re competing in the Champions League as well, we get to play against so many different teams. I think it’s a great challenge for us.
LAST TIME OUT
The teams met in the League Cup quarter-final at Princes Park last season and Arsenal ran out 4-0 winners with goals from Kim Little, Alessia Russo and a brace from Cloe Lacasse. The teams met at this stage of the competition at Meadow Park in 2022 as well, Arsenal were 1-0 winners thanks to a first half goal from Vivianne Miedema which she subsequently forgot she scored after receiving a concussion in the second half.
THE OPPOSITION
LCL have made headlines across women’s football for their unprecedented spending for a second tier club. Now owned by US business woman Michelle Kang, who also owns Lyon and Washington Spirit, they have received a huge amount of investment and have attracted stars such as Kosavore Asllani, Sofia Jakobsson and in January they signed former Lyon, Bayern Munich and Roma midfielder Saki Kumagai.
They also boast several former Gunners in the shape of Emma Mukandi (nee Mitchell), Dan Carter and Hermoine Cull. Youngsters Teyah Goldie and Freya Godfrey are currently on loan there too. LCL moved grounds this year, leaving Dartford’s Princes Park for Bromley FC’s Hayes Lane ground as they set their ambitions for the future to be a competitive WSL club.
LCL have a complicated history having decided to split from the auspices of Millwall FC in 2020 to go it alone as an independent club. Kang’s investment seeks to take a team with no links to a men’s side to become a force in the WSL but the Championship is a competitive and confounded tight league. LCL are locked in a fight for the single promotion spot with Bristol City and Birmingham which their investment really demands they win.
PLAYER TO WATCH
With Kim Little and Lia Walti having their injury struggles this season and Victoria Pelova absent, Kyra Cooney-Cross has become one of the most important players in the team. It is the mirror opposite of last season when the Australian saw her chances limited due to the availability of Little, Walti and Pelova.
An interesting detail from Slegers is that Cooney-Cross tends to play on the side of the midfield where Arsenal most want to focus their press. At Chelsea, she played on the right and Kim Little on the left because Arsenal wanted to focus on pressing Millie Bright onto her left foot. Against City, Arsenal put KCC on the left and Walti on the right so that Kyra could press Laia Aleixandri in possession.
Slegers recognises Cooney-Cross’ younger legs are better suited to the task of pressing. However, Manchester City were able to exploit this a little on Thursday by sitting Vivianne Miedema just behind Cooney-Cross and taking advantage of that space when KCC pressed. Cooney-Cross has improved immeasurably this season and now she really has to be available with Walti still recovering from a muscle injury and Little absent.
PREDICTED LINE UPS
Subs: 2.Fox 6.Williamson 7.Catley 14.van Domselaar 19.Foord 23.Russo 28.Ilestedt 40.Williams 43.Peacock
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off at 2pm on Sunday at Meadow Park and will be streamed live 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 one hour after the final whistle on Sunday and we will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report too. Jamie and I will have an Arsenal Women Arsecast available for you on Monday.
Well, I have no idea what this lineup will be like, the girls who played on Thursday didn’t have the necessary 3 days of rest, I don’t see Walti, Mariona and Wubben-Moy, KCC Blackstenius starting, but anything can happen, someone will have to sacrifice their rest.