Perfect Manchester City Welcome Seventh-Place Arsenal to the Etihad

The defending Women's Super League champions have won their first four games while Arsenal sit seventh ahead of Sunday's meeting at the Etihad Stadium.

Reigning Women's Super League champions Manchester City host Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday aiming to extend their perfect start to the season, while the visitors arrive seventh in the table after a difficult opening stretch of the 2026-27 campaign.

City have been flawless domestically under Andree Jeglertz, winning all four of their league matches to hold first place in the WSL, even though their Champions League campaign has opened without a victory. Their latest league fixture ended in a 4-2 win over Liverpool, with Lauren Hemp and Bunny Shaw among the scorers and an own goal from Liverpool's Grace Fisk, a result that preserved City's unbeaten start to the league season.

Arsenal have found the opening weeks far more testing. A single win from their first four WSL matches has left them seventh with five points and just two goals scored, and their most recent outing ended in a 1-0 defeat away to Chelsea, decided by a first-half Alyssa Thompson goal after an Arsenal defensive error in the derby.

The distance between the two clubs has grown with striking speed. Arsenal finished five points behind City last season and pushed them harder than any other side in the title race, yet just four matches into the new campaign the gap has already stretched to seven points and Arsenal's hopes of staying in this season's race are fading.

Head-to-head history does offer Arsenal one encouraging memory. When the teams last met, Arsenal won 1-0, handing City a first defeat since the opening day of the 2025-26 season, a campaign City finished as champions.

Sunday's fixture also carries a personal storyline for Beth Mead, who left Arsenal for City during the summer after nine years in north London. She made more than 250 appearances for the Gunners, scored 78 goals and set the club's all-time assist record, and the move has gone smoothly as she now prepares to face her old side in City colors.

Mead's transfer sits within a wider summer of change for both clubs. Arsenal, whose squad has carried the highest average age in the WSL for the past two seasons, brought in a string of new players as part of a squad overhaul that included England midfielder Georgia Stanway. Stanway spent seven years with City before four seasons at Bayern Munich, and after returning to the WSL with Arsenal this season she will face her former club for the first time on Sunday.

Kickoff at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon is set for 4:30 p.m. BST, with the match broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Arsenal visit Manchester City on Sunday, October 4, with kickoff at 11:30 a.m. EDT at the Etihad Stadium. The match airs live on Paramount+.