Arsenal ‘looked more like ourselves’ in Palace triumph, says Slegers

Renee Slegers believed her Arsenal side were “more like ourselves” after the Gunners beat Crystal Palace 5-0 in her first game under permanent management.

Leah Williamson opened the scoring in the sixth minute before goals from Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Mariona Caldentey sealed the win after half-time.

Arsenal's victory moved them into second place in the Women's Super League, despite Manchester United's 4-2 win over Manchester City in the final match of Sunday's action.

Slegers' side dominated proceedings and finished the match with an expected goals (xG) total of 3.28 from their 24 shots, restricting Palace to just one shot on target throughout.

In what was Arsenal's first match since their Women's Champions League victory over Bayern Munich, Slegers said improvements had been made since their last outing.

“I am very happy with the result,” said Slegers. “If we could have signed for this beforehand, I would. I'm happy with the clean sheet, five goals, a variety of goals.

“If you look at the performance I think you can see that we haven't played a game for a month. Our last game was here at Borehamwood against Bayern and you could see that in the first half.

“We didn't really find the connection, the perfect timing and the quality of the ball, but we still made it 1-0 from a set piece.

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— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 19, 2025

“We score more from set pieces, which is also positive.

“But if you look at us in the second half, I think we looked more like ourselves, found better connections, positioning and speed in our attacks with better decision-making.

“I am obviously very happy with the four goals we scored in the second half.

“We adjusted some details and when the girls came into the field, starting with Caitlin Foord, we moved a little to the left.

“The girls had a big impact, game changers, but mostly I think the girls just needed time together to play and get back into it.”

Arsenal now have a run of three games in seven days until the end of January, starting with their Women's League Cup semi-final against Brighton on Wednesday.

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