Buoyed by reaching the Women’s Champions League semi-final, Arsenal Women will return to Women’s Super League action for Sunday’s meeting with Crystal Palace Women.
The Eagles are languishing at the foot of the WSL table, while the visitors head into the weekend in second position.
Match preview
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Leif Smerud has won one and lost three of his first four matches since he replaced Laura Kaminski in the Palace dugout earlier this month.
Smerud started his tenure with back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Chelsea in the league and FA Cup respectively, before he oversaw a 3-1 home victory over relegation rivals Aston Villa, bringing an end to their 12-game winless run in the WSL.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, they were unable to build upon that positive result in last Saturday’s meeting with Everton at Walton Hall Park, falling to a heavy 3-0 defeat to extend their winless away league run to seven matches (D2, L5).
The Eagles are still in the relegation spot and one point behind Aston Villa with five matches left to play in the WSL season.
Palace may have to take points off some of the WSL’s best teams if they are to avoid an immediate return to the second tier, with the Eagles set to play three of the top four in their final five fixtures.
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Arsenal will be in high spirits after they overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit in Wednesday’s UWCL quarter-final clash against Real Madrid.
After playing out a goalless first half, the Gunners blew away Real Madrid by netting three goals inside the opening 15 minutes of the second period, thanks to an Alessia Russo brace and a Mariona Caldentey effort.
Russo had a couple of more efforts ruled out to deny her a hat-trick, but it did little to dampen the mood, as Arsenal secured a 3-2 aggregate victory to set up a semi-final clash against record European champions Lyon.
The UWCL represents Arsenal’s best chance to win silverware this season, with the Gunners sitting eight points adrift of WSL leaders Chelsea with just five league matches left to play.
Renee Slegers‘s side will be confident about taking maximum points from Sunday’s meeting with Palace, having won each of their last five league matches, scoring at least three goals in all five of those games.
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Team News
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The hosts are without the services of Hayley Nolan and Aimee Everett, who are nursing hamstring and foot injuries respectively.
Defender Katrine Veje is pushing for a starting spot after featuring as a half-time substitute against Everton last weekend.
Indiah-Paige Riley came off the bench to play the final half an hour against the Toffees, and she could now be given the chance to start Sunday’s clash against the Gunners.
As for the visitors, they are without the defensive duo of Laia Codina and Lotte Wubben-Moy, while forward Lina Hurtig remains unavailable for selection.
Slegers may decide to make a couple of changes to freshen up her team, with Lia Walti and Beth Mead among those who could come into the side for Sunday’s fixture.
Russo is set to spearhead the Arsenal attacker, with the striker looking to add to the 17 competitive goals she has scored this season.
Crystal Palace Women possible starting lineup:
Yanez; Yanez; Riley, Swaby, Veje, Woodham; Nouwen, Cato, Potter, Weerden; Stengel, Larisey
Arsenal Women possible starting lineup:
Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe; Maanum, Walti, Caldentey; Mead, Foord, Russo
We say: Crystal Palace Women 0-3 Arsenal Women
Arsenal will carry significant momentum into Sunday’s fixture after staging a stunning turnaround in their UWCL tie against Real Madrid, and we think they produce another dominant display to claim a comfortable victory over the relegation-threatened Palace.
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