Arsenal Women v Lyon Feminin Champions League clash. Form Guide, Facts & Stats

Arsenal Women v Lyon Feminin Champions League clash. Form Guide, Facts & Stats by Michelle

Tomorrow evening Arsenal Women will face Olympique Lyonnais Feminin. at Emirates Stadium in their penultimate group stage match in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.  It’s a late one with an 8PM UK kick-off.  There have been rail strikes yesterday and today and more are scheduled for 16th & 17th December but travelling to the Emirates tomorrow should be fine, certainly with no planned strike action.  Tickets are still available to purchase here.  Arsenal’s final group match is away in Zurich on 21st December and our Gunners are largely expected to win that match, having beaten Zurich 3-1 in the first leg.

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press after Arsenal’s most recent win, away at Villa Park, when our Gunners beat Aston Villa 4-1 at the weekend.  Asked if he’s excited about Arsenal’s upcoming Champions League match Eidevall said Very. I mean, huge game against Lyon. It’s the European champions to come here to London at the Emirates. Be there, be there to support us. We need that. We need to create a great atmosphere at the Emirates. We need to fight for every second of it, and if we do and if we do our very best, maybe we can achieve qualification.

Arsenal currently sit at the top of Group C.  Here are the current Group C standings with still 2 more 2nd leg games to be played:

Aside from a 1-1 draw away at Juventus, Arsenal have won the rest of their group matches including a 5-1 away win at Lyon in the group stage opening match.  Lyon have won their 2 most recent games but they have both been against bottom of the group Zurich and they have yet to face Arsenal in the 2nd leg tomorrow with their final group game at home to Juventus.

Lyon will be heading to the Emirates with hope in their hearts.  They really need to leave with a point or 3 under their belts to keep their Champions League hopes alive.  But our Gunners, returning to much better form with the recent return of key players Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza and the imminent return of Captain Kim Little and Lina Hurtig.

Arsenal currently sit in 2nd position in the Women’s Super League, second only to Chelsea who have played an extra game.  Lyon, however, are not currently performing well in France’s Ligue 1, being way down the table in 8th place.  Like Arsenal in recent times, Lyon are  dealing with a raft of medium and long term injured players which continues to seriously affect their performance.

Based on all of the information detailed here I personally don’t think Lyon have a hope of taking points away from our Gunners tomorrow night.  Lyon’s form is abysmal while Arsenal have narrowly lost only 1 WSL game so far this season, whilst coping with a plethora of injuries.  If Lyon can’t take a point or 3 off Arsenal then the reigning champions could find themselves not even able to qualify beyond the group stages of the Champions League..

Michelle Maxwell

Follow Michelle on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Women’s Team!

Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Women’s Team? Click here….

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