Preview: Brighton v Arsenal Women

Our 2026/27 Women’s Super League campaign begins against Brighton & Hove Albion at Broadfield Stadium, kicking off at 12pm on Sunday.

We travel to Crawley off the back of a positive pre-season schedule, in which we beat Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Paris FC, Charlton Athletic and Everton.

The Seagulls were on similar form, beating Brann, Watford, Crystal Palace and Genk before losing 3-1 to Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy.

SEAGULLS SWOOP

Brighton have been busy in the transfer market, landing signatures for goalkeeper Eleanor Heeps, defender Gabby George, midfielders Emilie Joramo, Lia Walti and Sophie Peskett, and forwards Nadia Krezyman and Emily Murphy.

Four players have left the club permanently, namely Sophie Baggaley, Libby Bance, Nadine Noordam and Rachel McLauchlan, while six others have gone out on loan.

Murphy, arriving from Newcastle United, isn’t taking long to make an impression, having scored in both of Brighton’s first two pre-season fixtures.

There’s been a surprise change in the dugout, with Arturo Ruiz coming in as manager to replace Dario Vidosic, who is seeking a new club.

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Slegers: “The quality of players in the league, the quality of coaches, it’s all very exciting. But I mainly look at what we have, what we’re doing and what we’ve done in the last six weeks - and the desire, quality and alignment we’ve created within our squad.

“That’s what I’m really excited to see, that’s all good, all nice and that’s a great foundation, but now let’s go and play competitive games." - read every word of Renée’s pre-Brighton press conference.

Ruiz: “First of all, it's about having a strong psychological identity. We want a dressing room that is very unique and has a lot of great synergies between all of us.

“Talking about football, I want to be very unpredictable and having plans adapted to each of our rivals. We want to be very aggressive, to press high when necessary but also live comfortable in a medium block or some more conservative plans."

TEAM NEWS

Renée confirmed in her pre-match press conference that the players currently completing rehabilitation programmes are Daphne van Domselaar, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang, and that everyone else is fit to play.

FACTS AND STATS

We will kick-off a WSL campaign with an away game for the first time in 11 seasons (excl. Spring Series), last doing so with a 1-1 draw against Notts County in 2015.

We went unbeaten in each of our final 17 league games last season (W13 D4) and could equal our second longest run without defeat in the competition, set in December 2021 and November 2022; our longest unbeaten run in the competition is 19 matches between August 2011 and October 2012.

In the 2025/26 Women’s Super League campaign, we recorded the most high turnovers (314), goal ending high turnovers (9) and recorded the highest field tilt percentage for the third successive season (77%).

Georgia Stanway played the most passes (1992), the most passes into the final third (449) and made the most carries (442) of any player across Europe’s big five leagues last season, while recording the joint-second most assists (9) in the 2025/26 Bundesliga.

Since Renée Slegers took charge of her first WSL game with us in October 2024, only Chelsea (100) have won more points in the English top-flight than ourselves (94), who also boast the most goals (111) and best goal difference (+75) in that period.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Kirsty Dowle has been appointed to take charge of our first match of the season. She’s already been busy in the men’s League One and EFL Trophy across August.

She last saw over one of our fixtures when we won 2-0 away to London City Lionesses in March.

Referee: Kirsty Dowle Assistants: Isabel Chaplin and Phoebe Horner Fourth official: Ryan Atkin

HOW TO WATCH

This match will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event to supporters in the UK. Check out which broadcasters are showing the game elsewhere around the world.