Three Arsenal Women starting XI places still undecided

Updated: Arsenal Women prepare for Charlton Athletic test

Updated, 17 September 2026: three starting places in Renée Slegers’ Arsenal Women side remain unresolved as the club’s final pre-season fixture against Charlton Athletic approaches. The picture from our original squad analysis still holds. Goalkeeper, left-back and centre-forward are all still open, and Sunday’s win over Paris FC did little to settle the argument.

Slegers has spent pre-season assessing a squad that looks very different from last term. Arsenal rebuilt half their squad over the summer, bringing in seven new players and losing 11. That scale of change explains why so many places are still up for grabs this close to the WSL opener.

Goalkeeper spot undecided after Paris FC victory

Misa Rodríguez started in goal for the 1-0 win over Paris FC after joining from Real Madrid this summer. Sky Sports reports she made 215 appearances for Real Madrid and kept a league-high 14 clean sheets last season, figures that make a strong case for her to be first choice.

Yet Daphne van Domselaar was left out of the squad entirely for that game, with no explanation given by the club. Anneke Borbe and Isabella Damm were named among the substitutes instead. Until Van Domselaar returns to the squad, or Slegers explains her absence, the goalkeeping jersey cannot be considered settled.

Left-back position open following squad overhaul

Katie McCabe’s departure has left a genuine gap on the left of Arsenal’s defence. Against Paris FC, Slegers fielded Smilla Holmberg, Leah Williamson, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Emily Fox across the back four, with Steph Catley named among the substitutes.

None of those players is a natural left-back by trade, which is why the position still looks unresolved. Slegers has options to rotate through, but nobody has yet nailed down the role as their own ahead of the WSL opener.

Central striker decision between Cerci, Russo and Blackstenius

Selina Cerci led the line from the start against Paris FC, with Alessia Russo and Stina Blackstenius held back on the bench. Cerci arrives with a strong case of her own: she scored 16 goals and added nine assists for Hoffenheim last season, numbers Arsenal say made her the Bundesliga’s leading player for combined goals and assists.

Blackstenius made her mark from the bench, setting up Olivia Smith’s late winner. With Russo also waiting for a chance to start, Slegers has three genuine options up front and no obvious reason yet to pick one over the others.

Arsenal Women vs Charlton Athletic match details

Arsenal Women host Charlton Athletic at Meadow Park in a 7pm kick-off, their final pre-season fixture before the WSL campaign begins. It is the last chance for Slegers to test her selection options in a match setting before the league season starts in earnest.

The Gunners then open their WSL campaign away at Brighton on 6 September, a fixture that will offer the first real evidence of how Slegers has resolved her goalkeeper, left-back and striker dilemmas.

What happens next

Slegers is expected to use the Charlton game to give further minutes to the players competing for those three spots, particularly Van Domselaar if she returns to the squad, and whichever forward has not yet started. How she sets up her side at Meadow Park should offer the clearest hint yet of her thinking before Brighton.

The scrutiny on squad management is not confined to the women’s side this season. Arsenal’s men’s team faces its own selection pressures, with Declan Rice facing an extraordinary 69-game season across all competitions. For Slegers, the challenge is different but no less pressing: turning a heavily rebuilt squad into a settled, winning line-up before the WSL title race begins in earnest.