Arsenal have swagger back – but has Slegers made them contenders again?

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Arsenal are a team transformed under Renee Slegers. No side has won more points (21) in the Women’s Super League in 2025. The rate they are scoring past opponents (3.6 per game), and the design of those goals, is pretty remarkable too.

This from a squad that looked completely devoid of confidence at the start of the season. Lacking imagination and creativity, weighed down by the pressure of expectancy rather than buoyed by it.

Under the Dutchwoman Arsenal have won 37 points from 14 WSL games, two shy of leaders Chelsea’s total over the same period. The Gunners are currently six points behind Sonia Bompastor’s side in the running for the title, albeit the gap could be halved if they beat Leicester on Tuesday night, live on Sky Sports.

It’s hard to recall a manager having such immediate impact. Of course Slegers’ promotion to head coach has benefitted from some continuity having worked within former boss Jonas Eidevall’s technical team since September 2023, but her footprint as Arsenal’s leader is no less impressive.

Tuesday 15th April 7:00pm


Kick off 7:30pm

Slegers freely admits, sitting in a relaxed stance in her office at Arsenal’s training ground, the transition from interim head to permanent took longer than expected – upturn in results, however, has come as little shock.

“It’s hard to say what I expected. What we wanted in my interim period was to get the team going again, stabilising with consistency. We did that. The interim period was longer than possibly what I expected but we’ve put ourselves in a good position if we look at where we came from. I’m really happy.

“We did a lot at the start about our culture and behaviours. That actually went quicker than I expected. We’ve been organically developing our game as a result of that.”

Current form is bordering perfect. This is the Gunners’ best run of league wins since seven successive triumphs between October-December 2023. Stretching further back, they have won 10 of their last 11, only dropping points to Chelsea.

Arsenal threatened to drop out of the WSL’s establishment in the early parts of this campaign but the comeback story has forced fans to re-engage. This is how eras become memorable. A team in crisis that moulds into a team in contention can be something special. Slegers is certainly enjoying her crest-of-a-wave moment.

“The biggest win has been the way the squad takes ownership,” she says. “They have been so determined to bring something more. Their mindset was so good those first couple of months and they were so eager to work together to make things better. I’m so pleased it went in that direction.”

And nothing about this moment of Arsenal excellence has been by chance. Sometimes the team has had to scrap, come from behind, cling onto a narrow lead, play less pretty than Slegers’ normal style dictates, but those components have built belief. Antagonistic Arsenal is something genuinely quite novel.

“First we built belief upon proof. We’ve found the perfect combination of belief by proving we can do things, and trust that we know we can achieve something more. We use those special moments – fighting back against West Ham, come from behind against Liverpool, beating Real Madrid – as examples and keep on reinforcing them.”

Really this was the only way. Slegers knew she had to break the cycle of disgruntlement inherited from the Eidevall era and start afresh. No sideshows, just business.

“I see the world and football through my eyes. I am a different person to Jonas [Eidevall]. I come from something else, I apply myself differently and it’s always going to be like that. Naturally things will change if the group and the football is seen through someone else’s eyes.

“What I’ve learned is it’s good for me to be calm, we connect well like this, within the team and staff. It’s been a success factor that I really want to keep going. If I present myself in a calm way I can organise my thoughts, and we can be sharp and effective as a tag team on the touchline.”

Arsenal’s ‘big club’ persona has returned. Slegers’ win ratio of 85.7 per cent is the highest of any Gunners head coach to have taken charge of 10 plus games. Forty-five WSL goals scored, the most of any team since her appointment, is just one example of such positive noise.

It’s even starting to punctuate Bompastor’s bubble. The award for the league’s ‘best newcomer’ is actually going to be up for deliberation. Who’d have thought it? There’s no bigger compliment given how relentlessly Chelsea have performed.

Ultimately, the spoils of this campaign may be few in terms of tangible silverware for Slegers. But progress and an evolution of harmony is clear for all to see. “The fans bring the other things, the emotions and energy, but I want to be a calm presence. In the pressure moments that’s what players need,” she emphasises.

Some triumphs, for now, might feel more significant than trophies. The joy of the football, the realignment with fans, the thrill of a Champions League semi-final against Lyon at the end of the week among them. Anything more would be an unexpected bonus.

Still, not bad for a WSL first-timer.

Watch Arsenal vs Leicester City live on Sky Sports Football on Tuesday from 7pm; kick-off 7.30pm

This news was originally published on this post .

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