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Renee Slegers exclusive: Going 'back to basics' has loosened Arsenal team following back-to-back wins
Renee Slegers believes something has clicked at Arsenal Women following back-to-back wins over Tottenham and Benfica this week; watch Arsenal vs Aston Villa live on Sunday from 11.30am on Sky Sports+, kick-off 12pm
Friday 30 October 2026 13:01, UK
Five days. Two wins - much-needed ones. Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers is at pains to remind everyone this is just the start. But it is, at least, a start.
The Gunners boss' tenure looked in a perilous position barely a week ago when their winless WSL run was extended to five games by salvaging only a draw against newly promoted Birmingham.
That left them 10 points off the league summit six games in with the prospect of a North London derby away to a Spurs side four points closer on the horizon.
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It could easily have proved fatal. But a gritty victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was followed up with a more aesthetically pleasing 3-0 win over Benfica in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday.
Slegers does not want to call it a reset. And it is too soon. But she does not hide that she and her squad have gone back to basics to simplify things and cut through the growing noise which had risked becoming deafening over the previous month.
"It was a good game to do that against Tottenham," she told Sky Sports. "It was always to be a fight, we had to go into the duels and the tackles against them and balance that with the finesse and the goals.
"When things aren't going right everyone wants to see what it is and find a solution. We've been really constructive throughout, but there's always a risk you go too far and overanalyse and overthink, both internally and externally.
"The key has been to go back to basics, the fight and the duels and the tactical basics. We needed to turn it around and we've done that now.
"It's positive and we just have to be really humble, because it's taken us a lot of hard work to get here and to get the last two wins. There's not a single game which is easy.
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"The foundation in this comeback has been the resilience, grit and fight on the pitch. Something has loosened, which is good.
"The Benfica game was probably the most complete performance we've had this season. Defensively we were solid and created a lot of different opportunities going forward in a variety of ways."
Benfica attempted to become the latest team to stifle Arsenal this season, with the Gunners often finding low blocks their Kryptonite against teams they would otherwise be expected to comfortably beat.
Since the start of last season, they have failed to score more than one goal in six of the 10 games where they have had at least 60 per cent possession.
Wednesday's "complete performance" in Europe saw them not only have plenty of the ball, but do plenty with it, too. Benfica had no answer to the hosts' quick and incisive movement and their 3-0 win could easily have been more.
Hat-trick scorer Alessia Russo revealed after the game the team had been encouraged to take more risks in the final third, something Slegers is delighted has come from the players themselves.
"I believe if you can play on instinct you can make the best decisions and play the quickest football but the squad have said it themselves, too.
"We want to engage and involve them and that was one of the big things coming out of the Spurs review - being brave in and around the box.
"I think it was Alessia saying it herself in a team meeting. If we can create a good structure and put good pressure on we need to be brave in those moments because we are all so good, and you saw that against Benfica.
"When we did things fast, we used the spaces early so that was a real strength from us and we want to carry on like that."
Russo's trio took her to 23 goals in the Women's Champions League, making her the highest-scoring English player in the history of the competition ahead of former Chelsea midfielder Fran Kirby.
She has had difficulties this season, failing to score in any of Arsenal's first four WSL games, but has found her scoring boots for club and country with eight goals in her last six games.
When that pressure was ramping up around the club, and despite her own struggles in front of goal, there was never any doubt in Slegers' mind that she would do anything other than get back to her best.
"She's a consistent factor, a positive factor always," she says. "She's constructive, in the periods where it's been difficult for the team she's always positive, she wants to be strength-based, with herself and others for the team.
"She believes in people and has been such an important factor with the other captains. She's grown in her leadership in those moments. There's so much she brings us and so much more to come."
There remain painful memories about facing Arsenal's next opponents, Aston Villa, with a dominant but wasteful 1-1 draw at the Emirates early last season encompassing that struggle against low blocks which would ultimately see them fall four points short in the title race.
It's easy to say, but coupling the quality of that Benfica performance and with the grit shown to beat Tottenham would at least give Slegers hope that finally that hoodoo may be breakable.
"We talk about stacking humble actions and there was a lot of that against Benfica," she says. "Small and big moments, big things which stood out against Spurs but a lot of small things, too.
"We believe if you continue to do those then we can create the margins and moments we need in games. The team did it really well in those two games and we believe we can bring it on Sunday."
Watch Arsenal vs Aston Villa live on Sunday from 11.30am on Sky Sports+; kick-off 12pm
