The Arsenal women had the Emirates and the spotlight all to themselves this weekend in about as perfect a season-opener as the club could have wished for. As the Premier League took the weekend off for the season’s first international break, the women took full advantage of the opportunity to showcase both their new and returning stars.

Saturday was a glorious early Fall day in North London for the opening of Arsenal’s Women’s Super League campaign. For the occasion, the Gunners welcomed over 38,000 spectators and the newly-promoted London City Lionesses and owner Michelle Kang to the Emirates Stadium. 

The Arsenal women were certainly favored heading into the match, but with a hint of uncertainty due to Ms. Kang’s investment in new arrivals preparing for their debut in the top flight. Lingering concerns that London City might be a surprise package in their first season in the WSL were exacerbated when they scored a penalty in the 17th minute to go up a goal. 

It took a further 12 minutes, but new signing Olivia Smith announced herself to the home crowd with a wondrous debut goal from 30+ yards out to level the score. Once back on level terms, it was Arsenal’s core group of attacking stars who blew the match open. After a few opportunities went begging, Alessia Russo’s clever dribble around a lunging defender gave her space to find Chloe Kelly who slotted home the go-ahead goal just before the stroke of halftime. 

The second half saw a brief flurry from London City that culminated in a shot hitting the post and bouncing out, but they were unable to convert and Arsenal’s quality in depth took over down the stretch. The luxury of bringing in stars like Stina Blackstenius, Beth Mead, Caitlin Foord, and Frida Maanum proved too much for the WSL newbies. 

Mead and Blackstenius came in in the 77th minute and it only took five minutes before the two connected for Arsenal’s third. Mead, as she so often is, was the catalyst as Blackstenius scored off of her cross to put the Gunners up 3-1. Only a minute later, it was Mead again as she crossed for fellow substitute Frida Maanum, who scored the final goal and sent the crowd home happy. 

The two assists marked a milestone for Mead as they made her the first woman to record 50 assists in WSL play. 

The Result: WSL Week 1

Starting Line-up: van Domselaar, Catley, Reid, McCabe, Fox, Pelova, Caldentey, Little, Russo, Kelly, Smith

Substitutes: Hinds (McCabe), Maanum (Pelova), Blackstenius (Russo), Mead (Kelly), Foord (Smith)

Arsenal Result: 4-1 win vs. London City

Goal(s): Kosovare Asliani, Olivia Smith, Chloe Kelly, Stina Blackstenius, Frida Maanum

Assist(s): Alessia Russo, Beth Mead (x2)

Place in the Table: 2nd (tied for first with 3 points, second behind Manchester United by one goal on goal difference tie breaker) 

Title Contender Round-up: 

Chelsea: Last season’s champions were undefeated in the WSL and kicked off the season with a 2-1 win Friday against a Manchester City side that should finish in the top three in the WSL. A statement of intent from the Blues to open the campaign. 

Manchester City: See above, City lost to reigning champions Chelsea in their opener but should be in the race all season. 

Up Next

Women - 9/12 2:30 PM: Arsenal travel south and east to face a West Ham women’s side coming off a 1-0 loss to Spurs. 

Men - 9/13 7:30 AM: Arsenal host former technical director Edu and his new side, Nottingham Forest at the Emirates to kickoff Match Week 4.

NOTE: WSL TV Coverage

A note to those who are interested in following the Arsenal Women’s WSL action on TV: In an announcement that came just before the season’s Friday kickoff, the League announced that all WSL matches will be available to US audiences on ESPN+. As of late last week, the plan seemed to be for matches to be available in the US via the FA’s FAPlayer app, but the late-breaking change should be an improvement. 

The Arsenal Men on International Duty 

As mentioned above, the men were on a break from Premier League action over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t playing with many of Mikel Arteta’s squad turning out for their countries late last week and early this week. Here’s a list of the 15 Arsenal players who were called up by their countries and then a link to a page that is tracking results: 

England (4): Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Myles Lewis-Skelly

Spain (3): Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino, David Raya

Brazil (2): Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel

Italy (1): Ricardo Calafiori

Norway (1): Martin Odegaard

Sweden (1): Viktor Gyokeres

Netherlands (1): Jurrien Timber

Belgium (1): Leandro Trossard

Ecuador (1): Piero Hincapie

Two bonus mentions as Max Dowman (England U19s) and Cristian Mosquera (Spain U21s) were called up by youth teams in their respective countries. 

Of particular note from the matches that have been played so far have been Mikel Merino’s four goals and an assist in two matches for Spain against Turkey (3 goals) and Bulgaria (1 goal, 1 assist) and Declan Rice’s tally for England against Andorra.