Preview: Arsenal Women v Manchester United

We look to return to winning ways in the Women’s Super League as Manchester United visit Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening (5.30pm UK).

We’ll play for our first home win of the season in N5 after last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, which saw us move to four points after our opening two WSL matches, while United head to north London still looking for their first.

Tickets remain on general sale, so get yours now to avoid missing out. Supporters can enjoy a pre-match pitchside DJ set with Lens LDN from 4.10pm to 4.30pm and 4.45pm to 5.15pm, while our Fan First Offers include a pint of Asahi Super Dry for £4.50 - find out more .

SLOW START FOR OLID

Spanish manager Eva Olid took over as United’s head coach in the summer, replacing the departing Marc Skinner, but it’s not been a good start for the new boss. After drawing 1-1 away to Leicester City in pre-season, United were beaten by Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City ahead of the league campaign.

Top-flight football began with a 2-1 defeat away to London City Lionesses, followed by a 5-0 home loss to Chelsea last weekend, which rooted them at the bottom of the division.

Seven players were recruited in the summer, namely Phoebe Lear, Erin Baxter, Andrea Medina, Hollie Stone-Armstrong, Janina Leitzi, Monica Jusu Bah and Rebeca Bernal, while 13 players left the club on permanent transfers.

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Slegers: “The best thing is always to get back onto the grass and execute. I think psychologically that's good as well for everyone to be able to action things. So we've looked at some things.

"Of course, we were happy with our dominance in the game [against Palace] and our entries in the final third, entries in the box, amount of shots, but we've also been looking at how we can create even bigger opportunities for ourselves when the spaces are really tight and there's a lot of bodies in the box.”

Olid: “My main message is about being themselves. I think they’re not showing in the first two matches who they are and what they can do.

“We had a day to reflect, analyse the game, see what we can do better and I think we know what we have to do, which is important this Saturday.”

TEAM NEWS

Daphne van Domselaar, Michelle Agyemang and Katie Reid remain unavailable for this weekend, while Elisa de Almeida has also picked up an injury.

Going into more detail on Van Domselaar, Slegers said: "October is in our minds somewhere [for her return], but we still have to look at how the new response is. Day by day, there is a plan in place, but that plan has been changed several times now. October will be great, but let's see where it goes. Daphne is working really hard in the background with the medical team."

United will make a late call on Andrea Medina, who came off in the second half of Sunday's defeat to Chelsea, while right-back Jayde Riviere missed the meeting with the Blues due to calf problems. Young midfielder Emma Watson was also sidelined and will be out for a few weeks.

Fridolina Rolfo recently shared the news of her pregnancy, while Celin Bizet Donnum - who gave birth in June - is back in training.

FACTS AND STATS

We are unbeaten in each of our last six WSL meetings with Manchester United (W2 D4), though we drew both matchups last term 0-0.

We are unbeaten in 19 WSL games and could set our outright longest unbeaten streak in the competition this weekend (W14 D5). We also remain unbeaten at home under Renee Slegers in the top-flight (W16 D4) and could equal the third-longest home run without defeat overall in the WSL (Manchester City between November 2021 and October 2023).

Manchester United have won just one of their six WSL away games against us (D2 L3), a 3-2 win in November 2022 at Emirates Stadium with Alessia Russo scoring the winning goal in stoppage time.

Manchester United have lost their opening two league games for the first time since their debut WSL campaign in 2019/20; the Red Devils have also shipped a league-high seven goals, never previously conceding more than three times across their first two matches of a top-flight season.

Chelsea’s Keira Walsh (19) is the only midfielder involved in more shot-ending open-play sequences than Georgia Stanway (17) and Mariona Caldentey (16) in the WSL this season. Stanway also leads all midfielders for successful passes in 2026/27 (194).

REF WATCH

Abigail Byrne has been appointed to take charge of Saturday’s match. She has seen over five games across the Women’s Super League, League One, League Two and National League so far this season.

Her last involvement in one of our games was February’s 1-0 home win over Manchester City.

Referee: Abigail Byrne Assistants: Anastasiya Voloshchuk, Ruby Sykes Fourth official: Sophie Dennington

HOW TO WATCH

This game will be available for supporters in the UK to watch live on Sky Sports - check out which other broadcasters are showing the action around the world.