'Disruptors' London City show signs of intent despite heavy debut loss

Captain Kosovare Asllani scored London City Lionesses' first goal in the WSL to give them the lead at Emirates Stadium

London City Lionesses may have lost their first match in the Women's Super League 4-1 - but it is clear they are here to upset the established order.

It was the toughest of tests as they made their bow in England's top flight, coming up against European champions Arsenal in front of 38,000 fans at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

But the independent club, not affiliated with a men's counterpart and backed by wealthy American owner Michele Kang, have sent a clear message that they aim to ruffle feathers in the WSL.

"We want to be disruptive. Our position is to be competitive and I think in any elite sport, you want to be competitive with the best teams," London City Lionesses chief executive Martin Semmens told BBC Radio 5 Live before kick-off.

"I can say on behalf of Michelle [Kang] that's not a 10-year project, we want to do it as fast as we can."

'We know where we want to go'

London City Lionesses are the talk of the town.

Founded in 2019 as a breakaway side from east London club Millwall Lionesses, they were Championship regulars when Kang bought the club and rapidly made clear her intent.

Within six months, her investment resulted in Sweden international Kosovare Asllani joining as captain, while former Paris St-Germain manager Jocelyn Precheur took over as head coach.

They moved stadiums to Hayes Lane in Bromley and purchased Cobdown Park, a 28-acre site which they intend to develop as an elite training centre.

As expected, they won the Championship - which has been re-branded as WSL 2 from this season - at the first time of asking under Kang's ownership, and preparations for the top flight saw her swiftly pull out the money bags to help London City Lionesses recruit some of the world's most exciting talents.

A deadline day double coup of Grace Geyoro from PSG and Lucia Corrales from Barcelona raised eyebrows, while big-name stars such as the Netherlands' Danielle van de Donk and England's Nikita Parris had arrived earlier in the summer.

A total of 17 players signed for the club in the summer, while 11 went out the door - an astonishing turnover and a tangible sign that London City Lionesses were about to embark on a new era.

Their ambition is to play in the Champions League in the near future and beyond that, who knows what they are capable of?

"With the leader I have in Michele [Kang], we know where we want to go," said Preucher after experiencing his first taste of WSL football in the humbling defeat by Arsenal.

"But we are talking about the WSL - probably the toughest league in the world - so even if we are ambitious, we know it will be tough and cannot be done in just one week.

"How much time we need, I cannot tell you. We need to give time to adapt in a new country and a new league for lots [of the new signings].

"We will have a tough beginning but as soon as we start to adapt, I am optimistic and I think we can reduce the gap we saw between us and Arsenal."

'Now we need to create a team'

There was a gap between London City Lionesses and Arsenal but that is what you would expect with a newly promoted side playing at the home of the European champions.

But the gap was not noticeable in the opening 20 minutes when London City ripped up the script and took the lead, silencing a rowdy Arsenal home crowd.

Asllani won and scored a penalty in the 17th minute to put the newcomers 1-0 up.

It was reward for their disruptive start as Arsenal looked shaken up and a little confused as to how to deal with the unknown opposition in front of them.

"The way they play and the way they set up is really hard to play against. We had to get used to it. We had to get used to the rhythm and find our connections," said Arsenal boss Renee Slegers.

"When we did that, I think we did it really well and the pitch opened up. London City Lionesses are still building their connections.

"They have a lot of good players and there were a number who were also not in the squad. They are really good competitors. They will cause problems in the league."

It was only in the final 10 minutes that Arsenal sealed the win, scoring twice to make it 4-1 as an exhausted London City eventually buckled under the intensity.

It was a learning curve and a reminder of the growth they need if they want to be competing with England's best on a consistent basis.

But Precheur's admission that he was "disappointed" at full-time and his harsh assessment that London City "barely existed" in the second half, was a demonstration that they will not settle for just existing in the WSL.

His biggest challenge? Turning a squad of high-paid, big-name signings, into a team who know how to play together.

"We have the capacity to adapt to the WSL. One of our challenges will be to adapt to the intensity and the rhythm which is completely different to WSL 2," he added.

"Fortunately, we recruited some players who know what this intensity is and what the rhythm is. Now we just need to create a team.

"I have a job to do to create some connection and some cohesion to defend and attack all together. Many of the players only started a week ago.

"We have a lot of positive things we can build on - and we also have things we can improve on."

Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie are back for another season of the Women's Football Weekly podcast. New episodes drop every Tuesday on BBC Sounds, plus find interviews and extra content from the Women's Super League and beyond on the Women's Football Weekly feed