Arsenal travel to Leicester this Sunday, kick off 2pm. Leicester currently sit bottom of the table with five straight losses. Leicester suffered a cruel last minute defeat to relegation contenders Reading after Rachel Rowe scored in the 90th and 92nd minute after Leicester had been up 1-0. Arsenal sit second in the WSL table, just under Manchester United on goal difference, and will be looking to maintain their 100% winning start to the WSL season. Last season Arsenal won both of their fixtures, 5-0 and 4-0.
Arsenal continue to be without Leah Williamson (ankle ligament injury) and Rafaelle Souza (broken foot). Kim Little picked up a knee injury (reported to be a MCL injury) in their match vs West Ham last weekend and will also be out. Vivianne Miedema has been rested for a few weeks for both club and country but should be back after the international break. Leicester are absent Jess Sigsworth who ruptured her ACL in February, Hannah Cain is making her way back into the squad after she ruptured her ACL last November.
Leicester are one of the most defensive teams in the WSL and before last weekend hadn’t scored in the league, lacking offensive threat. They tend to play a 2-5-3-1 formation, but there is an element of uncertainty there this weekend due to the replacement of head coach Lydia Bedford and assistant coach Nicola Williamson mid-week by Willie Kirk, Everton’s former manager. Arsenal will look to break through their solid defence – the presence of Frida Maanum’s physicality and Jordan Nobb’s work rate in the midfield may be key, and it would also be great to see some of the creativity of Mana Iwabuchi. Maanum scored a brace against Leicester in the home fixture last season and has been in flying form for club recently, being nominated for WSL Player of the Month for October.
The match is available to watch on the BBC, kickoff is at 2pm GMT.