Courtesy of Arsenal.com
Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
The team waved goodbye to 2025 in style, with three consecutive away wins against Everton in the WSL, OH Leuvenin the UWCL and Crystal Palace in the league cup.
More goods news came from the treatment room, which is finally getting (rather) empty now that Leah Williamson and Kim Little are back to full fitness.
Hopefully Daphne van Domselaar will follow, although her tendon injury could keep her out until February.
The feeling is that the team as a whole is in recovery after a difficult moment between October and November, so hopefully the winter break will allow everyone to rest, reset and start fresh in 2026 and while this group doesn’t feature among the favourites to win any major prize, the new year will bring some of the positive energy and self-belief that helped lifting the UWCL, last May.
A RETROSPECTIVE
Lisbon will be forever marked as the day Arsenal upset the world to win the UWCL: very few expected the Gunners to be in the final, let alone snatch the trophy from Barcelona’s hands. Yet, a goal from Stina Blackstenius and a wonderful performance from the whole group meant that the Arsenal Women ran away with their second European cup, and Barcelona ended empty-handed.
That was the highlight of 2025, by some distance.
The rest of the year was…meh, at best: the Gunners were never truly in the mix to displace Chelsea from their throne in England, and domestic cups brought misery in the form of home defeats to Manchester City in the league cup’s semifinals and to Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
Luckily, the Arsenal Women were transformed in Europe and became the Comeback Queens: first they overcame a 0-2 away defeat to Real Madrid with a thumping 3-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium, then travelled to Lyon on the back of the 1-2 home defeat and thrashed the French champions 1-4 on their own patch to qualify for the final.
During that exhilarating campaign, the Gunners found a fortitude and a courage that usually deserted them in England, where they inexplicably conceded five goals against Aston Villa and four goals against Brighton in the space of ten days.
2025 will also be remembered for Chloe Kelly’s own revenge tour, with the former Manchester City winger establishing herself as a key element of the team and the ultimate game changer. Her temporary loan move was made permanent in the summer, and the England international continued to prove her worth with both the Arsenal and the national team. Another player who had a big 2025 is Mariona Caldentey, who was crowned WSL Player of the Year and PFA Players’ Player of the Year in her debut season, finished second in the Ballon d’Or and scored the UWCL Goal of the Tournament after leading Arsenal to the top and helping Spain to reach the final of EURO 2025, where she scored a goal, and winning the UEFA Nations League.
The year that is about to end will also be remembered for the signing of Olivia Smith from Liverpool, the first “one-million-player” signed by the club: the Canada international has since marked her new supporters with stunning goals and mazy runs and seems destined for a bright future.
LOOKING AHEAD
The months ahead will be very busy for the Arsenal Women (hopefully…), with the club still involved in five competitions:the WSL, the UWCL, the league cup, the FA Cup and the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup.
Starting with the league, it looks like Manchester City and Chelsea will battle for the title, with the Citizens six points ahead of the Blues. The Gunners are eight points adrift of the top and, unless something miraculous happens, will have to settle for second, at best.
Chelsea are only two points ahead and will host the Arsenal in late January, and if the Gunners don’t drop points against Manchester United, then the Stamford Bridge showdown could be a tasty one.
The European journey looks complicated, too, and defending the crown will be very difficult: after defeating OH Leuven in the last game of the group phase, the Gunners finished one point off the top four and will play…OH Leuven in the playoffs.
As expected, the unforgivable away defeat to Bayern Munichcame back to bite the Arsenal, who squandered a chance to skip two extra games and avoid a tricky draw. Should they overcome OH Leuven, Leah Williamson & Co. will face Chelsea in the quarterfinals, which is a dreadful perspective.
Finally, the domestic cups: the fourth round of the FA Cup will see the Gunners host Aston Villa at Meadow Park on January 18th, and hopefully this time the players will enjoy a deep run in a competition that saw the Gunners lift the trophy 14 times butdidn’t provide much joy in recent years. It’s been ten years since we won the FA Cup, and five years since we played in the final.
Different story for the league cup, where we enjoyed back-to-back wins in 2023 and 2024 – both against Chelsea and usually enjoy deeper runs, compared to the FA Cup.
Renée Slegers and her players will face Manchester United in the quarterfinals and while the date is yet to be confirmed, the game should take place between the FA Cup game against Aston Villa and the away game against Chelsea in the league.
The final competition involving the Gunners is the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, where the Arsenal Women team will contend the “World Champion” title to Gotham FC from the North America, Corinthians from South America andAS FAR from Africa, who eliminated Wuhan Jiangda from Asiain the previous round. The Chinese club previously eliminated Auckland United from Oceania.
The Gunners will face AS FAR at the Brentford Community Stadium on January 28th, then play either the final or the 3rd-place playoff on February 1st, at the Emirates Stadium.
There is a lot to play for in 2026, and plenty of things to look forward to so don’t blink or you’ll miss something!
NEXT UP
The season will resume on January 10th, when the team will host Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium. Renée Slegers and the players will be busy in January, with six games scheduled in 21 days – including the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup.
We will talk again once the winter break is over, in the meantime make the most of the holiday season and enjoy some friends and family time!
Speak to you soon!
Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
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