Aston Villa Women v Arsenal Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal travel to Villa Park in the WSL on Wednesday night in a game that, emotionally, feels very difficult to place. After the immense dopamine hit of Sunday’s triumph in Lyon, it almost feels cruel to players and supporters to revert to the WSL routine again so quickly.

But revert they must, Arsenal still have a job to do in the WSL. A point at Villa Park confirms the Gunners’ place in the top three and gives them the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League again next season- assuming they don’t qualify as defending champions of course. (See, it’s difficult to escape).

There is some question about whether Slegers will be inclined to rotate the team slightly given the monumental effort required over two legs against Lyon. Players such as Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo and certainly Daphne van Domselaar who had fitness question marks ahead of the semi-finals might well be spared.

For the Brighton and United games, Slegers will want to make sure that her players stay sharp and in condition ahead of the Champions League Final. There is work to do to finish in 2nd place at least ahead of Manchester United. For the Gunners, switching on physically and mentally for this game will be a big challenge.

TEAM NEWS

Laia Codina and Lina Hurtig are still out, Renee Slegers may look to manage players like Daphne van Domselaar, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo who had fitness question marks ahead of the Lyon game.

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 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little(c) 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 16.Kafaji 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘The big intense, ecstatic moment happened straight after the whistle. I will never forget that moment, it was very big for everyone who works for the club. We are happy we have put ourselves in a position to play in the final. But then we travelled back and yesterday has been about individualisation, players who needed to do work on the pitch and the staff and players had lunch together.

‘Then today it was all about looking forward to the Aston Villa game. We have been very good at regulating our emotions, that is a quality the team has and it is going to be needed now as well. I also think we don’t want to neglect emotions, they can be turned into a lot of positive energy and that is the balance we try to find to find the perfect preparation for Aston Villa.

‘It was important for us to get together and acknowledge what we did and create good energy. We want to acknowledge the emotions. Villa is a good team, they have secured their spot in the league for next year, so I guess they are happy with that. They have changed their structure a little bit and they come from two wins in the league and they will be free in how they take on the game together and we are aware of where they come from and what they can bring to the game tomorrow.’

LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at the Emirates in December, Arsenal ran out 4-0 winners thanks to goals from Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and a brace from Alessia Russo. In this fixture last season, Arsenal were 3-1 victors. Ebony Salmon gave Villa a first half lead but second half goals from Pelova, Wubben-Moy and Blackstenius completed the comeback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDrspuymyZo

THE OPPOSITION
Villa have, quite simply, endured a pretty wretched season by their standards. Despite boasting talent like Jordan Nobbs, Rachel Daly, Kirsty Hanson, Paula Tomas and Noelle Maritz, Villa were briefly sucked into a relegation battle, which is a significant under delivery on the talent they have. Villa finished 7th in the WSL last season but that still felt like a slightly modest finish, so 11th is a long way below their standards.

It’s been a rocky season since Carla Ward departed at the end of last season and Villa brought in Dutch coach Robert de Pauw but he departed the club in December amid allegations of falling out with players. Shaun Goater took over on a temporary basis until the appointment of highly rated Spanish coach Natalia Arroyo.

It is clear that Arroyo’s principles will take some time to take hold. Villa also have the highest average squad age in the WSL, the squad needs to turn over and introduce younger talent and it will be interesting to see the profiles of player Arroyo targets and what Villa’s level of ambition is going forward.

PLAYER TO WATCH

I strongly suspect that Lia Walti and Kyra Cooney-Cross will come back into the team at Villa Park. Both have been sidelined by the partnership of Mariona and Kim Little in central midfield. Nobody really knows whether that midfield partnership will survive into next season or whether it exists in this particular vacuum of time.

Walti has suffered as a result of undergoing surgery in December before playing through a calf injury in the New Year and has lost her place in the starting line-up to Mariona. Again, I think this doesn’t need to have any significant long-term consequences, but Slegers might have food for thought ahead of the Champions League Final about how she wants to configure her midfield.

For Cooney-Cross, the club seem to believe in her quality in the long-term but sooner or later, the long-term has to become ‘now.’ When she came on against Lyon, KCC pressed high and Slegers seems to like using her qualities to go and hunt for possession when the opponent has the ball. This game could present an opportunity for Walti and Cooney-Cross is to

PREDICTED LINE UPS

Subs: 3.Wubben-Moy 10.Little 11.McCabe 12.L.Maanum 14.van Domselaar 16.Kafaji 21.Pelova 23.Russo 62.Reid

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Villa Park on Wednesday at 6pm and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK.

COMING UP
We will have Aidan Gibson’s on the whistle match report as usual, as well as every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference on the site around an hour after the final whistle. We will probably hold the next episode of the Arsenal Women Arsecast until after the Brighton game, but hopefully you already saw the post Lyon podcast here.

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