Smilla " data-image-caption="
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-450x316.jpg" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-780x548.jpg" class="size-large wp-image-49995" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-780x548.jpg" alt="Smilla" width="780" height="548" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-780x548.jpg 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-450x316.jpg 450w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-200x140.jpg 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla-768x539.jpg 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Smilla.jpg 967w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px">
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
The Arsenal Women Journal – Slow start and more regrets [ARS 0-0]
Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
The 0-0 home draw against Manchester United was not the ideal result to kick-start the second half of the season, especially with both Chelsea (5-0 to West Ham) and Manchester City (2-0 to Everton) winning and officially making this a two-horse race for the title.
With ten games to go, the league table is clearly split in three groups behind Manchester City and Chelsea: the trio fighting for a European spot; the group too good to be involved in the relegation battle but too far from European places and those fighting to avoid the drop.
As part of the first group, Arsenal will have to defend the third place from the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham, and with a difficult away game to Chelsea on the horizon, their place looks very much under threat. How they respond in the coming ten games will show how strong and resilient this team is, and I am quite optimistic about that because the players have already bounced back several times, last season.
Nevertheless, it is hard to look past this goalless draw as a missed opportunity, especially given the number of opportunities that went to waste and the fact that Manchester United went down to ten players shortly after the hour mark.
37627 Attendance " data-image-caption="
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-450x306.jpg" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-780x530.jpg" class="size-large wp-image-49993 lazyload" alt="37627 Attendance" width="780" height="530" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-780x530.jpg" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-780x530.jpg 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-450x306.jpg 450w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-200x136.jpg 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance-768x522.jpg 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/37627-Attendance.jpg 1000w">
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
MORE POINTS DROPPED AT HOME
The home draw against Manchester United was the third of the campaign, which means that Arsenal already dropped six points when playing at the Emirates Stadium. Last season, for comparison, Arsenal Women dropped seven points all season (1-2 to Chelsea, 2-2 to Manchester City, 0-0 to Everton), so unless they go five for five in the remaining fixtures, the first season played in full at the Emirates Stadium is unlikely to be a memorable one.
One thing those results have in common, except for the 1-1 draw against Chelsea, is the sense of regret for what could have been and was not: in each of these games, Arsenal Women dominated the game, created (and wasted) several chances and was made to pay a high price for their wastefulness. That’s a recurring theme from the Eidevall era, and something that Renée Slegers and her staff haven’t fix yet: the team seems to hit purple patches here and there, then go absolute quiet for several weeks, which makes it hard to get consistent results in an increasingly competitive league.
The biggest worry, from my side, is the inability to put inferior teams to the sword, especially at home: we barely edged past Liverpool and Brighton and allowed Aston Villa to squeeze in a last-minute equaliser, while last season we won 5-0 against Brighton and put four past both Liverpool and Aston Villa. If we compare our goal per game ratio, it dropped from 2.8 in 2024/25 to 1.9 this season, so far.
Hopefully the team will find answers to the questions they are being asked, or at least hit a purple patch that will allow them to power through the coming fixtures.
The hard truth is that the team will never mount a credible title challenge unless they improve their home record: for comparison, Manchester City won all their seven home games this campaign, while Chelsea won five of their six home games, losing quite surprisingly to Everton a month ago.
NEW DEALS, NEW HOPES
Surely Renée Slegers hoped for a different way to celebrate it, but the goalless draw against Manchester United should not ruin the announcement of her contract renewal, which was made official on Thursday last week.
The Dutch has reportedly signed a long-term deal with the club and will remain in charge until 2029, much to everyone’s delight: since taking over from Jonas Eidevall, Renée Slegers built a solid team and restored some of the self-confidence and positiveness that was lost during the final weeks of Jonas Eidevall’s reign.
The UWCL triumph made her first season a memorable one, and while the team is not as solid at the back nor efficient at the front, the improvements in the past year or so have been massive. This new deal enables everyone to move forward after weeks of speculation, and will help René Slegers to continue her rebuilding mission, helped by Jodie Taylor, who has been appointed as Technical Director to (finally!) fill the gap left by the departure of Edu.
The Brazilian was the first-ever Technical Director in the history of the club, and was overseeing both the men and women teams, but his replacement Andrea Berta took responsibility over the men’s team only, which left Arsenal Women without a clear vision on team building and without a long-term strategy.
Jodie Taylor, who retired at the end of the 2022/23 season, was promoted from the Technical Services Manager role she held since “moving upstairs” and will provide the help Claire Whetley seems to need, after the critics directed at her in recent times.
Hopefully these deals mark a change of direction for the Arsenal Women team, and clarity over the strategy behind the recruitment, sales and contracts renewals leading to the building of a winning side. Rumours around dressing rooms feuds, lack of structure and leadership and power struggles will be blown away, hopefully, to bring Arsenal Women back to a healthy place.
Holmberg " data-image-caption="
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-450x319.jpg" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-780x553.jpg" class="size-large wp-image-49994 lazyload" alt="Holmberg" width="780" height="553" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-780x553.jpg" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-780x553.jpg 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-450x319.jpg 450w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-200x142.jpg 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg-768x544.jpg 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Holmberg.jpg 978w">
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
RIGHT-BACK IN, LEFT-BACK OUT, STENWAY ON HER WAY
Recent signing Smilla Holmberg made her debut against Manchester United, on Saturday, replacing Emily Fox at right-back. The Swede, a very exciting attacking full-back, could not leave her mark on the game, but will provide cover and competition for the American, who played a lot of minutes since joining the club.
Fellow American and full-back Jenna Nighswonger, who arrived last winter from Gotham FC, has since joined Aston Villa on loan, with an option to make the move permanent in the summer. The left-back never truly found her place in the team and will benefit from regular playing time at Aston Villa, something that Renée Slegers couldn’t guarantee to her.
By bringing in Smilla Holmberg and sending Jenna Nighswonger on loan, the club has re-balanced the team and given the head coach two valid options at right-back (Emily Fox and Smilla Holmberg) and at left-back (Katie McCabe and Taylor Hinds), making it easier for Renée Slegers to rotate her players without the obligation to play some of them out of position.
As widely reported over the weekend, it appears that Arsenal Women are leading the race to sign England international Georgia Stanway, who will leave Bayern Munich in the summer, once her contract expires. Bringing in such a high-level midfielder would be a major coup for the club, whose options in the middle of the park are either ageing (Kim Little) or not entirely convincing (Kyra Cooney-Cross, Victoria Pelova), and would represent a welcome statement of intent for the next campaign.
It’s very early days though, and a rumour remains a rumour until the official announcement lands, but adding such a talented, experienced and physical midfielder would represent a massive boost to the team’s credentials, and hopefully become the cornerstone of a more dominant, more assured Arsenal Women team – a team capable of going toe-to-toe with Chelsea and Manchester City.
We’re All With You Jess " data-image-caption="
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-450x328.jpg" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-780x568.jpg" class="size-large wp-image-49996 lazyload" alt="We're All With You Jess" width="780" height="568" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-780x568.jpg" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-780x568.jpg 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-450x328.jpg 450w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-200x146.jpg 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess-768x559.jpg 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-All-With-You-Jess.jpg 924w">
Photo Credit: Arsenal.com
NEXT UP
The Arsenal Women team is back on Sunday afternoon, when they will host Aston Villa at Meadow Park for the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup; three days later (!), they will host Manchester United at the same venue for the League Cup semifinals, before travelling to Chelsea on Saturday.
Three big fixtures squeezed in a week, right after the winter break, is hardly an ideal scenario for a team that is still finding its feet, but also a great opportunity to give a whole different direction to a somewhat disappointing season, so far.
We’ll see how the players react to such a demanding week, and what Renée Slegers has in store for the opponents’ coaches, especially Mark Skinner after the deflating 0-0 draw from last weekend.
Speak to you soon!
Logo Twitter - 21-22 - Trasparente
Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
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