Arsenal v Liverpool Women Preview

03/21/2025 01:30 PM

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal face Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening and after a few encounters with some bad surfaces, including their own at Meadow Park, the Gunners will take on Amber Whiteley's Reds on a more favourable surface. The home side have found Liverpool a difficult opponent in recent seasons.

They lost this fixture in the league last season and went out at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup a few weeks ago. In the reverse fixture, Arsenal eked out a 1-0 win and didn't find the away fixture much easier last season either. In short, Liverpool's physicality and ability to play in transition have proved difficult for Arsenal to deal with.

The 2-0 defeat in Madrid on Tuesday and the upcoming second leg at the Emirates on Wednesday night looms large too. I suspect the outcome on Tuesday evening will slightly influence the selection for this game but, at the same time, Slegers' side are in a good position to finish 2nd in the league and won't want to surrender that advantage here.

Arsenal will have to use their squad over this period, that was always going to be the case. I am not expecting wholesale changes but maybe two or three. Liverpool are on a strong run too, having beaten Arsenal and Manchester United in their last two games. This game sits on a bit of a knife edge for Renee Slegers.

TEAM NEWS

Lotte Wubben-Moy is still out with a muscle injury and Laia Codina is a doubt as she continues to manage a muscle issue. Daphne van Domselaar returns from concussion.

Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 17.Hurtig 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
'I am impressed with what Liverpool is doing I think Amber seems to have done a really good job and they are a hard team to beat- very disciplined and they work very hard in the way they play. I think against all opposition you see opportunities and all teams have threats.

'So we try to learn from the game and nullify as much as possible what they can bring to the game and we see opportunities ourselves. I do understand maybe what Liverpool is going through as a team and I do understand that that can can bring them something extra and so I think it just creates an awareness inside me and inside our squad.

'They are a confident team, so they believe in what they’re doing and I also think they they’ve gotten maximum rewards for the good things that they are doing in the last two games. And so we’ definitely very aware of where they are as a team and the threats they have.'

LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met in the FA Cup a fortnight ago, Liverpool ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a second half Daphne van Domselaar own goal. In the reverse fixture, Alessia Russo scored a first half winner from a setpiece in a 1-0 Gunners win in St. Helen's.

THE OPPOSITION
Liverpool are on a run of three consecutive victories since Interim Head Coach Amber Whiteley took over from Matt Beard, who surprisingly left the club earlier this month. She immediately switched from a 532 system to a 4231, committing an extra player to the attack and that has reaped dividends.

With Hobinger positioned just behind Haug upfront, Liverpool have a lot of physical presence in the centre of their attack and that has created a nice diversion for Kopacs and especially Olivia Smith in the wide positions. Smith has been moved to the right wing whereas, previously, she was operating as a left-sided striker in a 352. Now Smith has greater freedom and more players around her to free her a little.

Defending transitions has been a pinch point for Arsenal recently, with Cooney-Cross committed high to the press and Mariona given a lot of freedom, they have been a little vulnerable to diagonal balls. Shekeira Martinez, Linda Caicedo and Olivia Smith have created a lot of issues for Arsenal recently and that, as well as Liverpool's height advantage, will be key issues for Slegers to manage.

PLAYER TO WATCH

I think a lot of Arsenal's problems defending transitions may well stem from asking Kyra Cooney-Cross to commit to the high press. Last season, she averaged 0.98 tackles per 90 in her own defensive third, that has dropped to 0.71 per 90 this season. But she is averaging 1.01 tackles per 90 in the middle and attacking thirds, that was 0.32 per 90 last year.

In short, Cooney-Cross is being asked to be much more aggressive in her positioning and I think there is a chance that has created a gap between midfield and defence which has created greater transitional threat for Arsenal's opponents. That is why I think Kim Little and Lia Walti will start this game to have a more solid structure to help look after Olivia Smith a little better than they did at Meadow Park.

I suspect Walti will be played on the left side of the partnership with a brief to protect the space Smith occupies. How Arsenal manage these transitional threats and whether they have the correct profiles to do it better is a longer-term question but for now, I expect Arsenal to use Walti in a more withdrawn role to try to manage that space.

PREDICTED LINE UPS

Subs: 1.Zinsberger 2.Fox 8.Mariona 9.Mead 17.Hurtig 21.Pelova 22.Nighswonger 23.Russo 32.Cooney-Cross

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off at 5.30pm on Saturday at Emirates Stadium, the game will be shown live on Sky Sports Football in the UK.

COMING UP
We will have 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 morning and we will have an analysis piece on Monday too.

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