By TARA ANSON-WALSH, FOOTBALL REPORTER
Published: 18:29 EST, 9 December 2025 | Updated: 18:30 EST, 9 December 2025
Arsenal edged past a resilient Twente side to book their place in the Champions League knockout stages, though questions over the conviction of their title defence linger.
The Gunners dominated proceedings against the Eredivisie’s joint league leaders, with Beth Mead striking early to give the hosts control. Yet, despite their superiority, Arsenal struggled to turn dominance into goals.
Renee Slegers side registered 15 shots to Twente’s two, but Mead’s early effort proved the only difference on the scoresheet.
Leah Williamson remained an unused substitute as the vice-captain continues her patient wait for a first start of the season following the knee injury sustained during England’s triumphant Euros final.
Even without their trusted centre-back, Arsenal did enough to secure the win – one that lifts them to sixth in the standings.
Daily Mail Sport’s women’s football reporter Tara Anson-Walsh was at Meadow Park to watch it all unfold…
The Gunners dominated proceedings against the Eredivisie’s joint league leaders, with Beth Mead striking early to give the hosts control - but struggled to turn dominance into goals
Leah Williamson remained an unused substitute as she awaits her first minutes of the season
Arsenal not out of the woods yet
There’s an interesting quirk at Arsenal’s Meadow Park where the press box sits right on top of the dugout. From there you can hear every shouted instruction, tactical utterance and vented frustration from the entirety of Arsenal’s coaching staff.
And boss Renee Slegers was like a jack-in-the-box all night. Pacing up and down her technical area, returning to her seat to look at the screens, having a quick word with her assistants or – later in the game – a loud word with the fourth official when a decision went against her side.
There was also a clear sense of frustration on the bench at Arsenal’s inability to kill off a lacklustre opponent.
If Arsenal had played a carbon-copy game of their victory over Liverpool in the WSL at the weekend, then this was it: utter dominance, energetic pressing, and little to show for it.
There are reasons for that – not least a depleted squad in recent weeks, with Kim Little being drip-fed minutes after injury, while Leah Williamson has only just returned to the bench in the last two games.
Arsenal’s best player, Mariona Caldentey, was wasteful on more than one occasion, the fatigue of starting every single game this season beginning to show.
At one point, after another missed opportunity, Slegers turned away from the pitch to shout to herself: ‘Stop forcing it when we’re not set.’
A more reflective Slegers greeted the press later on, and was largely happy with her team’s performance.
It’s clear Arsenal must find another gear if they are to retain any hope of reclaiming their crown
‘(Twente) have made it hard for a lot of teams, and we were chasing that second one and it didn’t come but we had to manage the game and we did that well.
‘It’s always important for us that we do well in our pressing game and it’s something we’ve been working on – that we cause turnovers but we also want to be rewarded.’
It’s clear Arsenal must find another gear if they are to retain any hope of reclaiming their crown.
Beth Mead’s fine form continues
The England winger continued her flying form here at Meadow Park, her opener marking a fourth goal involvement in her last five games for club and country.
Mariona Caldentey won the ball high up the field and passed it off to Alessia Russo, who found Mead with a smooth flick. From there it was a quintessential Mead move: the 30-year-old feinted to shoot with her right foot before cutting back onto her left and sending a curling effort past the Twente goalkeeper.
It took a heavy deflection to wrong-foot the goalkeeper but still rightly went down as the Arsenal No 9’s goal.
Mead was Arsenal’s brightest attacking threat for large parts of the game, and her experience and leadership on the pitch will be among the many reasons Slegers’ side are grateful she opted to remain with the European champions this summer despite being linked with a move away.
And now that her right-wing rival Kelly looks set to be out for at least the next few games, Mead’s contributions will be relied upon more than ever to maintain Arsenal’s slow and steady return to form following a disappointing start to their season.
Now that Chloe Kelly is injured, Mead’s contributions will be relied upon more than ever to maintain Arsenal’s slow and steady return to form following a difficult start to their season
Alessia Russo starved of service
Arsenal did their brightest attacking talent few favours, leaving her isolated on multiple occasions at the top end of the pitch.
Russo’s work rate is relentless, and she often drops deeper to influence play when she struggles to get touches. But on this night she largely stuck to the instruction to stay high and close to goal.
As a result, she managed just 30 touches across both halves. Aside from her most decisive contribution – the assist for Mead’s goal – it felt as though greater involvement from her could have put the game to bed far earlier and with far less worry.
‘Our crossing detail and our decisions weren’t 100 per cent today,’ Slegers said afterwards. ‘There was a lot of space for low crosses, and we didn’t exploit those areas consistently enough. We did it at times, but we should have done it more.’
Arsenal did their brightest attacking talent Russo few favours, leaving her isolated on multiple occasions at the top of the pitch as she made just 30 touches across the two halves
Arsenal’s No 3 goalkeeper lucky to still be awake
When Renee Slegers revealed that her first-choice goalkeeper, Daphne van Domselaar, would be sidelined ahead of a congested run of fixtures before the winter break, it would have been understandable if Arsenal fans felt the only response was to put their heads in their hands.
Van Domselaar has struggled at times this season but remains Slegers’ most trusted option between the sticks. Manuela Zinsberger had been a reliable deputy since losing the No 1 shirt to her Dutch team-mate last season – until she tore her ACL at the beginning of this season.
The upending of this reliable balance has left untested Anneke Borbe, signed as a third-choice goalkeeper in the summer from Wolfsburg, to start back-to-back games.
But Arsenal fans will still be waiting to see if the 25-year-old can be relied upon, having played over 180 minutes and made just one ‘save’ - and that was more a claim than a stop.
Across games with Liverpool and Twente, the Arsenal goal has faced just a single shot on target. It’s incredible that Borbe was still awake back there.