Pre-Match Report

Women: Arsenal v West Ham United - The Brief

Miedema celebrates her opener with Little

We kick-off our 2018/19 season at Meadow Park on Sunday, when we face West Ham United in the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup.

THE OPPOSITION

The 2017/18 campaign proved to be a successful year for the Hammers, who lifted two pieces of silverware and obtained a license to join the Women’s Super League this forthcoming season. 

They were crowned champions of the FA WPL Plate and the Goodmove.co.uk Women’s Cup - and they come into this new season with great momentum, having won 12 of their last 15 competitive fixtures over this calendar year. 

THE MANAGER’S NOTES

“We work hard in pre-season for moments like this, to make a good start to the season and cement ourselves in making sure that we’re up there,” Joe Montemurro told Arsenal.com 

“It’s a cup game and it will be difficult because we don’t know much about West Ham and they’re a new team. They look like they’ve recruited very well, but we need to focus on what we need to do, respect the opposition and make sure that we’ve done all the work to put in a good performance and make a good start to the season.

Arsenal Women celebrate against Montpellier

“We may be the current champions of this competition, but it’s all about preparing well for each game and preparing well for each challenge. You need to make sure you pass one test before you go onto the next one. 

“You can never look too far ahead because if we could all predict the future we’d all be very rich people, so it’s about that we just focus on the task ahead and ensure that we’re prepared.”

ONE TO WATCH

If we dominate possession against the Hammers, then Beth Mead’s pace and movement in the final third will prove vital in gaining qualification to the next round of the tournament. 

Mead recorded eight goals and one assist in the WSL last season - and she’s shown great understanding with her fellow strike partner Vivianne Miedema over pre-season.

Miedema’s sheer presence in the box pulls defenders out of position, and this provides Mead with an abundance of space to attack down the right wing.

Beth Mead

She also scored in our 2-2 draw with Paris Saint-Germain last Sunday, helping us to be crowned champions of the Toulouse International Ladies Cup.

We kick-off our defence of the Continental Tyres Cup at 2pm on Sunday – and you can get all the live updates by following us on Twitter @ArsenalWFC