Old rivalries will be renewed in the Women’s Champions League across the last two weekends of April as the two most experienced clubs in the competition, Arsenal and Lyon, go head-to-head in a thrilling semi-final.
And the Gunners will fancy their chances of upsetting the odds despite unfavourable history.
A sense of calm has descended since Renee Slegers assumed interim charge in October. It took her the best part of three months to convince the club’s hierarchy she was the long-term solution but there’s been no looking back since.
Even a two-goal deficit with only 45 minutes remaining of their quarter-final against Real Madrid was met with equanimity. Slegers prides herself on being virtually unflappable. “The fans bring the other things, the emotions and energy, but I want to be a calm presence,” she told Sky Sports recently.
It’s that poise that has allowed Arsenal’s flair players the chance to rediscover their instinct. Nothing about the way they play now feels forced or even difficult – it follows recognisable routines and patterns with a natural flow. The right pass, the quick thinking, the incessant press, the ability to make the pitch look bigger than it is – it’s all back.
Slegers makes no secret of the basis of her leadership. “If we don’t stay calm, we’re not going to find the solutions,” she reflected after roaring back to despatch Real Madrid at the Emirates. “We stay very calm and focus on the task in the present. Emotions aren’t going to help us.” There’s a running theme to her rhetoric.
Taking emotion out of games was something predecessor Jonas Eidevall was less skilled at. Decisions were often overthought in tough circumstances and, towards the end, such agitation had a negative effect on performance as well as the togetherness of the dressing room.
That’s where Slegers has excelled. She takes a balanced approach, emphasising purposeful play while appreciating variety, and puts individual’s strengths at the heart of any plan. The upshot has been that Arsenal’s creators, of which there are many, have felt free to stamp personality on games, take risks, make mistakes.
As a team, they have become fearless again.
Slegers’ win ratio – 86.6 per cent – is the highest of any Arsenal head coach to have taken charge of 10-plus WSL games. It’s for that reason they will not panic when presented with eight-time European champions Lyon on Saturday.
The Londoners have won each of their last eight games in all competitions by an aggregate score of 31-2 at their Emirates home. No WSL team has won more points (24) or found the net more times (34) this calendar year.
Lyon boss Joe Montemurro, who managed Arsenal between 2017 and 2021, will be all too aware of the threats his former side pose.
He’ll know Caitlin Foord likes to alternate between dribbling past players and making driving runs on the left, while Chloe Kelly favours her ability to put a cross on a sixpence from the right.
He’ll have studied how Mariona Caldentey blends play and Frida Maanum floats. He’ll be aware that Alessia Russo is scoring for fun.
But devising a plan to stop all those things happening in free-flow is less straightforward. Arsenal have shown real maturity under Slegers, able to switch between positional dominance and a high-pressing style to a more measured, systematic manner when under pressure. Far more tactical nuance exists as a result.
Trying to predict what Arsenal will do has become infinitely harder. Their three-goal flurry to see off Real in the last round was a case in point as Russo scored either side of a Caldentey header.
Kelly was the provider of the first two from open play before Katie McCabe forced the third from a set-piece. Moments knitted together with perfect precision.
Trust has become a two-way street. “I want to empower the players, make them believe in their strengths and what they can do,” the boss told Sky Sports this week. “We talk about details, the role I want them to play, but the biggest input is themselves.
“I want us to play with belief and be brave. The key for us is to be good with the ball on Saturday.”
And yet variety, the kind exhibited in a 5-1 thrashing of Leicester on Tuesday, is a relatively new strength.
The biggest criticism of the Eidevall era towards its end was how unexceptional Arsenal had become in attack. A club so synonymous with beautiful football was labelled boring. They had almost become anti-Arsenal.
Slegers stamped that out quickly. Perhaps the only reason they are not in the running for the WSL title was because of the early-season wobble that ultimately ended in Eidevall’s exit. But this is a different team, with talent unlocked and possibilities widened.
While the WSL might be out of reach, a run at a European final is feasible. They could not have hoped for finer form entering the biggest tie of Slegers’ reign, and career, to date.
Now it’s time to prove avant-garde Arsenal are here to stay.