Defence Begins!

Afternoon guys.

Arsenal’s women kick off their defence of the Champions League crown tonight with a really tough fixture against Lyon. The reigning French League Champions are in scintillating form, having won all of their four opening domestic league fixtures. Marseille were brushed aside 3-1, Saint-Etienne were defeated 2-0 before both PSG and Lens were battered 6-1 and 8-1 respectively.

Arsenal however have found the start of the new WSL season a bit more of a challenge and already find themselves five points behind Chelsea who sit top of the league. Two wins, two draws and a defeat is not the ideal start for Renée Slegers players, not if they are to knock Chelsea off their perch.

Manager Renée Slegers:

We’re very excited, it all starts over again, so we start from scratch. We’re very proud of what we did last year and there was a lot going into that, but we all start over again, and everyone is constantly developing. Teams change and we’re going to play against an extremely strong opponent tomorrow. They’ve made a lot of changes as well in their squad. They have a new coach, so we’re extremely humble, but we of course also look forward to this occasion tomorrow. (Tonight)

Unlike Mikel Arteta, Slegers has an almost fully fit squad to select from with just Leah Williamson ruled out of this game.

I hope the women can begin their CL campaign as well as the men have theirs.

Talking about the men, we as a club have many players away on international duty. Here’s a list of when, where and against who they are playing:

Thursday, October 9
Belarus v Denmark (Norgaard)
World Cup qualifier | Zalaegerszeg, Hungary | 7.45pm

Malta v Netherlands (Timber)
World Cup qualifier | Ta’ Qali | 7.45pm

England (Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Saka, Eze) v Wales
Friendly | Wembley | 7.45pm

Friday, October 10
South Korea v Brazil (Gabriel, Martinelli)
Friendly | Seoul | 12pm

Moldova U21 v England U21 (Nwaneri)
Euro U21 qualifier | Chisinau | 5pm

Sweden (Gyokeres) v Switzerland
World Cup qualifier | Stockholm | 7.45pm

France (Saliba) v Azerbaijan
World Cup qualifier | Paris | 7.45pm

Belgium (Trossard) v North Macedonia
World Cup qualifier | Brussels | 7.45pm

Saturday, October 11
Spain (Merino, Zubimendi, Raya) v Georgia
World Cup qualifier | Elche | 7.45pm

Estonia v Italy (Calafiori)
World Cup qualifier | Tallinn | 7.45pm

Sunday, October 12
Netherlands (Timber) v Finland
World Cup qualifier | Amsterdam | 5pm

Denmark (Norgaard) v Greece
World Cup qualifier | Copenhagen | 7.45pm

Monday, October 13
Sweden (Gyokeres) v Kosovo
World Cup qualifier | Stockholm | 7.45pm

Iceland v France (Saliba)
World Cup qualifier | Reykjavik | 7.45pm

Wales v Belgium (Trossard)
World Cup qualifier | Cardiff | 7.45pm

England U21 (Nwaneri) v Andorra U21
Euro U21 qualifier | Derby | 7.45pm

Tuesday, October 14
Japan v Brazil (Gabriel, Martinelli)
Friendly | Tokyo | 11.30am

Spain U21 (Mosquera) v Finland U21
Euro U21 Qualifier | Castellón de la Plana | 5.30pm

Spain (Merino, Zubimendi, Raya) v Bulgaria
World Cup qualifier | Valladolid | 7.45pm

Italy (Calafiori) v Israel
World Cup qualifier | Udine | 7.45pm

Latvia v England (Eze, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Saka)
World Cup qualifier | Riga | 7.45pm

It goes without saying that like most Arsenal fans I’m sure, I hope the respective international managers are sensible in the way they use their players. I totally understand they will want to play their best/strongest team in the World Cup qualifiers but in my opinion, there’s little point in flogging them to death in the friendly matches too.

Tuchel said that it could be a problem if players aren’t playing regularly for their club, well surely the same rule could kind of apply for England too. Everyone who is or could be called upon, needs to be playing with their international teammates too. After all, there’s more to football than simply being a good guy who is happy to sit on the bench….

I think that’s what he said about Myles…

Catch up in the comments.