Arsenal vs Birmingham: WSL preview, predictions, team news and TV info

Arsenal have won seven of their last eight meetings with Birmingham City, the pair's most-recent clash coming at Meadow Park in March 2022, a 4-2 home win, in which Rafaelle, Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord were the scorers.

Ahead of the duo meeting against at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, check out our preview, predictions, team news and TV guide.

Arsenal vs Birmingham City match info

• Date: Saturday 17 October 2026.
• Kick off times: 12:45pm (local) & 7:45am (ET)
• Competition: Barclays Women's Super League
• Venue: Emirates Stadium - North London,
• How to watch: Sky Sports (UK) and Paramount+ (USA).

How can I watch Arsenal vs Birmingham City?

Arsenal vs Birmingham City match preview

The first period of this season has been borderline disastrous for Arsenal so, following an international break, can they reset and climb the table? Last time out, despite twice leading through Lisa Baum and then Alessia Russo, the Gunners were beaten 4-2 by champions Manchester City at the Etihad, simply too easy to score against.

This, in isolation, is not a disgrace. The problem for Renée Slegers though is the fact that her side have not won in the Women's Super League since the opening weekend. Following back-to-back home draws with Crystal Palace and Manchester United, Arsenal have lost successive away games against their traditional title rivals, beaten by Chelsea and then, as mentioned, Man City.

This all leaves the Gunners down in tenth, already pretty much out of the title race, despite sky-high pre-season aspirations. So, those inside Emirates Stadium will demand a victory on Saturday.

As for Birmingham City, they are back in the WSL for the first time since 2021/22, winning only three games all year back then, and this could be a similarly tough campaign. Amy Merricks' side are yet to claim a victory since securing promotion, most-recently beaten 2-1 by Everton, despite Océane Hurtré's equaliser at Goodison.

The Blues have held both Brighton and Crystal Palace to high-scoring draws at St Andrew's, but have lost all three away matches. In fairness, prior to the narrow loss on Merseyside last time out, Birmingham's two other defeats on the road have come at Man City and Chelsea, defeated 3-1 and 2-0 respectively by the top two. Nevertheless, this should be the ideal fixture for Arsenal to get back on track, but the Blues will believe an upset is possible.

Arsenal team news

Renée Slegers has had a fortnight to try and figure out a winning formula, so let's see what she has come up with. It has now been confirmed that star midfielder Mariona Caldentey will be out for almost three months due to a hamstring injury suffered at the Etihad, literally adding injury to insult.

Elsewhere, it was a good international window for many. Alessia Russo scored twice for England against Greece on Tuesday, Olivia Smith was on target during both of Canada's games against Denmark, Stina Blackstenius scored thrice for Sweden against Lithuania and Caitlin Foord was a scorer for Australia against Haiti. So, can any of these attackers carry this form back to their club?

Birmingham City team news

22 year old forward Océane Hurtré will be Birmingham's main goal threat, having scored five WSL goals so far this season, which is one more than Arsenal. This saw her earn a first French cap last weekend, marking the occasion with a goal as les Bleues blitzed Latvia 9-0 at Stade Francis Le Basser.

Predicted Line-ups

• Arsenal predicted lineup: Rodríguez; Fox, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, Batlle; Cooney-Cross, Stanway, Little; Smith, Russo, Baum.

• Birmingham City predicted lineup: Baggaley; Levasseur, Turner, Herron, McKenna; Naalsund, Miyagawa, Crosthwaite, Hurtré, Lee Geum-min; Sarri.

• Score prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Birmingham City.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow