Preview: Arsenal Women v Lyon | Pre-Match Report | News
UEFA Women’s Champions League football is back in N5 for Sunday’s semi-final first leg at home to Lyon (3.30pm at Arsenal Stadium).
We’re looking to win the trophy for the second season in a row, while Lyon will be hoping to extend their record as the competition’s most successful club to nine titles.
DOMESTIC INVINCIBLES?
It’s been an incredible season in Division 1 Feminine for Lyon, who have won 18 out of 20 matches, drawing the other two, scoring 72 goals and conceding just nine in the process, most recently putting four past Dijon without reply.
Their unbeaten record extends to the Coupe de France, which they’re in the final of, and the Coupe LFFP, which they won in March.
Lyon’s only defeat of the season came in the Champions League. They finished the league phase second in the table, level on points with Barcelona, and came away from Meadow Park in Borehamwood with a 2-1 victory in October.
So it came as a surprise when the French champions suffered a 1-0 loss away to VfL Wolfsburg in the first leg of the quarter-finals, but Lyon responded in style with a 4-0 win at home in the second leg.
We’ve got it all to do then, and will have to try to keep Melchie Dumornay quiet, who netted a brace against us earlier in the season. The Haiti international has 10 goals in all competitions for 2025/26.
Renée’s preview
Slegers: “Last year was last year, this year is this year. The set-up of the competition has changed and a lot of things have changed since then. I think for us, for them, I think we still have the same identity.
“I think they have their style of play, we have our style of play. By coincidence or by chance, we’re in the exact same position again in the semi-final playing against each other, first at home and the second one away. But with that being said, that was last year, everything is different this year.” – Read every word of Renée’s pre-Lyon press conference.
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Every word of Renée’s pre-Lyon press conference
TEAM NEWS
Steph Catley is still recovering from her calf issue, so won’t be available for this match. Beth Mead also won’t be involved as she hasn’t trained this week due to personal reasons.
FACTS AND STATS
We could become the first English team to reach the final in back-to-back campaigns, beating Lyon 5-3 on aggregate at this stage last term.
We have won eight of our last 10 Champions League home games, with the exception two defeats to Lyon in last season’s semi-final and this season’s league phase; we could win five straight home matches in the competition for the first time.
Only Juventus (28 years, 78 days) have named older starting line-ups on average in the Champions League this season than both ourselves (27y 342d) and Lyon (27y 263d).
Since she rejoined us in January last year, we have won seven of our eight Champions League games with Chloe Kelly in the starting XI (L1), but have lost four of our seven without her in the starting lineup (W3). In that period, we also average 2.6 goals per game when she starts, compared to 1.3 when she doesn’t.
Melchie Dumornay has scored in each of her three appearances against us, and in each of her four semi-final outings in the Champions League (4 goals); overall the Haitian has 11 goal involvements in 11 knockout stage games in the competition (7 goals, 4 assists).
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Looking back at our best games against Lyon
MATCH OFFICIALS
Swiss referee Désirée Blanco has been appointed to take charge of Sunday’s game. She will be assisted by Linda Schmid and Susanne Kung, and VAR will be in use for this fixture.
Referee: Desiree Blanco
Assistant Referees: Linda Schmid and Susanne Küng
Fourth Official: Olataz Rivera Olmedo
OUR: Fedayi San
Assistant VAR: Michele Schmölzer
HOW TO WATCH
In the UK, this match will be shown live on BBC Two and Disney +. Elsewhere in the world, see which broadcasters are showing the game live.
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How to watch Arsenal Women v Lyon on TV
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