Arsenal will battle with Manchester City on Sunday for the last UEFA Women’s Champions League place, when the Gunners go to Bristol away while City are at home to Everton.
Arsenal won a tough away game and a potential banana slip at Sunderland 2-0, thanks to goals from Kim Little and Bethany Mead. You can find the highlights of that match here. Meanwhile, Manchester City defeated bottom team Yeovil 5-0 to maintain a one point lead over the Gunners.
City will be at home to Everton Ladies this weekend, who are currently in eighth position, while Arsenal will be away to Bristol who are in seventh. Although Everton are near the bottom of the table, they have provided some excellent performances against top teams without getting the results they deserved. Still, it would be a huge surprise to see them get a point or more against a City team that has so much firepower.
At the same time, Arsenal really should win away to Bristol, who have recently lost to Chelsea 2-0, and to City 6-1. Bristol have quality forwards in Farrow and Hemp, but they’ve conceded 41 goals in 17 games.
Arsenal might be missing a few players on Sunday, as the squad that made the trip on Wednesday was short of many players. Sari Van Veenendaal and Anna Miedema did not travel to Sunderland. If you add Alex Scott and the long term injuries of Josephine Henning and Jessica Samuelsson, there are only 13 first team players available.
The good news is that Lauren James has come back from injury. She played 70 minutes last Sunday against Brighton in a development league game, and should therefore be available, at least on the bench, on Sunday.
Ava Kuyken is still unavailable due to her involvement with England u17 at the Euros. England are a game away from qualifying for the FIFA u17 WWC to be played in Uruguay. Two development team players also involved are Lia Cataldo and Paige Bailey-Gayle.
Predicted starting XI: Moorhouse; Evans, Williamson, Quinn, Mitchell; Janssen, Nobbs, Little; Van de Donk, Carter, Mead.
Arsenal will try do the business and hope for a miracle and help from former Gunners now at Everton Chloe Kelly, Angharad James and Taylor Hinds.