by Ben Gilby (7/10/25)
Above: Olivia Smith fires home her sensational debut goal for Arsenal against London City Lionesses on 6th September. Photo: New York Times.
Arsenal’s big-money signing Olivia Smith has had an eye-catching opening to the season at the North London side. I have been present at the Canadian’s games over her first month at the Gunners to carry out an in-depth analysis of why she has been so successful, how the opposition has tried to manage her threat, and how successful they were at doing so.
That debut
Smith shone like an absolute beacon on her WSL debut for the Gunners against London City Lionesses. Let’s leave aside that goal for a moment and focus on the other aspects of the Canadian starlet’s game.
My overriding memory of Smith in her side’s opening game was those powerful runs into channels, and an already thrilling partnership with Alessia Russo seemed to be cemented within the opening half hour of the match. Smith’s energetic and physical ability against the WSL newcomers raised the possibility that Russo would be able to play a slightly different role this season, potentially being able to be pushed further forward. But whatever transpires, WSL defences will be on their toes.
It will be, though, her stunning strike that levelled the scores against London City Lionesses that Smith will be remembered for. Pace allied with exceptional close control, and the presence of thought under pressure to look for bigger spaces to exploit, as well as having the sheer self-confidence to hit an absolute rocket across the goalkeeper from well outside the box.
Long-range finishes into the top corner are challenging enough – but to do it by smashing the ball at speed into the far top corner is something of a whole other level.
It does have to be said that London City Lionesses assisted the young attacker’s success throughout the game by continually backing off as she directly attacked them. Alanna Kennedy was regularly tied up in knots, and her defensive partners, still trying to gel after coming together during the summer, were unable to effectively assist the Australian.
So, Arsenal’s second league opponents, West Ham United, were well warned in advance about what Smith can do. Unfortunately, they failed to heed the flashing lights.
Smith’s skills leave the Irons Hammered
In her pre-game media conference, Gunners boss Renee Slegers hinted that Smith’s development needs to be carefully managed. Words that served as a preview to the Canadian star being placed on the substitutes’ bench for the trip to Dagenham.
“She’s…very young still, she’s just turned 21. What’s important for us is that we support her really well because she’s still very young.”
Renee Slegers, Arsenal head coach.
Whilst Smith was restricted to a cameo of around half an hour in the East End, she still gave plenty of signs of what an absolute weapon she is. Coming on with her side 3-1 up and cruising to a comfortable victory, the 21-year-old set to work with aplomb.
What was noticeable initially was her ability to drop back deeper into the hole in a zone between midfield and defence when West Ham were in possession before speeding out towards the right flank the instant the ball was won back.
It was on this side of the park that the Canadian absolutely ripped it up. West Ham either failed to do their homework on her performance on the season’s opening day, or they were so flustered as a result of the relentless pressure and scoreline that they weren’t focused on the job at hand of stopping Smith before she got anywhere near the red zone.
In game one, Smith ran riot as the London City Lionesses’ defence backed off and let her rampage at will. West Ham did exactly the same this time round, as both Inès Belloumou and Smith’s Canadian international teammate, Shelina Zadorsky, allowed Smith to run at them and not put a tackle in.
The consequences were there for all to see as the clock edged towards the 90-minute mark. The Toronto-born attacker drove along the right as the home defence continued to back off, allowing her to square a perfectly weighted pass to Alessia Russo, positioned centrally to hit a rocket into the top corner of the net. It was quite a move from start to finish (https://www.skysports.com/football/video/42934/13429643/alessia-russo-scores-spectacular-strike-for-arsenals-fourth-goal-against-west-ham)
Just three minutes later, the Hammers did find a way to stop Smith’s run along the right – but it was badly timed and ended with the award of a penalty, which Russo dispatched to seal a 5-1 win.
Two wins from two, one goal, one assist, and winning a penalty. That’s a heck of a way to start your career at a new club.
New challenges to overcome
Week three’s trip to the Leigh Sports Village offered a degree of difficulty for Smith that the previous encounters didn’t pose, for both on and off-pitch reasons.
Less than 24 hours before the game, the sport was rocked by the devastatingly premature death of Matt Beard, who took the young Canadian to Liverpool last season, and Smith commented that he played an integral part in making her the player she is. Arsenal gave the attacker the option of not playing at Manchester United – but the number 15 requested to take to the field.
Smith started the encounter, and it was clear that Marc Skinner and his coaches had given a lot of thought to how to nullify her threat.
From the opening whistle, United gave the visitors’ starlet no breathing space whatsoever. She was tightly marshalled by Emma Sandberg for the entire game. Sandberg didn’t back off once, and was supported by an additional defender immediately behind the Canadian, which meant that any chances of the former Liverpool attacker completing maurauding runs with balls into the box, or shots on goal were very few and far between.
However, Smith was able to gain space to earn one opportunity – and a player such as her only needs one. The outcome was an absolute rocket that was superbly tipped over the bar by Phallon Tullis Joyce in the United goal, although to the mystery of the Gunners, no corner was awarded.
The forward showed another superb aspect to her play, with her tracking back and putting in a perfectly timed tackle to deny Ella Toone just as the Lionesses star was about to pull the trigger for the Red Devils.
Whilst United showed that close marking and working overtime to deny Smith space has real merits, it was also clear that it is a full-time occupation for a defender. As this tactic is repeated by future Arsenal opponents, Smith will be looking to play quick link passes to the likes of Russo and Stina Blackstenius around her, who can run into the space left by the defender marking the Canadian and profit.
It takes a very switched-on defender to stick with Smith for a whole game. Sandberg did it brilliantly at the LSV – but still the attacker conjured up one superb chance that brought the game’s closest chance.
Smith strives to shine despite Villa’s plan to frustrate
Aston Villa have a history of causing Arsenal grief. Last season, the Midlands side claimed a 5-2 win at Villa Park, and the season before were heading to a shock victory before goals in second-half stoppage time from Katie McCabe and Alessia Russo spared the Gunners’ blushes.
This time around, Natalia Arroyo’s side gifted the hosts the lead just 10 minutes in, but recovered to deploy an extreme high press that forced Arsenal to go backwards in a bid to go forward. It took the sting out of the North London side’s pep in attack and turned the game into a battle of transitions.
It meant that Smith, who started the encounter, was given far fewer opportunities to show her worth as the Gunners were swamped and not able to find their wide players as accurately and as regularly as in the previous three WSL games.
Yet, each time she was played in, the Canadian had the better of her marker, Océane Deslandes. With three minutes on the clock, Smith left the French-born defender trailing in her wake to accelerate into space and won the corner thanks to the resulting one-two with Frida Maanum.
Just before the half-hour mark, once more, Smith turned on the afterburners to rocket up the flank before cutting in to win her side another corner. After this inauspicious start from Deslandes, Villa pulled midfielder Missy Bo Kearns back to assist.
As the game edged towards the interval, Villa were forcing the hosts into errors and turnover possession. It left Smith and Beth Mead increasingly cut off from possession. However, the young Gunner showed her intelligence by moving rapidly inside to the centre of the field off and out to either flank off the ball, pulling Deslandes and, occasionally, Kearns as well with her in a bid to free up space for team-mates to run into.
Villa combined the high press with a physical approach. Smith copped a tackle in the early stages of the second half that required treatment, and left the field with 65 minutes played, replaced by Caitlin Foord.
Bigger challenges ahead
It’s been a powerful start to Smith’s Arsenal career. However, with her side now on a run of three WSL games without a win, the beginning of their Champions League defence starting tonight against Olympique Lyonnes, and a league showdown with Chelsea soon after the international break, the 21-year-old is about to face a series of games with a degree of pressure on them that she hasn’t experienced in her club career to date.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Toronto-born star has the potential and ability to lift her side to the heights they aspire to – a record of 44 goals in 69 games tells its own story.
Yet Smith now has to do it with not only the target of her strong start to the season on her back, but the reality that Arsenal cannot afford the five-point gap between themselves and Chelsea to widen any further. There is no more wriggle room. That brings a level of pressure that is new for the attacker. What she does next will be well worth watching.
Don’t miss Impetus’ major analysis of Arsenal’s Champions League opener with Olympique Lyonnes with SIX writers coming together to examine different aspects of the game. It’ll be on the site on Wednesday 8th October.
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