The best Arsenal Women players right now in 2023

Arsenal Women are one of the most storied teams in football.

The 2018/19 FA WSL champions were once the most dominant team in English football, and while they only finished third in the league in 2022/23, they were on the doorstep of the Champions League Final.

Had several key players not suffered severe injuries, who knows what they could have accomplished?

The Gunners boast some of the world’s most elite talents and have top players at every level of the team – from defense to attack. And like any great team, they have just the right mix of experienced players and up-and-coming talents.

So let’s take a look at the best Arsenal Women players currently in 2023.

ST Vivianne Miedema

Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema is a record-breaking goal-scorer and one of the best players of her generation. We can debate all day long about who the best striker of the last 10 years is, as American sensation Alex Morgan and Australian titan Sam Kerr have exceptional cases of their own.

Miedema has netted at least 14 goals in each of the last four league seasons.

Despite only being 26, she has long shattered the Netherlands record for the most national team goals, helping raise the Dutch national team to becoming the best team in Europe before England’s recent dominance.

Though Miedema is one of the most clinical strikers on the planet, that should not make people overlook how brilliant she is as an all-around threat.

Miedema recorded 10 assists in the 2018/19 season in her first season as a regular starter for Arsenal, adding eight assists the following season before repeating the feat of eight assists in an FA WSL campaign in 2021/22.

Capable of carrying the ball and creating, Miedema is, of course, at her best in the box. She fights for headers and finds space where seemingly no space existed.

Miedema is the prototypical striker and remains squarely in the debate as Arsenal’s absolute best player.

We wish her the best as she recovers from an ACL tear.

FW Beth Mead

Versatile attacker Beth Mead is one of a number of world-class forwards who can excel at any position up top.

Mead used to be one of the most underrated players on the planet, but thanks to a sensational 2021/22 season and a ridiculously good European Championships with the winners of the competition, the cat is fully out of the bag.

An incredibly consistent player with an eye for the spectacular, Mead’s crosses have long been a nuisance for FA WSL players to deal with.

Over the past five years, Mead has been a fixture in the Arsenal XI, firmly establishing herself as one of the best Arsenal Women players and a living legend of the club.

Mead recorded a career-high 11 goals with an additional 8 assists in her elite 2021/22 campaign, matching her total goal contributions from her breakout 2018/19 campaign when she won the FA WSL at the age of 23.

Now in the prime of her career, Mead is on the cusp of reaching 0.99 combined goal contributions per 90 minutes for the third time in her career.

Before suffering a long-term knee injury as a result of football’s ghoulishly grueling schedule that attempts to break players physically and mentally, Mead was averaging a jaw-dropping 1.03 goals and assists per 90, once again standing out as her team’s best player.

We can only wish Mead a swift and full recovery from this injury. She has been missed on the pitch.

LB Katie McCabe

There are a lot of fantastic fullbacks in world football, from the oft-praised Lucy Bronze at Barcelona to Bayern München’s underappreciated Carolin Simon. But the most exciting fullback to watch just might be the physically tough and endlessly skilled Katie McCabe.

The Irish international is one of the Arsenal captains and a world-class player in the prime of her career. McCabe is one of the best in the business at impacting the game directly with goals and assists as a fullback.

For example, she had 4 goals and a stunning 11 assists a couple of seasons ago, following that up with 11 more total FA WSL goal contributions when Arsenal came in second place in 2021/22.

McCabe is someone who can lift her team when they need an extra source of inspiration, offering crosses that are so precise they are almost too good to be true. She was second on the team in key passes last season.

Never one to shirk her defensive responsibilities, McCabe was third on the team in combined tackles and interceptions, behind only her fullback partner Laura Wienroither and midfielder Lia Wälti.

CM Frida Maanum

There is no doubt that Frida Maanum is one of the absolute best midfielders in the world. The Norwegian international deserves so much more praise for her quality in every phase of the game. Her technical level is right up there with any of the elite midfielders in world football, because she is very much one of them despite the relative lack of mainstream praise.

Maanum scored some of the finest goals of the 2022/23 season, both in the FA WSL and the Champions League. This one to finish off a team move in the Champions League knockouts was my favorite of the many.

But Maanum does so much more than just score great goals. The 23-year-old center midfielder led all Arsenal Women players in the 2022/23 FA WSL season with 102 progressive passes and 43 key passes.

She does such a good job of picking out passes that will actually help the team, finding players in areas where they can either score or provide the killer pass to the goal.

Maanum is one of the better defensive players in midfield, too, reading the game at that same high level in defense while having the physical tools to win the majority of her duels.

She is almost the perfect player in midfield, and since she is only 23, you can bank on her becoming the best midfielder in the world one day.

CM Lia Wälti

Next to her, Swiss international Lia Wälti should not go underrated either.

She does not have the same jaw-dropping attacking and creative statistics that Maanum does, but the 29-year-old does so much of the dirty work that Arsenal need in midfield in order to control matches – or avoid being controlled against other elite sides in the UWCL.

Wälti was one of Arsenal’s leaders in progressive passes last season, but where she really made her mark – aside from recycling and progressing play offensively – was on the defensive end.

Especially in the UWCL, Wälti was one of the most effective midfielders in the game at disrupting play and winning possession for her team. She even won two tackles per game and over 70 percent of her duels in the Champions League.

That meant she was able to immediately create dangerous opportunities for her team, which was very important in those big matches.

Thanks to her pressing and physicality, Wälti could force the opposition into mistakes that Arsenal could capitalize on with a dangerous opportunity on the counter.

RB Laura Wienroither

Another great Arsenal player whom we wish the best in her recovery after an awful injury, Laura Wienroither is one of the players setting the benchmark at the right back position in world football today.

Wienroither is an all-around monster at the position, tirelessly progressing play and producing nearly flawless defensive efforts at the other end.

Wienroither was second on the team in the FA WSL in combined tackles and interceptions, winning an impressive 60 percent of her duels. She is one of the best defensive fullbacks in the game today, and at the age of 24, the Austrian international has a world of potential left to unlock, particularly when it comes to upping her chance creation.

CM Kim Little

Another Arsenal icon, Kim Little is still going strong at the age of 32 and remains one of the best midfielders in all of European football. Little has scored a ludicrous 44 goals in 91 appearances for the team. Fresh off a short-term loan to OL Reign, who reached the semifinals of the NWSL playoffs, Little is back to business as one of the best Arsenal Women players in 2022/23.

Third on the team in combined tackles and interceptions, sixth in shot-creating actions per 90, and first in both passes into the final third and progressive passes, Little remains a vital all-around influencer in the Arsenal midfield.

A Scottish icon as well, Little is a leader for club and country. She is also one of the best goal-scoring midfielders, having hit at least five goals in each of the last four FA WSL seasons.Kim

Before that, she had a combined 26 goals and 14 assists in her first two seasons with the Reign, winning the NWSL Shield on both occasions.

Little has a great eye for goal, but she can play pretty much any position or role in midfield, knowing exactly when to join attacks to provide the killer finish her team needs.

CB Leah Williamson

Another world-class player recovering from an injury, Leah Williamson captained England to the European Championship in 2022 and is one of the best on-the-ball center backs around.

Williamson has made her reputation thanks to years of consistency, and she has been a part of Arsenal since 2014. Capable of carrying the ball and creating chances from the back, Williamson is nearly automatic with her passing and is a prodigy when it comes to making the right decisions.

Easily one of the best Arsenal Women players, Williamson is a superstar in the FA WSL despite being a center back.

It is a position filled with so many wonderful but criminally underrated players, so it has been a joy to see how Williamson soaks up mainstream plaudits with her all-around excellent at the heart of the Arsenal and England defenses.

The wildest thing is that Williamson is still only 25 and very much secured by Arsenal for the foreseeable future. 

Already a club legend, it’s frightening that a player of Williamson’s quality, pedigree, and overall experience is only scratching the surface.

She could go down as the best Arsenal player of all time at this rate, and that would include some iconic company, such as the likes of Mead and Miedema.