Arsenal are still searching for the first WSL title since 2019, but with a summer overhaul that saw big exits and exciting incomings, could this finally be their year?
What happened last season?
Arsenal found themselves in the all-too-familiar position of playing catch-up in the WSL last season. Just six wins from their opening 12 matches left the Gunners 10 points adrift of Manchester City, a gap they were not able to bridge. Nine wins from their final 10 games was not enough to pose a late challenge.
Arsenal fans will be exasperated at how often they have found themselves in this position. In 2024-25, they won just two of their opening six matches. Only when they were well adrift of leaders Chelsea did they manage a run of 12 wins in 13. Similarly, in 2023-24, their title hopes were practically over before they had begun after they picked up just one point from their opening two matches.
This time around, a false start to the title race will spell disaster. The Gunners will face all three ‘big four’ rivals – Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – within the first five matches of their season. It will be a stern test of whether progress has been made.
Beyond the WSL, Arsenal felt the sting of another disappointing FA Cup exit, crashing out at the quarter-final stage for the second season in a row following a shock defeat to Brighton. Not since 2022 have the Gunners reached the last four
The highlight of Arsenal’s 2025-26 campaign once again came outside of domestic competitions. The Gunners couldn’t quite hit the heights of 2025’s Women’s Champions League triumph, but a run to a third semi-final in four seasons showed a level of consistency in Europe that should not be sniffed at, while victory in the inaugural Fifa Women’s Champions Cup meant that some silverware was earned for their efforts.
Transfers
The bulk of Arsenal’s business was done early, with various deals in the pipeline for a number of months. Free transfers for Georgia Stanway, Selina Cerci, Geraldine Reuteler and Ona Batlle were all completed in early July, with 19-year-old winger Lisa Baum arriving shortly after for a reported fee of £510,000.
Subsequently, Arsenal’s goalkeeper ranks have been strengthened by the arrivals of Misa Rodríguez and youngster Isa Damm, while a lack of central defensive depth was addressed just as the transfer window closed, with Frenchwoman Elisa De Almeida joinining from PSG for a reported fee of £550,000.
Arsenal fans will be enthused by the volume of work done in the transfer market this summer. Talk of a potential squad rebuild had reached almost mythical status in recent years, and significant surgery to the squad across multiple positions reflects a realisation of this longstanding ambition.
With these changes come an overall lowering of the age profile of the squad. Specifically, the signing of Baum shows the continuation of a policy to go for youth on the flanks. In both of Arsenal’s publicly available pre-season friendlies, Baum was paired with back-to-back PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year and club-record signing Olivia Smith.
In midfield, bringing in a player of Stanway’s pedigree will alter the dynamic of what Arsenal are able to do in the centre of the park. With limited depth in this area last season, they became overly reliant on a double pivot of Mariona Caldentey and Kim Little, the latter of whom turned 36 in June.
Another intriguing tactical subplot concerns how the sizeable boots of the now Chelsea-playing Katie McCabe are filled. Batlle looks likeliest to take up the mantle at left-back, given the two-time Women’s Champions League winner’s pedigree. She has played the role before, but playing a right-footer in the position will no doubt require an adjustment to Arsenal’s build-up.
Ones to watch
Smith is now in her second season at the club and will be looking to go to another level after a strong start to life in red and white. The Canadian scored five times in the WSL last term, often rotating between the right and left wings. Starting both of Arsenal’s Meadow Park pre-season friendlies, she scored cutting in from the left against Paris FC before netting from the opposite side in a 5-1 win against Charlton, with a thumping strike from the edge of the box.
Speaking to The Cutback after that match, Smith spoke about having the flexibility to play on both sides: “The best part about football is being flexible, I just want to be on the pitch and to play wherever. Left or right side, I have different qualities for both sides. I can either cut in or take it to the line on both sides. I am very happy to do that when I can.”
Another player to look out for is Smilla Holmberg. The 19-year-old full-back impressed supporters after arriving in January, with her willingness to make overlapping runs and her pinpoint crossing both standout qualities. She scored a brace while deputising on the wing in April’s 7-0 win against Leicester, and her level of versatility was underlined in the friendly against Charlton, where she slotted in at centre-back for the second half of the game.
Fixture to look out for
Chelsea at the Emirates in March of next year.
Arsenal-Chelsea has long been the league’s flagship rivalry, and McCabe’s controversial move across London will only fuel the animosity between the two sides. Arsenal fans felt a sense of betrayal after McCabe’s decision to swap red for blue and they will be sure to make her aware of that when she makes her return to north London.
McCabe herself is no stranger to playing the role of villain in this fixture, of course. Expect fireworks.
Prediction
This season’s WSL title race looks set to be tighter than ever. It is now Manchester City, rather than Chelsea, that the Gunners are looking to overthrow at the top of the table. But it would be foolish to dismiss the old enemy from west London, who have a point to prove after a disappointing 2025-26 campaign of their own.
If Arsenal can buck recent precedent by coming through a tough run of opening fixtures, a serious tilt at a first league title in eight years should be on the cards.
I’m so excited I nearly peed my pants.
In reality, trying not to get too carried away, because I genuinely believe we can do it, but it’s the hope that kills!