Beth Mead and Lotte Wubben-Moy absences give Arsenal cause for concern ahead of Champions League qualifiers: Winners and losers as Gunners end U.S. pre-season tour with defeat to a Chelsea side looking sharp in attack

No area of this Chelsea squad is more competitive than in attack, with the depth and quality of the options at Bompastor's disposal leading many to question whether or not the signing of Baltimore was really necessary. The France international bolsters a frontline that can already count on Lauren James, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Guro Reiten, Maika Hamano, Aggie Beever-Jones, Mayra Ramirez and Catarina Macario. Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel, who both suffered ACL injuries at the beginning of 2024, will be back during the upcoming season, too.

But Baltimore showed why she is a valuable addition on Sunday as she scored the goal that allowed Chelsea to end their U.S. tour with a win. Occupying a more central role as opposed to the wide one that she played in for most of her last season at Paris Saint-Germain, and as a substitute in Chelsea's win over Gotham on Monday, she showed intelligence in her pressing, directness in her play and was in the right place at the right time to score the goal that decided the match.

The 24-year-old is going to have to work hard for her minutes in this big squad, and there is no better way to start than by getting off the mark early on, to catch the eye and get that confidence flowing.

It's never a good thing when a player has to pull out of the starting line-up after the warm-up, just as was the case for Beth Mead on Sunday. Arsenal have just 10 days until they face Rangers in their first Champions League qualifier, and while they will be big favourites to progress, they'll certainly want to have as fully fit a squad as possible available for it - especially if, as many expect, they face Atletico Madrid a few days later, with a place in the second qualifying round on the line.

That the club described Mead's withdrawal from the XI as a precaution should ease the concerns among fans and they will hope it means she is back before they know it.

This was Kafaji's first start for Arsenal after arriving from Hacken and yet, it feels like the No.10 position is hers to lose as the new campaign approaches. After a lively showing off the bench against the Washington Spirit last week, she was full of creativity, flair and skill in this match too, all the things you want from your playmaking midfielder.

Most of the good stuff that the Gunners showed against Chelsea came through Kafaji, including a perfectly-weighted pass for Foord that led to the first big chance of the game. That Arsenal looked poorer in the second half when they struggled to really get the talented Swede on the ball was telling, before she went off just before the hour.

Of course, Kafaji will have to work hard to get her minutes and there are some fantastic players she is competing with for that game time. Still, she has shown plenty of glimpses on this pre-season tour to impress Eidevall ahead of the new campaign.

In a similar vein to Baltimore, Hamano is out there, battling for minutes and showing why she deserves to continue to get opportunities in this upcoming season. On Sunday, just as was the case on Monday against Gotham, the young Japan international certainly caught the eye, arguably more so than any other Chelsea player as they closed out the U.S. tour with a win.

It was Hamano's alertness that led to the Blues' goal, the 20-year-old putting Little under pressure in her own box and winning possession back to create the attack that ended with Baltimore's thumping strike. She was a consistent livewire, a nuisance for the Arsenal players when they had the ball and always looked likely to create something.

Another absentee for Arsenal on Sunday was also notable, as Lotte Wubben-Moy missed out on the match due to a quad problem. The relationship that Wubben-Moy and Leah Williamson have together in the heart of defence is strong and helps steady the back line, but also the ball-playing abilities of both are of huge significance to the team and its desire to play out from the back.

Again, as with Mead, the Gunners will hope that this is nothing serious for Wubben-Moy with the new season right around the corner. Laia Codina had some tough moments in the defence in her first season last year, Amanda Ilestedt is out of action for a significant period after the announcement of her pregnancy and then the depth chart at centre-back gets to Steph Catley, a left-back who can play centrally, and academy talents who lack huge amounts of experience.

The Gunners are certainly weaker when Wubben-Moy is missing and so the hope will be that she won’t be when those European qualifiers come around.

After fielding an XI against the Washington Spirit last week that featured a trio of academy players, and gave opportunities to three more off the bench, Eidevall chose a team on Sunday that was closer to first-choice and his substitutes represented that approach, too.

However, the Swede did offer significant minutes to one of those young talents against Chelsea, bringing Katie Reid on just past the hour-mark. The 17-year-old impressed against the Spirit and that was the case again in her half-hour here, with her not shying away from the challenge of marking Colombia star Ramirez.

There is a real chance that Reid could get more opportunities through the 2024-25 season, as Ilestedt's pregnancy has left the team a little lighter in the centre-back department. Her performances on this tour have only strengthened her case to be a breakthrough star for Eidevall this year.