Russo starts against her old team….
🚨 Presenting our first home #WSL line-up of 2023/24! 🔴
— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) October 6, 2023
Let's go, Reds! 💪#MUWomen
TEAM NEWS 🩷
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) October 6, 2023
🇨🇦 @SabsDAngelo starts
🇸🇪 @amandailestedt at the back
🇪🇸 @laiacodina5 makes her debut pic.twitter.com/WRTitqiC3o
Here’s the embryonic table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester Women | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Chelsea Women | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Man Utd Women | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Liverpool FC Women | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Aston Villa Women | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 8 | Everton Women | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 10 | Arsenal Women | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 11 | Bristol City Women | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| 12 | West Ham Women | 1 | -2 | 0 |
Niall McVeigh wrote an exhaustive preview of this match, and the future of Arsenal’s manager.
While the visitors will turn out in a new, Stella McCartney-designed bespoke away shirt for Friday’s match, United have their own visual cue to represent their off-field progress. A mural of Mary Earps, created by the club with Sky Sports and daubed with the words “Welcome to Manchester”, sends a defiant message after the England keeper stayed at United this summer, amid persistent interest from Arsenal.
It’s a big night for Alessia Russo, the Lioness who left Manchester United to join Arsenal. The pressure’s immediately on for Arsenal, after losing last week to Liverpool, a blow to follow their premature Champions League exit. This was supposed to be the season that they put down a big title challenge and, judging from recent WSL seasons, the margin for error is not large so an away win is high on Jonas Eidevall’s wishlist. For Manchester United’s Marc Skinner, an away win at Aston Villa was a handy start over a decent side, with Rachel Williams scoring in injury time to win it. Lucia Garcia’s goal was a good sign for a team hoping to replace Russo from within.
Kick-off at 7.30pm, join me.