Renee Slegers: Arsenal ready to take on 'impressive' WSL title leaders Chelsea

Renee Slegers has outlined Alessia Russo’s importance to Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s blockbuster Women’s Super League (WSL) clash away at Chelsea.

The Dutch coach has been in charge of the Gunners since October but has only recently taken charge on a permanent basis following a successful stint as interim. After a challenging start to the season, Slegers has steadied the ship and Arsenal now sit second in the league standings and seven points behind Chelsea.

One of the players that has thrived under Slegers’ leadership so far is England forward Alessia Russo. The 25-year-old made the move to North London from Manchester United as a free agent in the summer of 2023, but has particularly excelled this season with 12 goals and four assists across all competitions so far.

“I’m very impressed with who Alessia is as a person,” Slegers told the media on Friday in a press conference, when asked about the forward’s importance to the team. “She’s a very good person.

“She cares for everyone. Her teammates, for staff, she always treats everyone with respect. Then, if you see the hard work she puts in on the training pitch.

“She’s very humble about things and about herself. She works really hard, but then also has a lot of belief in who she is and how she can impact the game for us as a team. She is a great player to have in the team and I’m very happy she is getting what she wants to get out of herself. She is a great player to work with.”

This weekend is hugely significant in terms of the context of the WSL title race. A victory for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge would take a huge chunk out of Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table and put Slegers’ side within four points of their rivals.

The last meeting between these two teams, which was Jonas Eidevall’s last game in charge of Arsenal before he stepped down as head coach, ended in a 2-1 victory for Chelsea. Mayra Ramirez opened the scoring at the Emirates Stadium back in October inside the opening four minutes and Sandy Baltimore made it two a little over 10 minutes later.

Caitlin Foord handed Arsenal a lifeline on the brink of half time as she pulled a goal back, but Arsenal were unable to push on and take anything from the game. However, since Slegers took a little over three months ago, Arsenal have looked a different prospect as they’ve won all but one of the 13 games with her in charge and are unbeaten.

That being said, Slegers isn’t taking the challenge of Chelsea lightly and knows her side will have to be at their best if they’re to get anything against the current champions. “We are humble for the task and we know how good Chelsea are and they’ve been on an impressive run of games,” the Arsenal boss continued.

“I’m very impressed with what they’ve been doing but what we want to do is take this game and approach it as any other game. The things we’ve been doing really well is being composed and calm about any opposition we play. 

“Being humble, but also having a big belief in what we’re doing. We try to approach this game in the exact same way.”

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