Arsenal women were handed a tough draw against the German side that just hammered Chelsea 4-0 to kick them out of the Champions League.

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 09: Arsenal form a huddle during the UEFA Women's Champions League group C match between Arsenal WFC and FC Barcelona at Emirates Stadium on December 09, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 09: Arsenal form a huddle during the UEFA Women’s Champions League group C match between Arsenal WFC and FC Barcelona at Emirates Stadium on December 09, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)

Arsenal women vs Wolfsburg women will be fascinating encounter that will take place in March 2022.

The draw could have been even worse draw with a resurgent Lyon side available or better against a PSG side that was weakened during last summer’s transfer window.

It is certainly an exciting tie.

Arsenal played them back in 2012/13 in the semi-finals with Wolfsburg coming on top 4-1. That was the last hurrah of a generation before the dismantling by Shelley Kerr at the end of 2013.

Should the Gunners go through they will meet the winners of the all-Spanish tie and are likely to meet Barcelona, again, in the semi-final.

We know how the two Group games ended up and it would take a giant effort to be able to beat the best team in Europe.

Should Arsenal reach the final, they would be designated as the home team for the game at the Allianz Stadium.

The final’s date is not set yet.

The UEFA Women’s Champions League draw in full.

Quarter-finals (22/23 & 30/31 March)

Bayern München (GER) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Juventus (ITA) vs Lyon (ITA)
Arsenal (ENG) vs Wolfsburg (GER)
Real Madrid (ESP) vs Barcelona (ESP, holders)

Semi-finals (23/24 April & 30 April/1 May)

1: Real Madrid / Barcelona vs Arsenal / Wolfsburg
2: Juventus / Lyon vs Bayern München / Paris Saint-Germain

Final (Juventus Stadium, Turin) tbc

Winner semi-final 1 vs Winner semi-final 2

Three months is a long time, and form can fluctuate a lot. Hopefully, Arsenal will add a player or two to the squad during the transfer window and those reinforcements will help the team fight for the title while competing in the number one club competition in the world.

Arsenal qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals

Arsenal were handed a heavy defeat in Hoffenheim 4-1 during the week but still qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals as runners-up in Group C behind Barcelona.

There are certainly some grey clouds on the horizon. There is no denying that there is a problem, with three of the last four games ending in heavy defeats – against Chelsea (0-3), Barcelona (0-4) and now Hoffenheim (1-4).

There are individual and collective errors in all the goals conceded.

The individual errors are actually easy to manage, it is just a question of speaking with the players and asking what happened.

There is more work to do on collective defending errors, because it involves four, sometimes seven, or even the ten outfield players that need to be coordinated.

We need to make sure we don’t allow gaps in the defence nor too much space between the lines.

The other big problem is leadership on the pitch.

We have a few technical leaders, including a world class player in Kim Little, but she is not a vocal leader.

There was a 10-minute spell, where we conceded three goals and leadership went missing, until Jordan Nobbs came on to stabilise things and bring some order.

There is no doubt that Leah Williamson is badly missed on the football side and the leadership side.

Hopefully, she will return from injury soon, but, in the meantime including Jordan Nobbs in the team seems a good idea to me. When the going gets tough, she will not hide from the ball and will ask for it.

There is also a midfield balance problem as the combination of two number 6s in s double pivot with a number 10 does not work very well at the moment.

The classic 6-8-10 midfield combination makes sense to me, more than a 6-10-10 combination.