Ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers says she has a lot of respect for the Blues.
Chelsea sit on top of the Women’s Super League (WSL) table undefeated, 5 points ahead of Arsenal. Arsenal’s winless run in October has cost them quite dearly. Arsenal have dropped points against Manchester City when they lost 3-2 at the Joie Stadium. The North London side have also failed to maximise their point gain away against Manchester United (a 0-0 draw) and home against Aston Villa (a 1-1 draw). In short, the match against Chelsea is a must win for the Gunners in order to stay in the title race.
Slegers is keeping a cool head and looking forward to the matchup between the two English giants
“It’s still early in the season,” Slegers said. “It’s like we said at the start of the season, every game is important and you see how it’s more and more competitive to play against every single opponent in the WSL. But of course, this is a great opportunity that we have ahead of us tomorrow.”
“We look forward to it. This is why the players work so hard, they live for, to play these kinds of games, where there’s so much at stake, but also a beautiful moment in a fantastic stadium playing for a beautiful club and having so many fans in the stadium tomorrow. It’s going to be a beautiful moment and we’re going to, of course, you’re a football player and we are here to perform and we go for the win always and that’s no different tomorrow.”
Slegers also confirmed there have been over 57 000 tickets sold for the match at the Emirates Stadium.
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Slegers has ‘a huge respect’ for Chelsea
Chelsea have won the WSL six times in a row now. The last time Arsenal really challenged Chelsea for the title was in the 2021/2022 season, when Chelsea won the league on the last day on goal difference. When asked whether and how Slegers takes inspiration from Chelsea being almost ‘serial winners’, she admitted she does.
“Of course I find inspiration in in other teams, in other sports or other parts of life, always huge respect for them because it’s not easy. It’s easier getting to the top or it’s easier to win one trophy, but to do that consistently over time, that’s really hard. That’s really hard because you will change personnel, times change, so you have to grow with the change. You can never stand still so of course, a lot of respect and they have found their ways, they find their ways and like I said, very respectful about that.”
The mood in the Arsenal camp ahead of the important game is high, said Slegers.
“We love playing the big games,” the head coach expressed. “I think we’ve shown that last season and I can feel this in the group at the moment. So I think from a preparation perspective and where the group’s at we’re good and like I said, we’ve asked a lot from the players group and we’re in a good place. And then the moment it comes to tomorrow at 12 o’clock, we’ll have to be ready from the get go. Show that it has to be delivered at that moment. But if you ask me now beforehand, I think the group is in any good place and it has invested a lot and they walk around in the building with belief and energy.”
When Arsenal beat Leicester City 4-1 last weekend, they had quite a lot of players missing through injury or illness. Long term injured players Manuela Zinsberger (ACL injury) and Leah Williamson (knee injury) were joined on the absentees list by Frida Maanum, who was out with a knock. Olivia Smith, who had a bruised hip, also joined them and Lotte Wubben-Moy was returning to match fitness after missing a part of international duty with an illness. Kyra Cooney-Cross missed the match because she was unwell. Kim Little went off at the end of the match with a knock.
Renée Slegers confirmed to the press that Kim Little will most likely be unavailable for the match. Frida Maanum, Olivia Smith, Lotte Wubben Moy and Kyra Cooney Cross will be available to play, confirmed Slegers. It will be interesting to see how Arsenal will set up in that midfield without Kim Little, who has arguably been one of the better players for Arsenal this season.
Arsenal play Chelsea at Emirates Stadium at 12pm BST on Saturday, the game is shown live on Sky Sports Premier League. The Halfway Line will provide coverage with an on the whistle match report live from Emirates Stadium.