🏏 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 12:00 GMT
Arsenal Women
vs
West Ham Women
Positions estimated (no formation data from the API)
Substitutes
Substitutes
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- Japan international Yu Endo, 28, starts for West Ham. The right-back spent 15 years and 171 matches at Urawa Reds Ladies, helping them to back-to-back WE League and AFC Women's Champions League titles, and she is known for her accurate crossing and dependable defending. Her assignment is Arsenal's left flank, where Mariona Caldentey, ten years a Barcelona player, operates.
- Arsenal's forward line is stacked with Euro 2022 winners. Chloe Kelly, 28, who scored the goal that settled that final, starts on the right, and Alessia Russo, 27, the striker whose backheel made her a household name, leads the line. Beth Mead, the tournament's golden boot winner, waits on the bench, while Sweden's Stina Blackstenius adds further physical presence.
- There is a striking generational contrast in Arsenal's midfield. Captain Kim Little, 35 and retired from international football, still dictates play with elite vision and technique, while beside her stands 21-year-old Canada international Olivia Smith, the subject of the first million-pound transfer in women's football and a player who debuted for her country at 15.
- West Ham's midfield is organised by Katie Zelem, the 30-year-old former Manchester United captain who left Old Trafford as the club's third-highest scorer and second on the appearance list. Her set-piece delivery is a genuine weapon, and alongside Finland's Oona Siren, 25, she must deny space to Little and Smith to keep the game manageable.
- The visiting back line leans on Scandinavian steel. Tuva Hansen, the Norway centre-back who won a Bundesliga title during three years at Bayern Munich and captained Sandviken, partners Finland's Eva Nystrom, a defender with more than 100 Hammarby appearances who started every Euro 2025 qualifier. Coping with Russo and Blackstenius in the air is the immediate task.
- Right-back Esther Cascarino is worth following. The 29-year-old France international has played for Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, and is currently on loan from the Italian club; her twin sister Delphine also plies her trade in the WSL. Her overlapping runs against Taylor Hinds, Arsenal's left-footed full-back signed from Liverpool in 2025, should make for a lively flank.
- Both goalkeeping situations are intriguing. West Ham's Kinga Szemik kept the clean sheet in the Euro 2025 qualifying play-off that took Poland to a first major tournament and is respected for her penalty saving. Arsenal give the gloves to 180cm German Anneke Borbe, with 2023 Ballon d'Or nominee Daphne van Domselaar of the Netherlands and former PSG keeper Barbora Votikova held in reserve.
- Arsenal's right-back slot goes to 19-year-old Sweden international Smilla Holmberg, who arrived from BK Hacken in January 2026 and was her country's youngest squad member at Euro 2025. United States international Emily Fox, 27, and 18-year-old Sophie Harwood are also available, which makes this one of the most competitive positions in the squad.
- West Ham's bench carries serious international mileage. Shelina Zadorsky, the 33-year-old Canada centre-back with more than 100 caps, an Olympic gold from Tokyo and a bronze from Rio, is joined by Austria's Verena Hanshaw, a Euro 2017 Best XI selection, and Switzerland's Seraina Piubel, who won four consecutive league titles across eight seasons at FC Zurich.