Key events
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Meanwhile, the Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers emphasised the importance of the fans in their win over Corinthians. She said:
But the fans had to be resilient as well and they were with us. They were just as mentally strong as the players on the pitch and I think they fuelled the players. I’m so happy that we won the game and could give them the goal and the win and then celebrate in the rain afterwards where everyone was staying and we had that special moment with the fans again.
Over 40,000 fans are expected to watch today’s game at the Emirates. Slegers added:
It’s so special and it’s so important for us, so let’s bring all that energy again on Sunday together.
Manchester City head coach Andrée Jeglertz has been a revelation since joining the club in the summer. He’s been nominated for the manager of the month award for January after already winning it in October, November and December. Speaking before today’s game, Jeglertz said:
Of course, I didn’t expect that we should be in this situation after six or seven months. But you go in, and in every game that I have played, or that we have played since I started coaching, we try to win and have a strong belief that we can and we have been successful in that and hopefully it continues.
Chloe Kelly starts as a substitute against her former club. The England winger came off the bench to score an equaliser in the reverse fixture in October but it wasn’t enough to stop Manchester City going on to win the game through a late Iman Beney winner.
The teams
Arsenal: van Domselaar, Fox, Wubben-Moy, Catley, McCabe, Little, Mariona, Russo, Mead, Foord, Smith
Subs: Votikova, Williams, Codina, Williamson, Holmberg, Harwood, Pelova, Maanum, Kelly
Manchester City: Kamishita, Rose, Knaak, Greenwood, Casparij, Blindkilde, Hasegawa, Hemp, Kerolin, Miedema, Shaw
Subs: Keating, Clinton, Coombs, Ouahabi, Coffey, Lohmann, Beney, Prior, Murphy
Preamble
Hello and welcome to minute-by-minute coverage of Arsenal v Manchester City in the Women’s Super League. It’s the most played fixture in the league’s history and so far there’s been nothing to separate the two teams – they’ve both won 11 out of the 24 games between them.
Arsenal sit fourth in the table and will be confident after winning the inaugural Women’s Champions Cup by beating Corinthians 3-2 last week. Despite being champions of the world, they’re 13 points behind league leaders Manchester City, but they’ll be buoyed by their unbeaten run at home this season. Their only WSL loss altogether came against Manchester City in the reverse fixture.
Manchester City will also feel on top of the world after their resounding 5-1 victory over reigning champions Chelsea last week. Vivianne Miedema and Kerolin were excellent in a game that marked the end of Chelsea’s last six years of dominance. Manchester City will be keen to set a record of their own as a win today would see them equal the longest winning run in WSL history (14).
Kick off is at 12pm. “>Email me your thoughts.
