Arsenal Women at Chelsea: four unavailable, three goals in four games

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Arsenal Women travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday at 4.30pm to face Chelsea in the WSL, arriving with just three goals scored across their opening four games in all competitions.

Renee Slegers' side have already dropped points at home to Crystal Palace and Manchester United, and needed a Mariona penalty deep into stoppage time to see off Danish champions HB Koge in midweek after eight players were rested for that fixture.

Breaking down deep defences has been the recurring theme of the early season. Chelsea are unlikely to sit as deep as Palace, United or Koge did, but Sonia Bompastor's side carry a serious counter-attacking threat through Alyssa Thompson.

Team news

Elisa de Almeida (muscle strain), Daphne van Domselaar (knee), Michelle Agyemang and Katie Reid (both ACL) are all unavailable for the trip across London.

That leaves Slegers with Misa, Borbe and Damm in goal; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Williamson, Catley, Olivia Batlle, Hinds and Holmberg in defence; Stanway, Mariona, Little, Maanum, Reuteler and Cooney-Cross in midfield; and Foord, Smith, Kelly, Baum, Russo, Blackstenius and Cerci in attack.

Chelsea have their own fitness concern, with Keira Walsh going off injured during their 1-0 midweek win over Austria Wien. The Blues were also held 1-1 at home by Aston Villa on the opening day, though they thrashed Manchester United 5-0 on matchday two.

The midfield question

Kyra Cooney-Cross was the standout performer against Koge, winning UEFA Player of the Match and taking 3,900 votes in the Arsenal Women official WhatsApp channel poll — with Leah Williamson second on 357.

As Arseblog's Tim Stillman notes, the Australian has a strong case on form, with Kim Little and Mariona yet to hit the levels expected of them and the number 10 position still unsettled. Georgia Stanway has brought different qualities to the engine room since arriving, and both she and Cooney-Cross started the home game against Palace.

Slegers is expecting a contest. "We know what the games are like against Chelsea. Both home and away they're fights and we want to bring ourselves to the game, that's most important to us," she said. "We know the qualities that they possess, the intensity that they can bring to a game. We can do that too, so it's going to be a big game."

The Arsenal boss also addressed the head-to-head with Bompastor: "I think players on the pitch know each other. Sonia and me have played against each other several times now, so we've seen how it plays out against each other. I love it. Like I said, I look forward to Sunday, and the process towards it I'm enjoying."

History offers encouragement. Arsenal won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the WSL in January through second-half goals from Beth Mead and Mariona, and knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage in March, winning the first leg 3-1 through Stina Blackstenius, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo.

Both clubs are in the middle of rebuilds, with Chelsea having lost Sam Kerr and Millie Bright and invested in Melvine Malard this summer. A trip to defending champions Manchester City follows next weekend, before a Champions League tie away at Paris FC.

Sunday's game is live on Sky Sports in the UK.