Key events
Tom Garry
The conditions are, frankly, atrocious. The rain is relentless and the wind will be a factor too. There are fans in ponchos, some with umbrellas flipping inside out and some fans who underestimated the strength of the storm are now regretting wearing their lightweight summer jacket.
Tom Garry will be checking in from the Joie Stadium in a few moments – he was also at Leigh last night to watch Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea.
Sonia Bompastor’s WSL champions dropped points for the first time this season after Anna Sandberg’s sumptuous equaliser. Here’s his report:
Andrée Jeglertz and Renée Slegers are familiar foes on the touchline. From 2021 to 2023, Jeglertz’s Linköping faced Slegers’s Rosengård seven times in Swedish football.
Slegers had the measure of Jeglertz more often than not, winning five times and losing just once in all competitions. Her Rosengård side were Swedish champions in 2021 and 2022:
I think especially that year I was coaching in Sweden at Rosengård, what he did with the Linköping team was impressive. If you look at the players they had and the resources they had and the football they played, it was really, really good and I’ve always had a good relationship with Andrée. I think he’s a great guy and a good coach.
Chloe Kelly has to make do with a place on the bench for the third game in a row. Her exit from Manchester City – initially on loan in January – came with some parting shots as she accused the club of having “called reporters to assassinate my character and tried to plant negative stories about me”.
Renée Slegers has been speaking about Kelly’s return to her former club and the pressure that comes with it:
I think Chloe has gone through a lot of things in her football career. She’s now representing us and we’re very proud of that. I think she’ll find the right levels. I think that’s special with Chloe, that she has fire inside her. When she uses it in the right way, which she’s been doing, it creates so much for herself and for the team.
We’ve played some high-pressure games with Arsenal last season. She’s shown such a good side of herself with grittiness, resilience, but also composure and I’m really impressed with that.
Team news
As promised, here are the confirmed starting lineups:
Man City (4-3-3): Yamashita; Casparij, Rose, Greenwood, Ouahabi; Clinton, Hasegawa, Blindkilde Brown; Fujino, Shaw, Miedema.
Subs: Keating, Layzell, Coombs, Wienroither, Lohmann, Beney, Prior, Thomas, Adedini.
Andrée Jeglertz makes just one change as Jade Rose comes in for Gracie Prior after City’s 4-1 win against London City Lionesses last weekend.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Van Domselaar; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Catley, McCabe; Little, Caldentey; Pelova, Smith, Foord; Russo.
Subs: Zinsberger, Reid, Codina, Hinds, Cooney-Cross, Maanum, Mead, Kelly, Blackstenius.
Renée Slegers makes three alterations to her XI that drew 1-1 with Aston Villa as Lotte Wubben-Moy replaces Katie Reid at centre-back. Victoria Pelova and Caitlin Foord start on the wing as Frida Maanum and Beth Mead drop to the bench.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off in the WSL, as Manchester City and Arsenal do battle at a wet and windy Joie Stadium. This fixture produced seven goals in February, with the Gunners on the right side of a 4-3 scoreline, so strap in for hopefully more of the same (nicely jinxed, I think).
Today’s hosts come into this one off the back of three straight wins after their opening-night defeat to Chelsea, while the European champions remain unbeaten this season but have drawn their past two games. Chloe Kelly is back, it’s Miedema v Mead, and Storm Amy is wreaking havoc – there are talking points aplenty in Manchester.
You can get in touch with your comments and questions using this email.
The action gets under way at 12pm (BST) and the team news will be along very shortly indeed.
