Renee Slegers: Arsenal have 'smiles back' after north London derby victory

Renee Slegers: Arsenal have 'smiles back' after north London derby victory

  • Arsenal beat Tottenham 3-0 in the north London derby on Saturday
  • Gunners remain unbeaten under Renee Slegers
  • Interim boss vague when questioned about getting the permanent role
Arsenal were victorious on Saturday
Arsenal were victorious on Saturday / David Price / Contributor

Arsenal interim manager Renee Slegers said her side are enjoying football again after their crushing north London derby victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Women's Super League.

An emphatic display from the Gunners on Saturday saw the side extend their unbeaten run under Slegers' interim management, making it five wins and a draw across six fixtures.

Alessia Russo opened the scoring in the first two minutes before Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius made it 3-0 to the visitors, taking them up to 12 points from seven WSL matches.

Slegers reflected on the victory in north London, speaking on how the players have recently taken the responsibility on themselves to get the results.

"One of the words we use a lot in this block is 'ruthlessness'," explained Slegers. "We want to be ruthless in both boxes. It is easy to say it, but turning it into action is much harder. The players are trying to turn it into action, we try to facilitate for them and put emphasis on a couple of things, but they are actually doing it and I am very happy they are getting success out of what they are doing at the moment. We need to maintain that and develop it further because new challenges are coming."

Smiles seem to be returning to the faces of Arsenal players and fans alike, something Slegers put down to a culmination of things.


Stina Blackstenius, Mariona Caldentey, Katie McCabe, Frida Maanum
Arsenal cruised to victory on Saturday / Sebastian Frej/MB Media/GettyImages

"It's very positive, it means a lot for the players, the staff, the club and the fans," Slegers smiled. "It's the chicken or egg question, where do the smiles comes from? Behaviours are contagious as well, when one person starts smiling, others smile too. Where it started is hard to grasp, there are so many factors to it but I am happy it seems to be happening."

As Slegers continues to lead Arsenal to success, lots of buzz has started to surround whether or not she is the right person for the permanent job. Slegers didn't give anything away when asked whether she wants the role on a full-time basis.

She revealed: "The block has gone really well so far and we have one more game ahead of us and we're going to do everything to get a good result and performance in that last game. After that, we start breathing, but at the moment we stay in this focus because we have a lot of hard work to do."

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