Preview: Arsenal Women v Crystal Palace

Women’s Super League football returns to Emirates Stadium for the first time in 2026/27 as we host Crystal Palace at 2.45pm on Sunday, September 13 in N5.

We began the season with a 1-0 opening day win away to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, while newly-promoted Palace beat Everton 1-0 at home.

Ahead of our clash with the Eagles, find out all you need to know about the opposition below, catch up on the manager’s pre-match quotes, get the latest team news and more.

EAGLES FLYING HIGH

Palace fans couldn’t have asked for much more than a win and a clean sheet in their return to the WSL last Sunday. That came by way of Lexi Lloyd-Smith’s 34th-minute strike against the Toffees.

Jo Potter’s side were promoted to the division after finishing second in the WSL 2 last season. They beat Oxford United in pre-season before losing to Real Madrid and ourselves in August, with Lisa Baum and Chloe Kelly on the scoresheet for us.

As for recruitment, Palace have made six permanent signings, nameely Sierra Enge, Bethany England, Lexi Lloyd-Smith, Shannon O’Brien, Molly Bartrip and Shanade Hopcroft, bringing in a wealth of experience, while also recruiting former Gunner Teyah Golder as well as Fuka Tsunoda on loan.

One quirk to last weekend’s match was that Palace illegally used four substitution windows against Everton (clubs are only allowed to use three). The team of refereeing officials have been stood down for the second round of fixtures, while the investigation continues.

RENÉE'S PREVIEW

Slegers: “We know what we want to create for ourselves there, and that's us on that pitch, in that setting, together with the fans and bring the fans with us, and that's always a really lovely and nice atmosphere that we create, like all the moments that we've had there so far with the supporters.

“So I really look forward to creating that again on Sunday. So I can only speak for myself and what we can create for ourselves and how that fuels us and our performances.” - Read every word of Renée’s pre-Crystal Palace press conference.

TEAM NEWS

There are now fresh team news concerns following last weekend's win over Brighton, with the same players remaining unavailable (Michelle Agyemang, Katie Reid and Daphne van Domselaar). New signing Élisa de Almeida is now available to be selected.

FACTS AND STATS

We have won each of our last four meetings with Crystal Palace in all competitions by an aggregate score of 20-0, winning 5-0 at home and 4-0 away in our only previous WSL campaign together in 2024/25.

We are unbeaten in each of our last 19 home games in the WSL (W16 D3), already a club record; overall, we are 18 games unbeaten (W14 D4) and only once have had a longer run, going 19 undefeated between August 2011 and October 2012.

In 2026, we have kept nine WSL clean sheets in 12 games – four more than any other team. Of teams to play more than one game in a year in the WSL, only Chelsea in 2017 (10 clean sheets in 13 games, 77%) have a better clean sheet ratio in a year than us this year (75%). We’ve faced just 1.5 shots on target per game (18 in 12 games), the lowest ratio by a team in a calendar year in WSL history.

We have trailed for just 8% of our WSL games in the last two seasons, the lowest ratio of any side. In our last 15 matches, we’ve trailed for just 21 minutes and 42 seconds, all in the same game against Brighton in May 2026, a 1-1 draw.

Georgia Stanway completed 98 passes on her WSL debut for us on MD1, the most ever by a Gunners player on their first WSL appearance. In WSL history, only Abby Dahlkemper has completed more on her debut for a specific club (111 for Manchester City in January 2021).

Steph Catley could make her 100th WSL appearance in this game, becoming the second Australian player to hit that landmark after her current teammate Caitlin Foord (119).

REF WATCH

Declan Brown has been appointed to be the man in the middle for Sunday’s fixture. He has seen over three matches so far this season in League One, League Two and the Carabao Cup, handing out nine yellow cards in the process.

Referee: Declan Brown Assistant Referees: Zeyad Ahmed and Luke Bowles Fourth Official: Abigail Byrne

HOW TO WATCH

Supporters in the UK can watch this match live on BBC Two, the BBC Sport website or BBC iPlayer. It will also be shown internationally live on YouTube.

Check out which other broadcasters are showing the game around the world.