Arsenal Women v Manchester City Women preview

Arsenal Women v Manchester City

Sunday 2nd April 2023 Kick off 12:30pm

Women’s Super League

Meadow Park

Fresh from Wednesday’s 2-1 excellent victory at the Emirates Stadium against Bayern Munich in the UWCL, Arsenal have a quick turnaround to prepare for another season-defining match against Manchester City at home in the WSL on Sunday.

It’s a game against an in-form team who confidently dispatched with Chelsea last weekend, and a game which could well be a title decider.

The visitors have not lost in the WSL since their opening two games of the season, and they will be looking to continue this form at the weekend at a sold-out Meadow Park.

The Gunners, on the other hand, will be looking to put right the 2-1 defeat and poor performance in their last WSL game against Manchester City, and a similar result could put a significant dent in their title hopes.

In this previous WSL game between the two sides, Manchester City’s wide players Hemp and Kelly caused Arsenal’s back line problems, and Angeldahl and Coombs were able to shut out Arsenal’s midfield effectively.

Arsenal will be hoping to dominate the midfield this time, as they did on Wednesday night against Bayern Munich, but the player that Arsenal will need to be most wary of is Khadija Shaw, who is up for WSL player of the month and is the league’s top scorer so far this season with 15 goals.

Key omissions from the Arsenal squad will include Steph Catley, who remains on the sidelines with a recent foot injury and will be out for another month at least.

Katie McCabe is also suffering from a foot injury after the UWCL semi-final and is a doubt for this one. Whether Kim Little will play, after also coming off injury against Munich, is also unclear.

Some rotation is almost inevitable, and the players will need to adapt, just as they did on Wednesday night. Will we see Leah Williamson used as a No6 again after another strong midfield performance?

Manchester City sit second in the WSL and Arsenal sit fourth with a game in hand and only three points separating them.

Looking towards the end of the season, there is all to play for, and a win in this fixture presents the Gunners with a chance to go into the international break with considerable momentum in the WSL.

The group will need this momentum in the wake of a packed schedule, injuries, and, of course, a WSL tie against the red half of Manchester and Chelsea still to come.

In the words of Jonas Eidevall after Wednesday night’s game: ‘If we hit things right, we can beat anyone.’