Arsenal have two new players – a Central Defender and a Left Footed Winger

by Andrew Crawshaw

OK I know that they are both for the Women’s team, but nevertheless they are welcome additions to our wonderful group of players who are currently short in numbers following a real injury crisis.

The Club have announced today that they have signed Katrine Veje a 27 year old left footed winger from French club Montpellier.  Katrine in a Danish international with 104 senior caps  and is likely to go straight into the first team so an appearance from the substitutes bench on Sunday at West Ham is a real possibility.  I believe she has been given the No 2 squad number worn with such distinction by former captain Alex Scott so no pressure there then.

In November the Club announced the signing of Janni Arnth another Danish international and her transfer is now effective.  She is 32 and a Centre Back with 71 full international caps.  Given that she has been around the club for a while it is quite likely that she will be in the starting lineup on Sunday.  She has the No 4 jersey

We started the season with only 18 senior squad members but with Ava Kuyken (now 18) training with the squad full time.  As the injuries mounted during the first half of the season, Ava was joined by fellow youngsters Ruby Grant (who also got her first goal against Millwall with a stunning 30 yard effort), Paige Bailey-Gayle, Amelia Hazard, MelissaFillis, Anna Katerina Albuquerque and Lachante Paul.

Out for the season are:-

9 Danielle Carter (Forward) – Cruciate knee Ligaments, now in the Gym but highly unlikely to feature this season

8 Jordan Nobbs (MF) – ACL in November, out for the season

Our other long term injuries are:-

10 Kim Little (MF) – Hopefully back in training in January following broken tibia

12 Jessica Samuelsson (Right Back)- She played part of one game after recovering from a broken bone in her foot on international duty with Sweden, was called up fro Sweden  again and was injured against England Women.  No update on her return

22 Viktoria Schnaderback (CB) – Knee injury in pre-season 

21 Tabea Kemme (MF/Defence) – Knee Cartilage, hopefully back training in Jan/Feb

The WSL starts on Sunday following the winter break and the knockout stage of the Continental Tyres Cup starts on Wednesday next week so we are certainly going to need all of our available players over the next few weeks.

Here is a reminder of the current WSL league table.

		P	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
1	Arsenal	10	9	0	1	35	27
2	Man City	11	8	3	0	27	27
3	Chelsea	11	6	4	1	10	22
4	Birmingham	11	7	1	3	6	22
5	Reading	11	5	3	3	4	18
6	West Ham	11	5	1	5	-3	16
7	Bristol City	10	4	2	4	-5	14
8	Liverpool	11	3	1	7	-11	10
9	Everton	10	1	2	7	-13	5
10	Brighton	11	1	1	9	-21	4
11	Yeovil	11	1	0	10	-29	3

NB please note that there is still the delayed match between Bristol and Everton to be played.  Also every team sits out one round of matches as there are 11 clubs so only 5 matches per round.  We sat out in the last round of matches in December so now have a game in hand over all of the other teams.

After a slow start from both Manchester City and Chelsea the top of the table now has a familiar look about it in terms of the three teams involved, although Chelsea still are only third on goal difference from Birmingham.

Man City are now level on points with us but have played an extra game.  They are the only unbeaten team, proving too strong for our injury ravaged side when we met in November.

In Vivianne Miedema we have the leading goalscorer in the Country.  Her tally for the season so far is – League 14 goals and seven assists; 78% of her shots have been on target and she averages a goal every 64 minutes.  In the four Continental Tyres Cup group matches she has another six goals.  In half a season she has racked up a total of 20 goals!  I just hope that she maintains that scoring record up in the second half of the season.

This coming Sunday the matches are

12:30 West Ham v Arsenal at the Rush Green Stadium.  This game is being shown in the UK by the BBC on their red button and on line services.

14:00 Liverpool v Brighton at Prenton Park

14:00 Chelsea v Everton at Cherry Red Records Fan’s Stadium

14:00 Birmingham v Reading at Damson Park

 15:00 Bristol v Man City at Stoke Gifford Stadium

Next Wednesday we play in the quarter final of the Continental Tyres Cup.  The match is at Meadow Park Borehamwood and kick-off is 19:30.

Birmingham are a very difficult team to play against and this is bound to be close, there is no chance of us being able to do any significant rotation so it will be a full strength team that is needed.

COYWG

On the Predictions site: 

• Manchester City v Liverpool: the predictions and the psychology

On Untold Arsenal

• Now and then: Arsenal after 21 games compared with previous years.
• What we are not allowed to talk about concerning Premier League football