Arsenal vs Crystal Palace - Match Preview

The first match back since the Christmas break, and Arsenal are taking on Crystal Palace at Meadow Park on Sunday.

After last week's game against Bristol City being postponed, Arsenal are raring to go, wanting to set the bar high as they enter the second half of the season, especially with the recent news that Renée Slegers has officially became Arsenal Women’s Permanent Head Coach.

Crystal Palace took on Championship side Sheffield United on Tuesday this week as part of the Women’s Cup, formerly known as the Continental Tyres Cup (or Conti Cup), where they thrashed Sheffield with a 6-1 win, putting them up against Newcastle United. The game will take place on 9th February.

Crystal Palace’s Laura Kaminski said in a recent press conference that she recognised how much of a challenge this game would be. “It's definitely a challenge and I think we've shown some progression in the first half of the season in terms of playing big sides. We looked at some stats today in terms of our goals conceded and we need that to progress on now from the learnings from the first half of the season.”

For the first time as official head coach, Renée Slegers sat down for her press conference this week, saying the following about the game ahead. “We need to be humble for every task. We need to be at our best to compete and to get our win. So we're very humble for what we're going to face. So they will try to play their game and they will try to disrupt our game. And I think with their setup, let's see what they do. If they want to come out aggressively in a couple of moments or if they try and make the spaces really compact for us. So we'll see what they do. It’s going to be a challenging game, but we are full of belief. I'm very excited to start to play again.”

Arsenal V Crystal Palace will take place at 14:00 GMT on Sunday 19th January at Meadow Park.