Our Arsenal Women struggled with injury after injury last season. Most of us were left asking, “What if?”
Although they finished third, head coach Jonas Eidevall struggled to obtain results with the limited group he was left with. Fortunately, he’s learned from his oversights from last season. In the summer, quality signings were made.
Looking at those signings, we could see the Swede unleash a new defensive pairing of Laia Codina and Amanda Ilestedt to replace the Leah Williamson and Rafaele pairing. Another midfield enforcer in Kyra Cooney-Cross could also be unleashed. We could also see the team score more goals, as Alessia Russo and Cloe Lacasse, who have a penchant for scoring, joined.
Our women’s team is stronger than ever; it’s just a shame we’re not in the Champions League (we were eliminated in the qualifiers not long ago), which raises the question: can we still fill the Emirates as we did in the final stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League last season without Champions League football? We can still do it; there’s no doubt about that. The Gunner Women have won our hearts, as evidenced by almost 45,000 fans purchasing tickets to watch our girls take on Liverpool in the WSL opener set for the Emirates next weekend.
As fans, we are ready to support the team and cheer them on. However, they, on their part, must make us proud by lifting the 2023–24 WSL. The squad is stronger than ever, and all that remains is for Eidevall to come up with tactics to propel us to glory. It will be interesting to observe how the new players and those returning from injury interact with the team, which is our strongest 11 and whether we utilise a back 3 or a back 4, who is our main striker between Stina Blackstenius and Russo (or perhaps Beth Mead), and who is our no. 10, Vivianne Miedema or Frida Maanum (or will we go with two No. 8s?
The best part is that our Women will be back in action in less than 7 days, and all these questions will be answered….
Michelle Maxwell
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