Arsenal begin their Group C efforts in the Women’s Champions League with a potentially tricky trip to Bayern Munich. Jonas Eidevall’s side progressed past Hacken to reach the group stages of the competition and will be bidding for a deep competition run. But Bayern, Juventus and Valeranga represent dangerous opposition for the London club, with the German side winning the Frauen Bundesliga without losing a game last season. The Bavarians are five from five in the league so far and will start their continental campaign full of confidence.
Arsenal head into their Champions League opener on the back of a difficult weekend; in the pouring rain and against a stubborn defence, they were held at bay and drew 0-0 with Everton at the Emirates. While far from a devastating blow to their title hopes, Jonas Eidevall will know they can’t give up too many points on home turf if they want to seriously challenge Man City and Chelsea. Tonight, though, attention turns to Europe.
It has been a decade of quite impressive consistency for Arsenal Women in the WSL - though sadly that has been at a slightly lower level than they’d ideally like, more often than not. Since 2013, they have finished precisely third in the table on no fewer than nine occasions - with a fourth, a second and a single title win in 2019 making up the rest of the past decade or so. They retained the League Cup last season, however, and also went all the way to the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League last season - beaten 5-4 on aggregate by Wolfsburg in the end.
A quick look at the domestic form of both clubs so far this season, then: Bayern are five from five so far in the Frauen-Bundesliga, with 18 goals scored during that 100% start. Additionally they won the Super Cup against Wolfsburg, 1-0, and thrashed Sand in the cup. Arsenal sit sixth after three WSL games: one win and two draws, with the first of those being a thrilling 2-2 with Man City. They also saw off Rangers (6-0), Rosenborg (1-0) and Hacken (4-1 on aggregate) to reach the groups in Europe.
We’re only a week on from the Arsenal manager hitting out at the WSL for poor scheduling - feeling the English game, perhaps, should emulate some of those in Europe to give teams a better chance of succeeding. Jonas Eidevall hit out at the Women’s Super League (WSL) for the “amateurish” scheduling issues that forced the postponement of Chelsea and Manchester United. The two clubs had been due to meet at Kingsmeadow on Sunday in a marquee clash, but the encounter was called off at short notice due to concerns over player welfare. The decision, announced a week before the game, came after the London club were scheduled to play their first Champions League group stage fixture against Real Madrid on Tuesday night. Arsenal and Manchester City joined Sonia Bompastor’s side in reaching the group stages; like Chelsea, they were played their weekend WSL fixture on Sunday, resulting in a tight turnaround.
Last night’s Champions League results:
Group A:
Roma 1-0 Wolfsburg
Lyon 3-0 Galatasaray
Group B:
Celtic 0-2 Twente
Chelsea 3-2 Real Madrid
And tonight’s fixtures...
Group C:
Bayern v Arsenal
Hammarby v St Polten
Group D:
Valerenga v Juventus
Man City v Barcelona.
We’ll have coverage of Man City against the reigning champions here on the Independent tonight too, kicking off at 8pm BST.
Confirmed teams are in!
Bayern: Grohs, Viggosdottir, Hansen, Gwinn, Damnjanovic, Lohmann, Buhl, Harder, Zadrazil, Simon, Stanway.
Arsenal: Zinsberger, Fox, Codina, Williamson, Mariona, Little, McCabe, Maanum, Walti, Foord, Blackstenius.
Among that Bayern lineup there will be a few familiar names to WSL viewers - Pernille Harder joined from Chelsea in 2023, scoring 13 in 23 last term amid a couple of injuries. And Georgia Stanway, anyone?! The club vice-captain and England Lionesses star joined in the summer of 2022, with two titles to her name since venturing across to Germany. This term she has started with an eye for goal too - four in six so far.
Under half an hour until kick-off. Two in the group go through of course so a failure to win here won’t necessarily be totally damaging for Arsenal, but of course there’s no room for complacency. Leah Williamson, Stina Blackstenius and Caitlyn Foord are back in the lineup tonight after coming off the bench at the weekend.
