Arsenal v Aston Villa Women Preview

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime on match day four of the WSL. Renee Slegers and her team will look to get back to winning ways after last weekend’s slightly tepid 0-0 draw away at Manchester United. Last season’s meetings with the Villains showed the best and worst of Slegers side in 2024-25.

In the home game, a fluid Arsenal team clinically took Villa apart with a comfortable 4-0 victory. In the reverse fixture in May, the Gunners were too easy to counterattack and Villa’s cast of rapid forwards like Kirsty Hanson, Ebony Salmon and Chastity Grant ran through them at will and won 5-2.

That game had a different context given it came immediately on the heels of a Champions League semi-final away win at Lyon but after the victory at West Ham a fortnight ago, Slegers said her and her team saw the situations where they didn’t perform last season and Villa Park was certainly one of those.

With an away game at Manchester City next weekend, three points is critical for Arsenal at the Emirates. Last weekend, Manchester United tried a series of balls over the top of the Gunners defence which were swallowed up by Steph Catley and Katie Reid. Arsenal have looked far less vulnerable through the middle of the pitch this season and Villa, with their rotation of positions and fast wide players, will test that again on Saturday.

TEAM NEWS

Renee Slegers says that Leah Williamson is the only absentee from the squad. Slegers added that Williamson had an appointment with a specialist on Thursday which ought to clarify the length of her absence.

Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 28.Borbe
Defenders: 2.Fox 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 24.Hinds 26.Reid
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little(c) 12.L.Maanum 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 15.Smith 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
‘We want to be consistently consistent and we want to find ways. We need to bring that in every single game, so that’s no different. But we know that we’ll have to bring that on Saturday. We respect Aston Villa. Of course, we played a hard game away last year against Villa, so we know that we need to be on our best on Saturday.

‘I think a lot of learnings from our game last year, Villa away and they have certain strengths in the team, again they have a strong belief in how they play and if they will do what we expect them to do, they will be very aggressive against us so we will have to find a way to find the solutions.

‘It will be a tough task, it will ask a lot from us, from a presence perspective, are we technically present, are we psychologically present in the game, because we expect to be under pressure and we expect to have to find solutions on Saturday. They are aggressive, they are front-footed, they have a lot of physical qualities with speeds up top for example and they look very disciplined as a team.’

THE OPPOSITION
Villa have stabilised after a short, tumultuous period under previous coach Robert de Pauw, who left in controversial circumstances last season. Under Spanish coach Natalia Arroyo, Villa have switched to a 3412 system which relies heavily on rotation of positions in attack. They are a fast team with quick counter attacking threats.

Rachel Daly has been playing a slightly withdrawn role with Hanson and Salmon playing as split strikers and right wing-back Chastity Grant pushing up for good measure. Villa rotate their runners very well, sometimes Daly will run from deep to join the attack, sometimes Salmon will move in-field slightly and allow Chastity Grant to push up from right wing-back.

It means that Villa’s runners can be difficult to detect when they counter. They reinforced their defence with the signings of Lyn Wilms and Oceane Deslandes, both of whom are 24 and both of whom quite experienced, which probably gives you an insight into their transfer policy. Expect to see Wilms leaving her post in the back three to come and get tight to Russo when she drops deep to protect the ball.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Conversations about players who have not been playing have been dominant in the fan base over the last week or so. But someone who has forced their way into the team is centre-half Katie Reid, who only turned 19 this week. There were eyebrows raised when she started the season opener against LCL ahead of Lotte Wubben-Moy and Laia Codina.

She performed very well against LCL and West Ham but at Manchester United last week, we saw a real coming of age performance. Reid’s ascension has been swift. She initially joined Watford on loan for the second half of the 2023-24 season before being recalled when Amanda Ilestedt became pregnant. Reid has stayed with the club ever since due to her performances in training.

Clearly, Arsenal decided that staying in the environment was best for her development and now she is in the starting line-up ahead of a World Cup winner and a two-times Euros winner. Villa’s diversity of attacking threats will test her again on Saturday but her name on the teamsheet will not prompt much discussion, unlike the most recent game at the Emirates on the opening day of the season.

MY PREDICTED LINE UP

Subs: 1.Zinsberger 3.Wubben-Moy 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 19.Foord 21.Pelova 24.Hinds 25.Blackstenius 32.Cooney-Cross

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game kicks off on Saturday at 12noon at Emirates Stadium and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK.

COMING UP
We will have the usual on the whistle match report from Aidan Gibson, post-match quotes from Renee Slegers on the site around an hour after the final whistle. The tactical analysis piece will be ready likely for Monday evening, while Jamie and I will have a podcast for you on Monday as well. Also, don’t forget to sign up to our free weekly Arsenal Women Newsletter.

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