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Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Women’s Champions League clash between Benfica Women and Arsenal Women, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Arsenal Women will continue the defence of their Women’s Champions League crown when they travel to Portugal for Thursday’s meeting with Benfica Women.
The Gunners started the main draw with a narrow defeat to Lyon, while Benfica fell to a narrow loss in their away clash against Juventus.
Match previewAfter falling in the qualifying stage in the 2024-25 competition, Benfica would have been relieved to secure automatic qualification for the inaugural league phase thanks to their Liga BPI title win last season.
The Portuguese giants kicked off their latest European adventure with a trip to Turin, where Lucia Alves netted an early opener against reigning Italian champions Juventus.
However, Alves saw her effort cancelled out by Cecilia Salvai, before the Juventus defender grabbed her second of the game in the 86th minute, condemning Benfica to a 2-1 defeat at the Allianz Stadium.
Ivan Baptista’s charges bounced back with a commanding 4-1 victory in Sunday’s league clash against Valadares Gaia, leaving them level on 10 points with Sporting Lisbon at the top of the standings.
Benfica will be wary that they will face a much tougher test on Thursday, although they may fancy their chances of troubling the scorers after netting in four of their five competitive matches this season.
They will also take confidence from the fact that they have not lost a competitive home game since falling to a 2-0 defeat to Hammarby in UWCL qualifying in September 2024.
Arsenal are competing as the reigning European champions after defeating three-time winners Barcelona in May’s final in Portugal.
The Gunners started their European title defence with a disappointing 2-1 defeat against record-winners Lyon, despite taking the lead through Alessia Russo at Meadow Park.
That result extended Arsenal’s winless run to four games in all competitions, so they would have been relieved to return to winning ways in Sunday’s Women’s Super League encounter against Brighton & Hove Albion.
A Marisa Olislagers own goal proved enough to seal a narrow 1-0 victory, although the fifth-placed Gunners remain five points adrift of leaders Chelsea.
Arsenal will now be fully focused on their final fixture before the international break, with Thursday’s visitors looking to claim their first away win since thrashing West Ham United 5-1 on September 12.
Not only will they be targeting all three points in Portugal, but Renee Slegers’s side will also be looking to record consecutive clean sheets for the first time since March, when they enjoyed a run of four successive shutouts.
Benfica Women Women’s Champions League form:
L
Benfica Women form (all competitions):
L D W W L W
Arsenal Women Women’s Champions League form:
L
Arsenal Women form (all competitions):
W D D L L W
Team News
Benfica forward Nycole Raysla is unavailable for selection after being stretchered off in Sunday’s league win over Valadares Gaia.
Cristina Martin-Prieto replaced the Brazilian in the first half, and she is now set to return to the starting lineup for the meeting with Arsenal.
Centre-back Carole Costa may have come off the bench to net a brace at the weekend, but her focus will be on her defensive duties when she lines up in a backline that could feature Catarina Amado, Christy Ucheibe and Marit Lund.
Meanwhile, Arsenal remain without the services of key defender Leah Williamson, who has not played since she sustained a knee injury at Euro 2025.
Katie Reid, who has earned her first England call-up, is set to keep her place in a backline with Steph Catley, Emily Fox and Katie McCabe.
Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly could come into Slegers’s thinking if the Arsenal boss decides to alter her attacking options for the trip to Portugal.
Benfica Women possible starting lineup:
Pauels; Amado, Ucheibe, Costa, Lund; Cameirao, Gasper; Sousa Alves, Moller, Silva; Martin-Prieto
Arsenal Women possible starting lineup:
Van Domselaar; Fox, Reid, Catley, McCabe; Maanum, Little, Caldentey; Mead, Kelly, Russo
We say: Benfica Women 0-2 Arsenal WomenArsenal have not been convincing in recent times, but would have taken some confidence from Sunday’s win over Brighton, and as the UWCL holders, we think that they will have the quality required to claim a relatively comfortable victory against Benfica.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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