Football Season Guide

Finished as runner-ups in back-to-back seasons now. The wait for 13th WSL title continued. The last one was way back in the 2009/10 campaign. Suffered a single league defeat last term – 15 wins and 6 draws. Despite that the many draws led to them staying 4 points behind Man City. The Gunners averaged 54,000 fans in their games played at the Emirates over the last 3 years. The decision to move all home games this term at the Emirates should boost the team’s home record. Large crowds and good atmosphere are guaranteed going forward every time Arsenal are at home. Coach Slegers preaches modern European football. Her desire to use counter-pressing in every match requires players that work extra hard when out of possession. The German Bundesliga is known for this style of play and it is not so surprising that quartet of good players from Germany have been added to the squad this summer. Inner midfielders Baum, Stanway and Reuteler will provide the needed aggression in this area of the pitch. Striker Cerci is known for her tireless work when pressing defenders and she will be doing just that. Real Madrid’s goalie Misa and star full-back Batlle from Barcelona the other two major signings so far. They bring great class and should improve Arsenal’s stability at the back. Many of the draws last season could have been avoided if the defending was better. Batlle is a left-back and she arrives to replace the long-serving star in that zone McCabe. She is the only regular from last season to leave so far. With most star players staying put, the team moved to play all their home matches at the Emirates and the savvy new signings made Arsenal look even stronger than last term. They will definitely be thinking about trophies.