Arsenal battled to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Leicester at the King Power Stadium, with a brilliant goal from Frida Maanum and an impressive debut from Daphne van Domselaar.
However, the victory was marred by another injury setback to Laura Wienroither, adding to Arsenal’s growing list of defensive absentees. The Gunners now face a critical period as they navigate through their congested fixture list with several key players sidelined.
Arsenal defeated Leicester away at the King Power Stadium thanks to a Frida Maanum goal brilliantly assisted by Alessia Russo.
As expected, Jonas Eidevall made multiple changes to his starting XI following an intense period of four games in two weeks. There was a first start in goal for Daphne van Domselaar, with Laura Wienroither also getting her first season start, while Emily Fox, Mariona Caldentey, and Kim Little were rotated.
The planned starting XI was van Domselaar; Wienroither, Wubben-Moy, Codina, McCabe; Cooney-Cross, Wälti; Mead, Maanum, Russo, Foord.
However, Emily Fox came in before kick-off for Laura Wienroither who got injured in the warm-up.
It seems there is a curse on the Arsenal defenders right now as three of them are now injured: Steph Catley, Leah Williamson, and Wienroither.
It means the only available defender on the bench was 18-year-old Katie Reid.
When you consider that Katie McCabe is overworked having started all six games this season and was subbed due to tiredness, we ended up playing Caitlin Foord at left-back, who had a torrid time against Chossenotte who had come with fresh legs.
Reid was subbed in for the final minutes of the game to prevent an equaliser.
Load management is already coming into play this season, as we have played six games in 25 days, including four high-pressure Champions League qualifiers, as well as a league opener against Manchester City.
There are three players over 500 minutes out of a maximum of 540: Codina, McCabe, and Fox, all defenders.
Those between 400 and 500 minutes are Little, Caldentey, Zinsberger, and Russo.
In the 300 – 400 range are Cooney-Cross, Foord, Wubben-Moy, and Maanum.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have a few players who have between zero to 101 minutes: van Domselaar with 90, who had her first start yesterday and was phenomenal, keeping the team’s clean sheet with big saves.
Kafaji with 101 minutes had one start, played 45 minutes, and gets minutes as a sub. Probably because she is still adjusting to the team but could offer more, especially with her creativity and other individual skills.
Wienroither has 32 minutes but was supposed to start on Sunday. Her warm-up injury meant she did not get extra minutes and was seen on crutches passing through the mixed zone.
Kühl has three minutes so far and is being given the Gio treatment. It’s unclear why she wasn’t sent on loan or sold in the summer considering the lack of game time she gets.
Although she is there if one of the other three midfielders gets a medium/long-term injury, currently, Eidevall uses three players for his two central midfielder slots, and she just sits on the bench, even though she offers options on the pitch that other players don’t.
Reid got her first minutes on Sunday, while Godfrey has still not been sent on the pitch so far. With Hurtig on the way back to full fitness, you would expect Godfrey to be sent on loan in January.
Right now, we could see Lia, who has not made the bench for a while, back in the squad due to the three defenders’ injuries.
The downside of minutes management was exposed yesterday when there was a clear lack of familiarity mixed with tiredness that led to a disjointed performance. It is not easy to find the right balance, but the performance was good enough to get three points thanks to a fantastic debut for van Domselaar.
There is no doubt that the league last year was lost due to points dropped against lower-rated teams rather than against City, United, or Chelsea. It is a very positive sign for the team to have been able to bring three points home on a tough day.
Arsenal currently sit just outside the Champions League places, two points behind the two teams with a 100% record, Chelsea and Manchester United. Those two teams would have met on matchday 3 if the WSL organisation, owner Leagues OpCo, and Sky Sports had not decided to put that game two days before the UWCL game for Chelsea, resulting in a big calendar mess.
Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and Manchester City are level on points with four teams fighting for the third UWCL spot.
At the bottom of the table, Everton and Palace are battling to avoid the lone relegation place on nil points, while Aston Villa, Leicester, and West Ham are just one point ahead of them and could be dragged into that battle.
