Arsenal Women are looking to bounce back to beat Manchester United and the loss of Beth Mead with a Champions League trip to face Juventus. Arsenal will face former manager Joe Montemurro, who now manages Juventus. Arsenal will also have to deal with the loss of Beth Mead, who suffered a ruptured ACL on Saturday, while also missing Kim Little, Leah Williamson, Rafaelle Souza and Lina Hurtig.
Juventus are second in the group to Arsenal, having beaten Zurich and taken a point against Lyon. With a double game against Juventus, a point would be a good result and would make Arsenal favorites to qualify in the group, while a win would put Arsenal in pole position to win the group. Juventus, however, will be a tough opponent. Despite having slipped from their high standards in Serie A, with Juventus four points behind leaders Roma, having dropped 7 points, their recent record in Europe is very good, with Juventus finishing ahead of Chelsea in the group stage last year. last.
For Arsenal, the immediate question is how to replace Beth Mead. Mead is the top scorer so far this season, and her counter-pressing is also vital to Jonas Eidevall’s game. To make matters more difficult, Eidevall is without Kim Little, Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza. With the core of the team having essentially changed, Eidevall admitted that Arsenal could play slightly differently.
Replacing Mead positionally could end up being quite simple. Noelle Maritz, who has been kept out of the starting line-up by the excellent Laura Wienroither, could play left-back, and Katie McCabe could play further up the pitch, with Caitlin Foord moving either to the right, or McCabe playing as an inverted winger. Or, ultimately, Eidevall might change the system.
Key player:
Without Mead, Arsenal will have to replace their goals. At this point, it must be Vivianne Miedema’s responsibility. Miedema was poor in Arsenal’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United, attempting just 5 passes in 30 minutes on the pitch and only having one shot on goal. After having a full two-and-a-half-week break from football, Miedema simply needs to step up a gear: of all Arsenal’s strikers, it is she, with two goals and an assist, who has underperformed his prodigious talent.
Planned composition (4231): 1. Zinsberg; 26. Wienroither, 3. Wubben-Moy, 7. Catley, 16. Maritz; 13. Wälti, 12. Maanum; 15. McCabe, 11. Miedema, 19. Foord; 25. Blackstenius
Subs: 18. Marckese (GK), 40. Williams (GK), 5. Beattie, 8. Nobbs, 23. Iwabuchi, 59. Agyemang, 61. Earl, 62. Reid
WHAT: Juventus Women v Arsenal Women, UEFA Women’s Champions League
WHERE: Juventus Stadium, Torino
WHEN: Thursday, November 24 12:00 PDT | 3:00 p.m. EDT | 20:00 GMT
LOOK: Youtube