Arsenal take 4 goal advantage back to North London after a 4-0 victory against OH-Leuven

The last champions league fixture these two teams played was against each other back in December 2025, the game ended in a 3-0 win to Arsenal.

📸via bbc.com

Both sides have recently been playing well in their leagues, in their last two WSL matches Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0 away and then they beat Manchester City who sit comfortably at the top of the table 1-0 at home. Arsenal also won the Champions Cup between those two WSL Games. OH Leuven currently sit at the top of  the super league and have won their last 3 league games, all with a clean sheet. 

OH Leuven Squad: 

Manager: Arno Van den Abbeel

Formation: 4-3-3

starting XI: Seynhaeve (29), Janssen (2), Mertens (6), Biesmans (30), Everaerts (3), Kuijpers (19), Hermans (21), Pusztai (8), Bosteels (7), Konijnenberg (9), Reynders

Arsenal Squad:

Manager: Renee Slegers 

Formation: 4-3-3 

starting XI: Van Domselaar (14), Fox (2), Williamson (6), Codina (5), McCabe (11), Maanum (12), Pelova (21), Caldentey (8), Kelly (18), Smith (15), Foord (19) 

First half : 

Arsenal dominated in the first half, lots of balls were sent into the box but many good crosses from Williamson, in this first half arsenal had 70% of the possession as OH Leuven struggled to stay in possession of the ball. 

OH defended well the majority of the first box at points they struggled to clear their lines and Arsenal did manage to get two goals during the first 45 minutes. In the 22nd minute Foord drove into the box and then sent the ball to Maanum and she managed to header it into the bottom corner earning Arsenal the 1-0 lead early on. Maanum sent the ball through to Kelly who managed to stay wide switching off the OH Leuven defence, Kelly then sent the ball to Smith who made a late run and put the ball in the back of the goal earning Arsenal their 2nd goal. 

Two yellow cards were also handed out during the first half, one to Arsenal's Fox after a foul and another to OH Leuven's Mertens possibly for descent.  OH Leuven also managed to have two attempts in this first half, one by Konijnenberg and one by Reyenders. 

Overall OH Leuven struggled to get out of their own defensive third and struggled to attack, Arsenal went into the 2nd half 2-0 up.

Second Half: 

Arsenal were the first ones to make a substitution, at half time Fox came off for Holmberg, later in the game Arsenal made a few more substitutions with a double change in the 61st minute, one in the 73rd minute and then their final substitution was during the 82nd minute. The double change in the 61st minute consisted of Williamson who was captain for this game coming off for Wubben-Moy and Chloe Kelly making way for Russo, both Williamson and Kelly are returning from injuries so it was no shock they came off however some may be shocked that Renee Slegers decided to bring Russo on when they were 2-0 up instead of resting her. In the 73rd minute we saw Coney-Cross come on for Caldentey and then in the last substitution for Arsenal Smith made way for captain Kim Little, this meant that Kim little has now had 400 appearances for the Gunners. 

OH Leuven also made changes during the second half hoping they could begin to attack and score a goal. They made a triple change during the 59th minute: Reynders came off for Dekker, Kuijpers made way for Nagy and Hermans came off for De Ceuster. They then made another change in the 78 minute having Neyrinck come on for Conijnenberg, and their final substitution 

was during the 89th minute where Heremans came on for Everaerts. OH Leuven brought on quite a few of their younger players in this second half.

Arsenal scored 2 more goals in this half but also picked up another yellow. Olivia Smith received a yellow card in the 79th minute for time wasting meaning she will now miss the second leg. Arsenal's third goal was during the 52nd minute after Smith sent the ball behind to Foord who yet again assisted Maanum for her second goal of the night . The final goal was scored by Russo just 11 minutes after she came on (72nd minute). 

OH Leuven definitely had more runs in this second half but once again Arsenal showed the Belgian side just what they are capable of. Seynhaeve definitely made some crucial saves stopping Arsenal having an even bigger advantage in the second leg. 

What’s next? 

OH Leuven will turn their focus to their home game this weekend against Westerlo in the super league, and Arsenal will return to London to begin to prepare for their away fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion. The second leg will take place next Wednesday at the Emirates, kick-off is 8 o'clock and not only do Arsenal have the home advantage they are also heading into the second leg with 4 goals.