Arsenal v Juventus Women Preview
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THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal face Juventus at Emirates Stadium on match day four of their UWCL group stage with a chance to guarantee qualification for the quarter-finals. After their 4-0 win in Italy last week, a victory would see the Gunners through so long as Valarenga do not beat Bayern Munich in Norway.
It would spell an excellent end to what the staff refer to as 'block two' of the season prior to the international break. With this weekend given over to League Cup group stage fixtures (Arsenal have a bye to the quarter-finals) the players can count on some well-earned days off prior to joining up with their countries.
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However, while it is true that Arsenal ran out 4-0 winners in the reverse fixture last week, Arsenal's crucial second goal didn't come until the 75th minute. Juventus' aggressive player to player marking structure made for a physical game too. Juve rested a host of players for their 2-2 draw with Sassuolo over the weekend.
While Arsenal did not rest players for the North London derby- with the exception of taking Kim Little off at half-time- they did have the game under their control throughout, opening the scoring in the first minute and scoring the second before the half hour mark. Arsenal and Renee Slegers have built up strong momentum and will want to carry that into this game.
TEAM NEWS
There are no changes to the Arsenal squad from the last two games, Amanda Ilestedt (maternity leave) and Victoria Pelova (ACL) are unavailable.
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: 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 22.Kuhl 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 17.Hurtig 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius 53.Lia 56.Godfrey
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘I think we just have to stay in a moment and see what we have ahead of us. And obviously we analyzed the way game against Juventus and they will do that as well. So it’s going to be a new challenge tomorrow. We’re one step further into the group phase, and it’s a second game against each other. So they’re going to tweak things. They’re going to do things differently probably, and we might want to do that as well. So I think it’s a new game that we’re going to play tomorrow.
‘They know us very well now, and we know them very well. I think it's a guessing game of what they will tweak and what they will do differently, we're also a little bit further into the group stage now, what's their mindset, what do they want to achieve in this game and how will they try to achieve it? So we've been going through a couple of scenarios of what we think they might do.
‘I think we have three or four scenarios in our heads so we have to be prepared for all of them. I think, from a coaching perspective, it's fun because you have one performance and you play against the exact same opponent and the challenge you have in front of you is to try to do better. I don’t think there’s any sign of complacency amongst us. We know how hard it was, and in the end, we got a big result. But it took us so much to get there, both physically and psychologically, so I don’t think there’s any complacency in the camp at the moment.’
LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met last week in Biella Arsenal ran out 4-0 winners with goals from Frida Maanum, Stina Blackstenius, Mariona and Caitlin Foord. The teams met at Emirates Stadium in the group phase two seasons ago and Arsenal won 1-0 with a Vivianne Miedema strike.
THE OPPOSITION
Juve are a tactically flexible team in terms of their formation. Against Arsenal and Bayern in the group stage they have switched to a back three and left wingers Christina Girelli and Barbara Bonansea on the bench. Having lost to both teams at home now, it will be interesting to see whether Max Canzi changes things up.
In terms of their approach, Juve won't derivative away from their physical player for player marking approach. It turns games into a series of physical duels, so even if they do leave space in their back line at times, especially down the sides, you first have to win the one-to-one physical duel to be able to play the ball into that space.
The bigger pitch at the Emirates will doubtless help Arsenal in this respect but Renee Slegers was quick to acknowledge last week that Daphne van Domselaar's early save was crucial in turning the game in Arsenal's favour and that the match might have been very different had Juve scored.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Frida Maanum has been in excellent form throughout this season. While several players look more like themselves following the managerial change, Maanum has been consistently in form, scoring the winner at Leicester and opening the scoring in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City on the opening day of the WSL season.
Arseblog News asked Jonas Eidevall about her start to the season back in October, 'We have worked a lot with her but, more importantly, she has worked very hard on the training pitch. She is really ambitious about improving her game and to find the next level. She has a really good long distance shot, we haven't seen as much of that yet, this season. But her consistently getting into these golden zone opportunities and she has really improved in that and she is getting the rewards.'
Renee Slegers redoubled those sentiments last week in Italy, 'She is a very hard working player and a player that takes ownership of her own development and what she can contribute to the team. As a coaching staff we have a lot of discussions with Frida so I am really happy for her, you always wish the best for players who work really hard and take ownership of things, they deserve to be successful.'
Tactically, pushing Katie McCabe right up in the left channel has allowed Mariona to drift inside more and create a dual 10 situation. Too often last season, Frida was left on an island at the point of the attack. Her finishing is showing greater finesse too, she delicately clipped the ball into the net last week and against Spurs, she rolled it into the bottom corner. Maanum's game is really beginning to show variety.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
Subs: 1.Zinsberger 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 22.Kuhl 25.Blackstenius 26.Wienroither 32.Cooney-Cross 62.Reid
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Emirates Stadium at 8pm on Thursday evening. It will be streamed live on the DAZN website.
COMING UP
We will have every word from Renee Slegers' post-match press conference on the site shortly after full-time, as well as Aidan Gibson's on the whistle match report.
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