Arsenal Women’s Pre-Season: Smith's Late Winner and Lia's Departure

Arsenal Women’s pre-season is starting to bite. The new Women’s Super League campaign is still around the corner, but Renée Slegers’ side have already packed a late win, a notable departure and some hard running into a busy week.

Smith’s stoppage-time sting

On Sunday at Mangata Developments Stadium in Borehamwood, Arsenal and Paris FC looked set to drift to a forgettable goalless draw. Then Olivia Smith changed the mood.

Deep into stoppage time, the Canadian forward, who joined the club last summer, picked up the ball, drove inside and curled her finish into the far corner. Ninety-first minute. 1-0. A pre-season friendly on paper, but the reaction told its own story: a late winner always sharpens the senses.

For Slegers, it was another checkpoint in a carefully managed build-up. The head coach used the game to spread minutes across her squad, edging players closer to full match sharpness rather than chasing fireworks in August. The structure is coming, the legs are loosening, but the message from the touchline remains clear: details still need tightening before the real thing starts.

Leah Williamson echoed that sense of measured optimism, drawing positives from the performance as Arsenal continue to tune up for what they hope will be a serious WSL title tilt.

Lia moves on to Frankfurt

While Smith was making her mark, another young Gunner was heading for the exit.

On Friday, Arsenal confirmed that 19-year-old winger Vivienne Lia has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on a permanent deal. Lia arrived in the club’s academy in 2021 at the age of 14 and climbed through the youth ranks before deciding to continue her development in Germany.

Her move is part of a wider reshaping of the women’s squad during a hectic summer of ins and outs. The churn has been steady, and with Lia now gone, the focus for Slegers shifts more firmly from recruitment to refinement: turning this evolving group into a side ready to handle competitive intensity from day one.

Next steps before Brighton

There is little time to dwell. Arsenal are back at Mangata Developments Stadium on Wednesday, 26 August, when they host Charlton Athletic Women in their next pre-season outing.

That fixture hands Slegers another live rehearsal to test combinations, adjust patterns and iron out those “small details” that often decide early-season games. The clock is ticking towards the WSL opener away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, 6 September, and every half of football between now and then carries weight.

Pre-season can often feel like background noise. For this Arsenal side, these weeks look anything but. The late winner, the academy departure, the tactical fine-tuning – it all feeds into one question: how ready will Slegers’ new-look squad be when the title race starts for real on the south coast?