- How long before the ownership of Man City and Newcastle is properly questioned?
- What happened to Folarin at Monaco, and the fate of other young players at Arsenal
by Andrew Crawshaw
As I pointed out in my previous article our league record so far is P10, W7, D1, L2
Since its formation in the 2011/12 season the league has never been won by a team losing more than two matches as can be seen in the following table:-
|
Year |
Winner |
Record P/W/D/L |
Arsenal League position |
Record P/W/D/L |
|
2022/23 |
Chelsea |
22/19/1/2 |
3 |
22/15/2/5 |
|
2021/22 |
Chelsea |
22/18/2/2 |
2 |
22/17/4/1/ |
|
2020/21 |
Chelsea |
22/18/3/1 |
3 |
11/15/3/4 |
|
2019/20 * |
Chelsea |
15/12/3 |
3 |
15/12/0/3 |
|
2018/19 |
Arsenal |
20/18/0/2 |
||
|
2017/18 |
Chelsea |
18/13/5/0 |
3 |
18/11/4/3 |
|
2016 |
Manchester City |
16/13/3/0 |
3 |
16/10/2/4 |
|
2015 |
Chelsea |
14/10/2/2 |
3 |
14/8/3/3 |
|
2014 |
Liverpool |
14/7/5/2 |
4 |
14/6/3/5 |
|
2013 |
Liverpool |
14/12/0/2 |
3 |
14/10/3/1 |
|
2012 |
Arsenal |
14/10/4/0 |
||
|
2011 |
Arsenal |
14/10/2/2 |
NB the 2019/20 season was cut short due to the COVID pandemic
It is extremely unlikely therefore that, having already lost 2 league matches this season we will stand a chance of winning the league should we suffer any more defeats in the second half of the season. This means we must win away against both Chelsea and Manchester City as well as beating Man United at the Emirates (for which over 50,000 tickets have already been sold) and not suffer any more surprise losses against any of the other clubs who we would expect to be able to beat.
Our first match of the 12 we mustn’t lose is this coming Saturday afternoon against Everton at Meadow Park with a 14:00 kickoff.
Quite why the club allowed this fixture to be moved from its expected time of 14:00 on Sunday I have no idea. With a Men’s game also on Saturday I have had to make a choice as to which game to watch. Fortunately I was able to transfer my ticket for that game to an old friend so I’ll be at Boreham Wood to watch the Ladies.
Our Opponents are Everton who currently lie in 7th place in the League and have a record of P10, W3, D2, L5. They have scored 9 goals and conceded 19. Thus scoring at one goal a game and conceding two. We have scored 24 and conceded 10. The simple math therefore indicates an Arsenal win by 2 goals to 1. I would rather like to think that we will do better than that and boost our goal difference by scoring three or more. I would also like to hope we will be able to keep a clean sheet for a change (something we have only done twice this year against Brighton and West Ham two of the bottom three sides in the league).
One player who won’t be in the Everton squad is Kathrine Møller Kühl who is on loan from Arsenal as League rules prevent her playing against her parent club.
For Arsenal, Kim Little and Lina Hurting were both missing from last week’s cup tie with injuries. Kim’s was said to be a little one and so she may well be in contention for a return to the match day squad this coming Saturday. Lina’s problem is a little longer. She has had a torrid time with injuries since joining us and never seems to be available for long enough to really show her full potential, she just gets going before being stopped with another problem.
Leah Williamson is now back in full squad training but we will probably have to wait a little longer before we see her back on the pitch.
I would expect our starting 11 to be;-
Manuella Zinsburger (GK)
Emily Fox, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Amanda Illestead, Katie McCabe
Kyra Cooney-Cross, Vivianne Miedema, Lia Wälti
Beth Mead, Alessia Russo, Caitlin Foord
Subs from
Sabrina D’Angelo (GK), Naomi Williams (GK), Jen Beattie, Laia Cordina, Frida Maanum, Chloe Lacasse, Kim Little, Victoria Pelova, Stina Blackstenius
In the other matches this weekend
Friday 19:00 Leicester City v Aston Villa. With very little between the two sides so far this seems likely to be a draw however Aston Villa have so far had a disappointing season so a return to their expected form should see them win.
Sunday 12:30 Chelsea v Man United First v fourth in the table. Both sides are free scoring and have fairly tight defences. The big issue for Chelsea is they have just lost their main forward Sam Kerr to an ACL injury and it will be interesting to see how they cope in her absence. I think that this could well be a draw.
Sunday 14:00 Brighton v Bristol this is a game which both teams will be targeting as a must win both are involved in the relegation scrap. If Brighton win it will give them renewed hope of keeping their WSL place for next season. With home advantage they ought to manage.
Sunday 14:30 Man City v Liverpool City score more and let in fewer. I can’t see this being anything other than a win for City, hop[efully by only a single goal though.
Sunday 18:45 West Ham v Spurs Spurs should win this one. West Ham don’t score enough but Spurs concede quite a few so the margin of victory may well not be that big and West Ham are quite likely to score at some point.
Finally a quick review of last week’s Cup tie against Watford.
Arsenal had an extremely comfortable 5 – 1 win with goals from Alessia Russo (Minute 7), Lia Wälti (minute 12), Stina Blackstenius (minute 66), Amanda Ilestedt (minute 86) and Frida Maanum (minute 89). For Watford Michelle Agyeman (on loan from Arsenal) scored a consolation goal in the 77th minute.
Arsenal had 64% of possession and 19 shots (11 on target) to Watford’s 1. We also had 14 corners to Watford’s 1. Jacqueline Goldsmid the Watford Keeper made 6 saves which probably made her Watford’s player of the match. The three Arsenal loanees (Katie Reid at CB, Laila Herbert in midfield and striker Michelle Agyeman) all played the full 90 minutes for Watford and gave a good account of themselves.
Arsenal now have a home tie in the fifth round against Manchester City on 11 Feb with a 14:00 kickoff
COYWG
