Renee Slegers has underlined the importance of Alessia Russo for Arsenal before Sunday match in the Women's Super League (WSL) outside Chelsea.
The Dutch coach has been in charge of the Gunners since October, but only recently has taken over permanently after a successful period of temporary. After a challenging start of the season, Slegers has kept the ship and Arsenal now stands second in the league ranking and seven points behind Chelsea.
One of the players who has flourished under the direction of the Slegers so far is England striker Alessia Russo. The 25-year-old made the move to North London by Manchester United As a free player in the summer of 2023, but it has especially excelled this season with 12 goals and four assists in all competitions so far.
“I am very impressed with who Alessia is a person,” Slegers told the media on Friday at a press conference when asked about the striker's importance for the team. “She is a very good person.
“She cares for everyone. Her teammates, for the staff, she always treats everyone with respect. Then, if you see the hard work she does in the field of training.
“She is very humble about things and for herself. She really works hard, but then there is also a lot of confidence in who it is and how it can affect the game for us as a team. She is a big player to have in the team and I'm very happy to be getting what she wants to get out of herself. She is a great player to work with. ”
This weekend is extremely significant in terms of the context of WSL title races. A win for Arsenal in Stamford Bridge would remove a large part of Chelsea's superiority at the top of the table and set the Slegers team in four points from their rivals.
The last meeting between the two teams, which was Jonas Eidevall's last match at the top of Arsenal before leaving the post of coach, ended with Chelsea's 2-1 victory. Mayra Ramirez opened the score in the Stadium Emirates in October within four minutes of opening and Sandy Baltimore made the second just over 10 minutes later.
Caitlin Foord gave Arsenal a rescue rope on the eve of the first half as she pulled a goal back, but Arsenal was unable to push and get anything from the game. However, since Slegers took just over three months ago, Arsenal has seemed another perspective as they have won them all except one of the 13 games with him at the top and are invincible.
That being said, Slegers is not easily taking Chelsea's challenge and knows that her team will have to be at its maximum if she wants to achieve something against current champions. “We are humbled for the task and we know how good Chelsea is and they have been in an impressive series of matches,” Arsenal coach continued.
“I am very impressed with what they have done, but what we want to do is take this game and approach them like any other game. The things we have done very well is to be calm and calm for every opponent we play.
“To be humble, but also to have great faith in what we are doing. We try to approach this match the same way. ”