Arsenal have spent the past few seasons living on a knife edge, leaning heavily on a core of stars and praying the physio room stayed quiet. Those days, on paper at least, are over.
This is now a squad built on depth. Real depth. Every line of the pitch has cover, and not just warm bodies, but players who have already felt the weight of expectation and handled it.
Take the new wave. Olivia Smith arrives with three standout senior seasons behind her, including a 2025-26 campaign where she carried the burden of a big price tag without blinking. Smilla Holmberg brings a similar bank of minutes and the experience of a European Championship, where she started a quarter-final for Sweden and went toe-to-toe with England for an hour. Lisa Baum, the youngest of the trio, has fewer international caps but has been in senior football since she was 15. None of them are strangers to pressure.
The concern, the one nagging doubt, still sits at centre-back. Leah Williamson’s fitness has been patchy, and Katie Reid is still working her way back from an ACL injury. If Williamson suffers another setback, Arsenal are suddenly light, with only Lotte Wubben-Moy and Steph Catley as recognised options in the heart of defence. It is the one position that doesn’t quite match the rest of the squad’s armoury.
Everywhere else, the picture is far brighter.
For too long, Arsenal’s midfield balance has depended on Kim Little and Mariona Caldentey. When either missed games last season, the drop-off was sharp. At 36, Little cannot be asked to carry that load forever. The arrivals of Georgia Stanway and Geraldine Reuteler change that dynamic completely. They don’t just add legs and quality; they give Jonas Eidevall and his staff the ability to rotate without ripping the soul out of the team.
The same story has played out up front. Alessia Russo has been the ever-present, for club and country. The volume of minutes she has churned through, while staying fit, speaks to her professionalism and the work she puts in away from the cameras. But no elite side should live in fear of one injury to their No.9. Now, they don’t have to.
Selina Cerci joins a striker pool that already includes Russo, Stina Blackstenius and Michelle Agyemang, who is herself on the way back from an ACL layoff. Cerci’s numbers in Germany are no accident; across the last two Bundesliga seasons, nobody has scored more league goals than her. That is the calibre of player now sharing the load.
The knock-on effect is felt in the No.10 role as well. Frida Maanum has been the default choice there, but Arsenal never truly solved that position. Victoria Pelova, now departed, never fully nailed it down. Kyra Cooney-Cross was tried there, but the experiment never quite clicked. Rosa Kafaji, signed in 2024 as another option, has been moved on to London City Lionesses.
Now the options look very different. Reuteler, Little, Caldentey and Stanway can all push higher up the pitch. Maanum, equally, can drop deeper when the game demands more control. With this blend, Arsenal can pick their midfield according to the opponent, the schedule, or simply the need to rest tired legs. They can go physical, technical, direct, or patient. They’re not locked into one version of themselves anymore.
All of this layers on top of what they have already proved under Renée Slegers. This is a group that has won the Champions League and then backed it up with a semi-final run while defending that crown. The foundations were already strong before a single new signing walked through the door.
The quality of those arrivals only sharpens the edge. Ona Batlle is a world-class full-back, one of the most complete in her position. Stanway is among the elite midfielders in the global game, a player who thrives in big moments. Cerci brings end product at a ruthless clip. Reuteler’s class was there for everyone to see at Euro 2025. Baum looks like a long-term pillar, as much about what she can be as what she already is.
The context around them matters, too. Man City are the defending WSL champions and deserve every ounce of respect that comes with that. Their title win, though, was helped by a schedule free of Champions League commitments. This season, they have Europe back on the agenda, and that changes the calculus: more travel, more midweek intensity, more chances for fatigue to bite.
Chelsea, the old benchmark, are in a different place as well. Six straight titles before City’s breakthrough tell their story, but last season was their poorest WSL campaign in seven years. Key injuries shredded their depth, and there are still questions over parts of the current squad and whether that fitness record can be stabilised.
Manchester United, after a quiet summer and the surprise exit of head coach Marc Skinner, do not look primed to launch a serious title assault. London City Lionesses have spent big and made headlines with the signing of two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, yet a sustained title challenge this soon would be a huge leap.
So the stage clears.
Arsenal now stand with a squad that looks complete in almost every area, packed with flexibility, experience and players who know what it takes to cross the line in major competitions. They have already conquered Europe under Slegers.
The next question is blunt and unavoidable: can this group finally drag the WSL trophy back to north London for the first time since 2019?
