Here is our weekly recap of the Arsenal ladies news and results.
First team
A 3-2 home defeat to Manchester City defeat leaves the team in third place in the FA WSL, two points behind Chelsea and one point behind Sunderland. The Citizens are trailing the Gunners by one point but have a game in hand against Liverpool, so are virtually in the top two places level with Chelsea.
The final four League games are Chelsea at home (live on BT Sport), Liverpool away, Sunderland away and Birmingham home on final day.
The team will need at least eight points out of 12 to have a chance of finishing in the top two and reclaiming Champions League football, and probably nine or ten, minimum, to be in the title race.
Losada, Williamson, Nobbs and Smith are all still injured and they need to come back as soon as possible as having to throw 17 and 18-year-olds on the pitch to change games is a difficult ask for the youngsters.
There are three Conti cup group games to be played: Chelsea away, Reading home and Millwall away plus a potential quarter final, semi- final and final.
Reserve team (development team)
The reserves battled to a deserving 2-2 draw against Spurs Ladies first team on Sunday morning. Arsenal’s goals were scored by Clarke and Dean.
It was a very interesting test, with the current development squad composed of couple of 1996 girls and a core of 1997 players who came up from the very successful u17 side from last season.
Spurs Ladies play at the top of the winter game in the third level of women’s football in England. They are a good Women’s Premier League side with a lot of experience.
The squad listed for that game was: Sian Rogers, Hollie Augustus, Taome Oliver, Lucy Parker, Alysha Stojko-Down, Rianna Dean, Phillipa Cowley, Chiara Ritchie-Williams, Chloe Brunton-Wilde, Jessica Driscoll, Frances Steele, Vyan Sampson, Evie Louise Clarke, and Kelsey Kiely.
The following players have left the club: Chloe Morgan who went back to Spurs, Adekite Fatuga-Dada who has signed for Watford Ladies and Frances Steele
The development team open their league season with a home game to Yeovil Town on the 13th September.
Centre of Excellence u17
They are back in preseason and beat an American side on tour by eight goals to nil. The team was captained by England u16 international, Laura Hooper. A few girls from the u17 double winners team, born in ’99, are still eligible and will play for the u17 side again this season.