_Arsenal won the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at home to Chelsea on Tuesday night. First half goals from Stina Blackstenius and Chloe Kelly gave them a two goal lead, Lauren James pulled one back in the second half before Alessia Russo restored the two goal cushion. Renee Slegers spoke to the press post-match, the first two questions are from Arseblog News._
**On the performance…**
Very tight game. I think both teams create chances and it was very little time and space in the middle of the pitch. So there was a lot of duels back from second balls, teams that wanted to, or both teams that wanted to exploit spaces, centrally, and in behind. So I think, in combination with the weather, it being a Champions League quarterfinal, and there’s a London rivalry, it was a battle on the field. And what I’m happy with is that we, or I’m not happy with how we start the game and they create two big chances, but we stay in the game, we stay on the task, we stay calm, we find solutions. We always know that Chelsea comes out strong first 15. And then we come back and we manage the game, different phases that the game has, the different sides of the game. There still things we want to do better and look at for the second leg. But for half time, I’m happy for the players and their performance, because there was a lot of grittiness and mentality going on.
**On Katie McCabe at centre-half in the second half…**
Katie is such an intelligent player. You saw her play in midfield last week and she did that really well. That’s why she’s such a good left back. She can fill that hole in different ways. We asked her to play centre back and at halftime, both Aaron and me, go to her and ask if she has any questions about the role or the game plan and that position. She said, ‘no questions.’ So she steps out and just does the role- she’s fantastic. She’s such an intelligent player, has been playing at the club for so long, knows Arsenal, knows the players around her and she just picks up the role. She should be really proud of this performance.
**On taking a two goal lead into the second leg…**
There’s a lot of things I’m happy with, by the way. But we always stay critical because it was a very tight game and I think in certain moments, certain things we can definitely have a look at how we can manage those moments better, or those phases of the game. But of course, I’m happy with a lot of things. Like I just mentioned to Tim, it’s a lot about the mentality and our mindset throughout the game, whatever the scenario or whatever the momentum we were just in the game constantly and we were happy to do the work. And if the spaces are so congested, it’s a lot about battles in central areas and it’s hard for us to play, then we do it a different way. And I think that’s what I’m really proud of.
The North London derby is our next game, so we work towards that game, we’re looking forward to it and then we’ll have to have a really good plan in place for the second leg, because this is a different scenario being two goals up. So, let’s see how Chelsea comes out and how we are going to manage that. Let’s talk more about Chelsea on matchday minus one.
**On whether Arsenal are peaking at the right time…**
We’re doing business at the moment there’s big things to play for. We have players in good form. Chloe is an example. She’s now back from injury and she’s herself again and she was excellent again tonight, so she’s been really important for us, but I want it to look like this from start to finish. And I said, from the first game of the season, that is the plan for the next season.
**On Chelsea’s disallowed goal at the end of the first half…**
I try to look at the iPad but it was raining, so I haven’t looked at it properly. It was only the tactical footage. I couldn’t see exactly what happened in the box. I’ll have to watch it back.
**On Russo scoring her eighth goal in the competition this season…**
Come and watch her training. She’s a fantastic finisher. She’s so good. And with different finishes, so from close, from further out, for these different angles, she’s really, really good. I think in games what you see now is that when she gets to the right spaces with the right timing, she has so much conviction in what she’s doing and I think that’s what’s taken her to another level, she was already at the highest level, but she’s just winning those small margins at the moment.
**In Laia Codina coming off at half-time…**
It was tactical because of the yellow card.
**On having players back for the second leg…**
We’ll be happy to have Steph again, Steph and Caitlin were on the pitch today and back with us. They’ll be with us in the lead up to the North London derby, which is very positive. So they’ll be available for Chelsea as well. And then Leah Williamson is working her way back as well. Tottenham will come too soon for Leah, but we hope to work towards Chelsea.
28.Borbe; 2.Fox, 3.Wubben-Moy, 5.L.Codina (24.Hinds HT), 11.McCabe; 10.Little(c), 8.Mariona (21.Pelova 90+2); 9.Mead (31.Holmberg ‘77), 23.Russo, 18.Kelly (15.Smith ‘60); 25.Blackstenius (12.L.Maanum ‘77)
Unused: 13.Votikova 14.van Domselaar 44.Harwood