Crystal Palace Women v Arsenal Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play their seventh game of March on Sunday when they travel to bottom of the table Crystal Palace at Sutton United in the WSL. The Gunners are riding the high of Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory over Real Madrid and will want to ride the crest of that wave into Sunday without forgetting the task at hand. Manchester City’s defeat to Chelsea last weekend means Arsenal would have to collapse in their final five matches to fall out of the UWCL qualification places.

Palace, meanwhile, have been given a lifeline in their battle against relegation by the spiralling form of Aston Villa, who are now only one point clear of the Eagles in 11th. Even a point for the home side could prove incredibly valuable. Renee Slegers might want to consider some rotation after an intense month that has seen six games so far, including a UWCL double header against Madrid and an FA Cup exit to Liverpool.

However, Arsenal won’t want to take their eye off the ball entirely or take anything for granted. There is a balance to be struck between resting players who have played the majority of an intense block and not taking Palace lightly. With a good bill of health in the squad, especially in the attacking positions, there ought to be room for rotation.

Arsenal’s bench on Wednesday night featured Beth Mead, Lia Walti, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Stina Blackstenius, Rosa Kafaji and Manu Zinsberger, none of those names would raise eyes if they made the starting line-up. Jenna Nighswonger will also play in place of the suspended Katie McCabe.

TEAM NEWS

Lotte Wubben-Moy and Laia Codina are both missing due to muscular injuries, as is Lina Hurtig who had to withdraw from the Sweden squad this week. Katie McCabe serves a one-match ban for yellow card accumulation.

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

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘They’re obviously fighting for points so they will put everything on the line and they will do everything to get points on Sunday and that’s what we’re preparing for. For us that’s important that we did really well on Wednesday and a lot of positives in the performance, and I think we set ourselves some new standards, so we want to live up to those standards again on Sunday.

‘We face so many challenges during a season. I think we’ve played against so many different styles of play, different formations. I think we’re getting really good at solving those different challenges and we play against teams that change in game. I think we’re getting more mature in whatever opposition, comes with on match day, we solve it and what Crystal Palace is going to do, we don’t know.

‘Lately they’ve been playing a back four with the new manager, but you never know they might change something for Sunday. We don’t take points for granted at all, even though we’re in second place in the table now we understand that every game is hard in the WSL. So I think the competition as a whole in the league is very strong.’

LAST TIME OUT
When the teams met at Meadow Park in January, Arsenal ran out 5-0 winners thanks to goals from Leah Williamson, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and a brace from Mariona.

https://youtu.be/k0FEnbBaTeA?feature=shared

THE OPPOSITION
Crystal Palace parted company with coach Laura Kaminski last month in a move that surprised many given that Palace were fully expected to fight against relegation this season. She was replaced by Norwegian coach Leif Smerud who had previously spent the majority of his coaching career with the Norwegian national team and U-18 and U-21 teams.

It is difficult to read exactly what Palace will do on Sunday since Smerud’s games in charge so far have been against bottom half sides. Kaminski would play a back four against the bottom half of the league but switch to a back five for the top four. I would anticipate that Palace do the same on this occasion too.

Clubs like West Ham, Everton and Leicester have left the relegation battle behind with improved performances since Christmas but Aston Villa have been sucked into the mire by their miserable form. Palace defeated them a fortnight ago to drag them into the basement battle. It has been a tough season for Palace but they are still in with a shot of WSL survival.

PLAYER TO WATCH

The suspension of Katie McCabe will lead to a first WSL start for Jenna Nighswonger, who joined the club from Gotham FC in January. The USWNT full-back started the FA Cup game against London City Lionesses in midfield having played there as a college player but we have seen precious little of her at left-back so far.

Nighswonger is a 24-year-old US international so adapting quickly ought to be well within her wheelhouse but the truth is, the form of Katie McCabe has been so good that Nighswonger has barely had a look in. When McCabe was booked against Liverpool, with Arsenal in charge of the scoreboard and the game, Jenna got 45 minutes of WSL action to prepare for this game.

She has a very good left foot and we saw glimpses of a strong looping cross, she also joins Arsenal’s legion of setpiece takers. But to adopt American terminology, Nighswonger is no greenhorn. Katie McCabe’s form is an impediment but one she is clearly capable of facing. It will be good to get a first proper look at Nighswonger at left-back.

PREDICTED LINE UP

Subs: 2.Fox 8.Mariona 10.Little 14.van Domselaar 16.Kafaji 18.Kelly 21.Pelova 23.Russo 28.Ilestedt

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match takes place at the VBS Community Stadium, Sutton United FC, on Sunday at 2pm. The game will be broadcast live on the Barclays WSL YouTube channel.

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 on the site around one hour after full-time. Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday and there will be the usual analysis piece on the site on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully you saw our Bonus Arsenal Women Arsecast from Friday and an exclusive interview with Lia Walti.

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