Arsenal v Lyon Feminin Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal face Lyon in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Arsenal Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. The Gunners will not only be facing eight time winners in Lyon but will also come into contact with their former coach Joe Montemurro, who won Arsenal’s most recent league title with the club in 2018-19.

After a breathless come back to reverse a 2-0 first leg deficit against Madrid in an energetic Emirates in the quarter-finals, Renee Slegers and her team will once again hope to harness the strength of a 30,000+ crowd in North London. The decision to place the game at lunchtime will have had an impact on ticket sales and will probably impact the atmosphere too and it’s a shame that UEFA keeps using this timeslot for semi-finals.

Nonetheless, the Gunners will go into this tie as slight underdogs, especially with Daphne van Domselaar out and with doubts over Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly. Lyon’s pedigree in this competition is peerless and though the Gunners did beat Sonia Bompastor’s Lyon 5-1 two seasons ago, that was very much an injury ravaged Lyon who have since transformed their forward line to boot.

Arsenal will need to balance going for the win with respecting the incredible transitional threat Lyon possess in Tabitha Chawinga and Kadidiatou Diani. Leicester boss Amandine Miquel said on Tuesday she felt Arsenal were more of a collective threat than Lyon who, in her words, ‘focus more on individuals.’ But they are packed with talent, this will be a tough test for Slegers and her team.

TEAM NEWS

Daphne van Domselaar is out with an ankle issue. Arsenal are keeping their cards close to their chest with regards the availability of Alessia Russo (ankle) and Chloe Kelly (foot) but Russo appeared to train with the team on Friday while Kelly trained individually. Lotte Wubben-Moy should be ready to come back into the squad but Laia Codina and Lina Hurtig are still out.

Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little(c) 13.Walti 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 16.Kafaji 19.Foord 25.Blackstenius

Doubts: 18.Kelly 23.Russo

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
Renee Slegers’ press conference takes place at 2.30pm on Friday, this section will be updated on Friday evening and we will have a story or two carrying her quotes too.

LAST TIME OUT
When these teams met at Arsenal Stadium in December 2022 in the group stages, Lyon ran out 1-0 winners with a Frida Maanum own goal.

THE OPPOSITION

Lyon have 17 French league titles (all won since 2007), 10 Coup des Frances and eight Champions League titles, all won since 2011. They last won the competition in 2024 and lost last year’s final to Barcelona. Current squad members Wendie Renard and Eugenie Le Sommer have been involved in all eight of those Champions League titles. It is a record without peer in women’s football.

Nowadays, Barcelona are probably considered the supreme team in women’s European club football but that isn’t a perch Lyon will give up lightly. Under the guidance of former owner Jean-Michele Aulas they had a budget to blow away every other team in the sport. Lyon, the main club, has some ongoing cash flow issues and they sold the women’s team to US investor Michelle Kang in 2023.

Lyon thrashed Bayern Munich 6-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals which shows you their strength. It does look as though they will be missing their captain and lynchpin Wendie Renard for this game. But as well as being packed with individual talent, Lyon pose a significant counter-attacking threat through Diani and Chawinga on the flanks.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Since recovering from surgery on a badly broken finger, Kim Little has been outstanding in the Arsenal midfield. Her newly found partnership with Mariona in the engine room has heightened her creative game and the manner in which she finds that right hand channel has become a fruitful avenue for Arsenal in recent weeks.

She is also Arsenal’s most experienced player and while she has yet to win the competition, she was part of the team that went to three consecutive semi-finals between 2011 and 2013 and she is the club’s record goal scorer in the competition by some distance with 38 goals (Jayne Ludlow is 2nd in that table with 22). If Arsenal go to the final and she plays in both legs of the semi and the final, she will equal Emma Byrne’s record of 77 UWCL appearances.

Lyon have talent in midfield in the shape of Egurrola, Heaps, Maroszan and van de Donk and the midfield will be a keenly contested area. Arsenal will not only need Kim’s experience and leadership but her quality too. She has immaculate big game pedigree and Lyon will respect her as an opponent probably more than any other Arsenal player.

PREDICTED LINE-UPS

Subs: 3.Wubben-Moy 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 21.Pelova 22.Nighswonger 23.Russo 28.Ilestedt 32.Cooney-Cross 40.Williams 43.Peacock 62.Reid

HOW TO WATCH
The game takes place at Arsenal Stadium on Saturday at 12.30pm and will be screened live on DAZN’s website and on TNT Sports in the UK. A full list of where the game can be watched across the world is available here.

COMING UP
We will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report as well as every word from Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference around an hour after the final whistle. There will be an analysis piece on the match on the site on Monday or Tuesday and Jamie and I will have a post-match pod for you on Monday too.

Don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly Arsenal Women Newsletter here.

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