{"id":9038,"date":"2026-05-16T07:29:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9038"},"modified":"2026-05-16T07:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:29:22","slug":"preview-liverpool-v-arsenal-women-pre-match-report-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9038","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Liverpool v Arsenal Women | Pre-Match Report | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Our final Barclays Women\u2019s Super League game of the season takes place against Liverpool at Anfield at 1pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking to end the season on a high with a win that would secure second position and book our place in next season\u2019s UEFA Women\u2019s Champions League group phase.<\/p>\n

A draw would also likely be enough to finish second, as we go into the weekend with a goal difference of 37 compared to Chelsea\u2019s 23, should they go level on points with us after their game against Manchester United.<\/p>\n

FINE MARGINS<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

Liverpool have lost their last three games in all competitions, all by one goal. They were beaten 1-0 at home to West Ham United towards the end of April, before suffering another 1-0 loss away to Manchester City. <\/p>\n

That was followed by Adobe Women\u2019s FA Cup semi-final elimination to Brighton & Hove Albion in a 3-2 home defeat last Sunday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a disappointing league campaign for Gareth Taylor\u2019s side, who find themselves 11th in the WSL with 17 points from 21 matches, so they\u2019re comfortably clear of bottom-placed Leicester City, but have only managed to win four topflight fixtures this term.<\/p>\n

There was an important upturn in form though this calendar year. With the Reds rooted to the bottom of the division, Liverpool secured all four of their league wins in the second half of the season, beating Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Leicester City and Everton.<\/p>\n

Last time we met, goals from Olivia Smith and Stina Blackstenius saw us win 2-1 at Emirates Stadium in December.<\/p>\n

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY<\/h3>\n

Slegers: <\/strong>\u201cThey\u2019re a very good team with good individual qualities, a clear structure, and we\u2019re going to play at Anfield so I think if you look at the way they play, their pressure and aggression, I think they\u2019ll want to show everything to their own home fans at Anfield. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m expecting high-intensity opposition, a high-intensity game, so let\u2019s see and I think their record lately – even though they had the FA Cup loss against Brighton – their latest performances in the second half of the season, they\u2019re a very, very good team.\u201d – Read every word of Ren\u00e9e\u2019s pre-Liverpool press conference.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n

Every word of Ren\u00e9e’s pre-Liverpool presser <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

Taylor: <\/strong>\u201cWe just really wanted to do it for our fans, to be able to give them a trip to Wembley and give them a really good occasion, but we really appreciate everything our supporters have done for us this season.<\/p>\n

“We want to thank them when we host Arsenal in our final game at Anfield on Saturday. It’s always a fantastic experience for us to play at Anfield and we hope to do our fans proud.”<\/p>\n

TEAM NEWS<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

Steph Catley is back and available for us following Wednesday\u2019s 1-0 win at home to Leicester City.<\/p>\n

For Liverpool, Gemma Bonner is set to make her final appearance for the club after recovering from injury.<\/p>\n

Ceri Holland is in line to be fit enough for a place among the substitutes, while Anna Josendal is likely to get minutes. However, Lily Woodham and Sam Kerr will not feature.<\/p>\n

FACTS AND STATS<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

We have won all 12 of our away games against Liverpool in the WSL, the only team to record more than 10 victories on the road to an opponent.<\/p>\n

Excluding the 2019\/20 campaign, we boast the most final day wins in WSL history (11) while only Bristol City (9) have suffered more final game defeats than Liverpool (8).<\/p>\n

This will be our seventh game in all competitions in just 20 days, the first team in the WSL era to play seven matches in a period shorter than three weeks \u2013 our previous seven matches came across a six-week period.<\/p>\n

We have trailed for just 83 minutes across our WSL away games this season, less time than any other team \u2013 those minutes have come across three different matches, with us coming back to avoid defat in two of those (W1 D1 \u2013 lost to Manchester City).<\/p>\n

Alessia Russo has scored more away goals (6) and been directly involved in more away goals (11 \u2013 5 assists) than any other player in the 2025\/26 WSL \u2013 the Englishwoman will be aiming to become the first Arsenal player ever to score or assist in six consecutive away appearances in the WSL.<\/p>\n

MATCH OFFICIALS<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

Emily Heaslip has been appointed to take charge of Saturday\u2019s match, assisted by Emily Carney and Georgia Ball with Ade Soneye the fourth official.<\/p>\n

Heaslip has seen over 10 WSL matches this season, handing out 25 yellow cards and one red. Her previous involvement in one of our fixtures was for November\u2019s north London derby goalless draw away to Tottenham Hotspur.<\/p>\n

Referee: <\/strong>Emily Heaslip <\/strong>
Assistants: <\/strong>Emily Carney and Georgia Ball <\/strong>
Fourth official: <\/strong>Ade Soneye<\/p>\n

HOW TO WATCH<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

This match will be shown live on Sky Sports Mix in the UK. For supporters elsewhere in the world, take a look at which broadcasters are showing the game.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n

How to watch Liverpool v Arsenal Women on TV <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our final Barclays Women\u2019s Super League game of the season takes place against Liverpool at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}