Womens Champions League round 2 – Arsenal v Slavia Prague tonight

by Andrew Crawshaw

On Tuesday Evening Arsenal Women kick off their second round match in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.  The tie is being played home and away, the first leg at Borehamwood with a 19:30 kick off, the second leg is in Prague on Thursday of next week 9 September with an earlier kickoff at 17:30.

Slavia Prague have qualified directly into the second round by virtue of coming second in their league last year and are one of the five seeded teams giving them home advantage in the second leg.  Their UEFA Coefficient is 52.5 ours being 27.7 (this is because they are habitual qualifiers to the Champions League and we have only been in the competition once in the last five years).

The one time we did qualify we played Slavia Prague winning 8 – 0 at Borehamwood and 5 – 2 in Prague.  Unfortunately we then lost to PSG in the following round.

Slavia have started their domestic season with two comfortable wins 8 – 0 and 4 – 0 on Saturday.  Their team is mostly made up of Czech Nationals with a handful of Slovakians and one Dane.

Squad No	Player	Nationality	DOB
Goalkeepers
1	Olivie Lukášová	CZ	04/06/2001
24	Barbora Sladká	CZ	06/09/1993
Defenders
20	Diana Bartovičová	SLO	20/05/1993
3	Dominika Havoaová	CZ	02/05/2003
22	Andrea Jarchovská	CZ	10/11/1993
7	Simona Necidová	CZ	20/01/1994
5	Veronica Pincová	CZ	15/11/1989
Midfielders
14	Lucie Bendová	CZ	03/04/2005
11	Franny Černá	CZ	22/07/1997
19	Petra Divišová	CZ	05/06/1984
6	Michaela Khyroá	CZ	30/02/2000
	Lenka Kopčová	SLO	10/02/1999
9	Chirine Lamti	DEN	13/09/1994
23	Martina Šurnovská	SLO	10/02/1999
16	Tereza Szewieczková	CZ	04/05/1998
12	Denisa Veselá	CZ	08/01/1998
Forwards
27	Tereza Kožárová	CZ	18/10/1991
8	Kristyna Rüžičková	CZ	05/11/2002
17	Gabriela Šlajsová	CZ	07/04/2000

They are managed by Michal Kolmazník also from the Czech Republic who is 45 years old.

This game is the first competitive home game for Jonas Eidevell.  So far he has guided us to two friendly wins and the wins in the UEFA round 1 mini tournament in Moscow.

Given our lineup of international players we must be regarded as odds-on to win the game and probably by a significant score.

We still have a number of injured players:-

• Jordan Nobbs still hasn’t recovered from the ankle injury she got in the pre-season ‘friendly’ against Chelsea (never friendly and often resulting in injured players)
• Fran Stenson, our No3 goalkeeper, is missing from the squad list completely.  She missed the whole of last season with a thumb injury but there is no further explanation
• Malin Gut is out with an ACL and probably will return to Switzerland on her recovery.
• Vicki Schnaderbeck is still out with a knee injury.

Lia Wälti is available having recovered from a calf issue and Leah Williamson is back having missed the Moscow trip for personal reasons

Our Official squad is

Goalkeepers – 1 Zinsberger, 18 Williams, 28 Cull

Defenders – 3 Wubben-Moy, 4 Patten, 5 Beattie, 6 Williamson, 7 Catley, 16 Maritz, 20 Boye, 22 Schnaderbeck, 29, Goldie

Midfielders – 8 Nobbs, 10 Little, 12 Maanun, 13 Wälti, 23 Iwabuchi

Forwards – 9 Mead, 11 Miedema, 14 Parris, 19 Foord

I would expect us to have the following starting lineup

Zinsberger

Catley, Boye, Williamson, Maritz

Wälti, Iwabuchi, Little (c)

McCabe, Miedema, Mead

Scoreline could be anything but I will be disappointed if it is less than 4 – 1 to Arsenal and we have a target of 8 – 0 to repeat the home result from two years ago.  Scorers – Miedema, Iwabuchi and Mead with a high probability of a Little penalty at some point.

I understand that tickets are still available on the gate as well as online  Cost £8 or £4 for concessions.  The game will also be streamed live on arsenal.com.

This should be a good chance to see that everything is in order for the far tougher prospect of the WSL season opener against Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday with a 12:30 kickoff.