By OkayGoal 
Beth Mead (9 Arsenal) and Ashleigh Neville (29 Tottenham) in action during the Barclays FA Womens Super League game between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium in London, England. (Liam Asman/SPP)
Renee Slegers has confirmed two big absences for her Arsenal squad to face Lyon in the first leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final on Sunday.
Beth Mead and Steph Catley will not be available for selection, she told the media on Friday.
“Steph is still recovering from her calf issue, so hopefully we’ll see her later on,” she said, adding: “Beth is not with us, hasn’t been with us this week because of personal reasons.”
Renee Slegers: Everything is different for Arsenal this year
The Gunners are looking to defend the title they won last May in Lisbon, but Slegers says that they are focusing on the present rather than harking back to the past.
As such, she thinks that last season’s semi-final win over the same opponent won’t make any difference to this year’s encounters.
“Last year was last year, this year is this year,” she said. “The set-up of the competition has changed and a lot of things have changed since then.
“I think for us, for them, I think we still have the same identity. I think they have their style of play, we have our style of play. And yeah, coincidence or chance by chance, we’re in the exact same position again in the semi-final playing against each other, first at home at the Emirates and the second one away.
“But with that being said, that was last year, everything is different this year.”
She went on: “I think you’re constantly learning. As a team we go through different contexts, through different phases. We’re all putting those things into our backpack as a team. We grow with it and I think that’s what we’re doing. We have to earn it all over again.
“It was fantastic what we did and the way we did it. But it starts all over again. We start from zero and it’s going to be a different game.”
