There is a cliche that while teams can’t win titles in the first few weeks of the season, they can certainly lose them. Last year, Arsenal’s early results might not have fitted that exactly, but when a shock elimination in Champions League qualifying was followed by an equally surprising defeat to Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, it absolutely set the tone for an underwhelming campaign that the Gunners will be eager to bounce back from this time around.
A faster start will be imperative for success in 2024-25 because the schedule Jonas Eidevall’s side are working with is unforgiving. On Sunday, Arsenal begin the new Women’s Super League season against Manchester City, last year’s runners-up. Four days later, they need to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League second round qualifier with Hacken to reach the group stage. A couple of weeks after that, Chelsea, champions of the last five seasons, will make the short journey across London to visit the Gunners.
Straight out of the blocks, there will be little room for error for an Arsenal side that, as the most successful club in the English women’s game, is always under pressure to deliver. Five years since a last WSL triumph and eight years since the Gunners lifted the Women’s FA Cup for a record-extending 14th time, can Eidevall’s charges live up to expectations this season?