Arsenal Women: Late Winner and Squad Changes Ahead of WSL
The new Women’s Super League season is still a few weeks away, but Arsenal Women have already shifted out of first gear. A stoppage-time win, a homegrown departure and another friendly on the horizon have given Renée Slegers plenty to think about as she shapes her squad for 2026/27.
Smith’s stoppage-time sting against Paris FC
For 90 minutes at Mangata Developments Stadium in Borehamwood, Arsenal prodded and probed Paris FC without finding a way through. It looked like one of those pre-season afternoons: useful for fitness, light on drama.
Then Olivia Smith changed the script.
Deep into stoppage time, the Canadian forward, who arrived last summer, cut inside and picked out the far corner with precision in the 91st minute. One clean strike, one 1-0 win, and a jolt of late-summer optimism for the Gunners.
It was only a friendly, but it ticked the right boxes for Slegers. She rotated, spread minutes across the squad and nudged her players closer to full match sharpness. The performance wasn’t flawless; the head coach made that clear afterwards, pointing to details that still need tightening before the real stuff starts. But the structure, the intensity, the late winner – all of it fed into a sense of steady progress.
Leah Williamson also drew positives from the afternoon. The defender, central to Arsenal’s ambitions, saw another step taken towards a WSL campaign in which the club expect to be in the thick of the title race.
Vivienne Lia moves on to Eintracht Frankfurt
While Smith was making her mark, another chapter quietly closed.
On Friday, Arsenal confirmed that Vivienne Lia has left the club to join Eintracht Frankfurt on a permanent deal. The 19-year-old winger has been part of the Arsenal pathway since 2021, when she entered the academy at 14, rising through the youth ranks before now heading to Germany to continue her development.
Her exit is part of a broader reshaping of the squad after a busy summer of ins and outs. For Lia, it’s a chance to chase regular senior football in the Frauen-Bundesliga. For Arsenal, it’s another sign that the squad Slegers inherited is being actively remodelled, piece by piece.
With the bulk of that squad-building work now done, Slegers’ focus is shifting. The emphasis is less on who comes in or goes out, and more on forging a cohesive unit from what she has: refining partnerships, building rhythm, and hardening the group for competitive football.
Charlton next, then Brighton on opening day
There isn’t much time to dwell on any of it.
Arsenal are back at Mangata Developments Stadium on Wednesday, 26 August, hosting Charlton Athletic Women in their next pre-season friendly. Another 90 minutes, another chance for Slegers to experiment, to test combinations, to iron out those “details” she highlighted after the Paris FC win.
Then comes the real marker.
Arsenal open their Women’s Super League campaign away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, 6 September. By then, the late winners, the academy farewells and the pre-season tweaks will have to give way to points, pressure and a title challenge that will not wait for anyone to settle.
The warm-up is almost over. Now we find out what Slegers’ new-look Arsenal really are.
