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

Arsenal Women’s summer is starting to sharpen into focus.

The new Women’s Super League season is still around the corner, but Renée Slegers already has a week that tells you plenty: a late pre-season win, a young talent moving on, and a squad being pushed towards full throttle for 2026/27.

Smith’s stoppage-time sting against Paris FC

On Sunday at Mangata Developments Stadium in Borehamwood, it looked like one of those pre-season afternoons that quietly drifts to 0-0. Decent patterns, heavy legs, a few half-chances, then everyone goes home.

Olivia Smith had other ideas.

Deep into stoppage time, the Canadian international, who joined Arsenal last summer, cut inside and bent the ball into the far corner for a 91st-minute winner against Paris FC. One sharp movement, one clean strike, and a friendly suddenly felt a little more like a proper contest.

For Slegers, the 1-0 victory offered more than just a nice scoreline. It was another controlled step in building rhythm and fitness, a chance to hand minutes around the squad and test combinations as the new campaign edges closer. She made it clear afterwards that the performance still needs polishing, that details remain to be tightened before competitive football begins, but there were clear positives on show.

Leah Williamson also drew encouragement from the run-out, another sign of Arsenal’s leaders locking in on what is supposed to be a serious WSL title push.

Vivienne Lia heads to Eintracht Frankfurt

While one player grabbed the headlines on the pitch, another quietly closed a chapter.

On Friday, Arsenal confirmed that 19-year-old winger Vivienne Lia has left the club to join Eintracht Frankfurt on a permanent deal. Lia arrived in the Arsenal academy at 14 in 2021, climbed through the youth ranks and now takes the next step in her career in Germany.

Her exit is part of a wider summer reshaping. The women’s squad has seen steady movement in and out, and Lia’s departure underlines that Slegers’ rebuild is not just about marquee names but about trimming and refining the group she wants to go into battle with.

The focus for the head coach now is less about who might come or go, and more about welding the players she has into a side ready to hit the ground running.

Charlton next, Brighton on the horizon

There isn’t much time to dwell on Paris FC or on Lia’s farewell.

Arsenal are back at Mangata Developments Stadium on Wednesday, August 26, when they host Charlton Athletic Women in their next pre-season friendly. Another test, another chance for Slegers to tweak shapes, manage workloads and drill those “final details” that separate a team in preparation from one ready to compete.

Then comes the real thing.

Arsenal open their Women’s Super League campaign away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday 6th September. By then, the experiments will be over. The coming weeks should reveal just how quickly this new-look group can turn careful pre-season planning into a ruthless title charge.