Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
Nothing gets you in the best possible mood than a good away win and other clubs’ results going your way: our 3-1 win at Everton, paired with the stunning Liverpool win at Anfield against Manchester United, propelled the team into second in the league, seven points behind Chelsea.
The title might be long gone by now, but finishing as runner-up and getting as close as possible to Chelsea would represent the ideal foundation for our future growth and for establishing us as the main challenger for the all-conquering Blues. There might not be a trophy for being “the best of the rest”, but it could prove a pivotal moment for the club’s future, so let’s not underestimate how important it would be to nail down that second place.
A brace from Alessia Russo and an own-goal from Mjelde ensured that we would travel back from Liverpool with three important points in the bag and represented the best preparation for tomorrow’s big UWCL game against Real Madrid, in Spain. Our girls will take the pitch late in the afternoon at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano, in what is expected to be a rather exciting encounter.
Lessi " data-image-caption="
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi-780x504.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi.png" class="size-medium wp-image-49053" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi-780x504.png" alt="Lessi" width="780" height="504" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi-780x504.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi-200x129.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi-768x497.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lessi.png 911w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
RENÉE’S WORDS
“It was a very important result, especially after performance and result that we weren’t happy with last Sunday. I’m very happy with the way that we come back, how we got together and performed. I think we looked like ourselves today. I think we played well.”
Yes, we did, Renée, and it paid off: the second goal was especially illustrative of the Arsenal Way that Renée Slegers mentioned while speaking about the home defeat to Liverpool in the FA Cup, when literally nothing we produced resembled the famous Arsenal Way.
The slick combination between Mariona Caldentey, Beth Mead, Alessia Russo and Emily Fox was a timely (and welcome) reminder of the quality of our team and our players and will boost the troops’ morale when traveling to Madrid, and the fact that it was an own goal rather than an Arsenal goal doesn’t take anything away from its beauty.
The head coach then gave some updates about the big absentee from the game, Daphne van Domselaar, and about Emily Fox, who was substituted with a few minutes to go, because of an injury: “*Daphne [van Domselaar], we don’t have a time scale, she’s still being medically assessed. So we’ll see how that progresses in the next couple of days. Emily Fox should be fine. She got stamped on I’ll have to check, but nothing major, so we had one more substitution to do, so we just decided to take her off”*.
Given how quick the game in Madrid is coming, it is fair to assume that Manuela Zinsberger will be our starting goalkeeper, with Naomi Williams on the bench, while Emily Fox should be available to start the game on Tuesday. Should it not be the case, we might see Lina Hurting as our starting right-back, where she finished the game at Everton.
Manu " data-image-caption="
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu-780x562.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu.png" class="size-medium wp-image-49054 lazyload" alt="Manu" width="780" height="562" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu-780x562.png" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu-780x562.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu-200x144.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu-768x553.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Manu.png 825w">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
LESSONS LEARNED
Class is timeless. On Friday, Kim Little reminded everyone that her intelligence, vision and reading of the game remain intact as the years progress.
She expertly picked the lock to open spaces on the right-hand channel, time after time, leaving Everton with little response to her runs, carries and combinations around the penalty area.
Together with Emily Fox and Chloe Kelly, she formed a potent unit that hurt Everton several times, especially when Chloe Kelly came short inside towards the ball and Kim Little ran in behind – as seen when Alessia Russo opened the score after a cutback from Kim Little.
I won’t spend too much time explaining the tactical intricacies since Arsenal Women guru, Tim Stillman, already covered on Arseblog in much more detail, but I believe it’s important to highlight Kim Little’s importance to this team, especially in a moment when there seems a transition in place to pivot towards younger players. Kim Little’s legs are far from being gone, as they saying go, so she must remain a key cog in Renée Slegers’ team, even if her role and influence are diminished, compared to a few years ago. With an average of 61 minutes per game played in the league, Kim Little is no longer the cornerstone she used to be two seasons ago (85 minutes per game, in average), or last season (76), but she remains unique for experience, nous and anticipation.
KimL " data-image-caption="
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL-780x515.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL.png" class="size-medium wp-image-49055 lazyload" alt="KimL" width="780" height="515" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL-780x515.png" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL-780x515.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL-200x132.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL-768x507.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/KimL.png 900w">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
Have we got ourselves into trouble by letting Laura Wienroither go in January?
With Emily Fox as the only recognized right-back in the squad, we are dangerously short for that role and might regret letting the Austria international leave halfway through the season. When the US international left the pitch, on Friday night, Renée Slegers turned to Lina Hurtig to finish the game at right-back, a rather surprising move that she later explained in front of the press, when she disclosed that the Sweden winger trained at right-back the week prior, hinting at a longer-term plan for the former Juventus player.
Lina Hurtig ticks several boxes for the right-back role; however, she lacks the natural defending skills, and that could see her exposed when isolated in one-versus-one situations. Moreover, she would lack the chemistry with the rest of the defensive line, so I suspect that, if Emily Fox isn’t deemed fit to start in Madrid, we could see a center-back or a left-back play there from the first minute, with Lina Hurting on the bench as a last resort option.
Lina " data-image-caption="
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina-780x572.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina.png" class="size-medium wp-image-49056 lazyload" alt="Lina" width="780" height="572" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina-780x572.png" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina-780x572.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina-200x147.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina-768x563.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Lina.png 869w">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
NEXT’S UP
Europe, here we come! Tomorrow evening, we will face Real Madrid at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano for a place in the UWCL semi-finals. The first-leg will weigh heavily on the chances to go through, so I hope the players will show the maturity required at this level, and keep the tie alive until the return leg, at the Emirates Stadium, scheduled on March 26th.
In between these two European fixtures, we will host Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, aiming at taking revenge for the FA Cup elimination and solidifying the second place, with Manchester United playing Aston Villa away from home.
We will talk again after the first leg of the UWCL and comment on another European night under the lights.
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.
Related