Smiles better as Slegers enjoys Arsenal’s WSL demolition derby at Spurs

The interim Arsenal head coach, Renée Slegers, said she was glad to see smiles back on Arsenal faces after her rejuvenated side enjoyed a fifth win from six games under her stewardship by coasting to a surprisingly easy victory away at neighbours Tottenham.

Slegers, who took up the reins after Jonas Eidevall resigned on 15 October, saw her side back up Tuesday’s impressive 4-0 victory away at Juventus with another one-sided win in the north London derby and said: “It means a lot for the players, the staff, the club and the fans. It’s the chicken or the egg question, where do the smiles come from? Behaviours are contagious, as soon as someone starts smiling, so where exactly it started, I think it’s hard to grasp, but I’m happy that’s what’s happening at the moment.”

It took just under 64 seconds for Arsenal to take the lead, with the England striker Alessia Russo emphatically lashing in a first-time strike with her left foot before Tottenham had scarcely had a chance to touch the ball, and when a neat passing move led to the Norway midfielder Frida Maanum being afforded too much time and space in the box to stroke the ball low into the bottom corner for Arsenal’s second in the 22nd minute, the contest felt as good as over.

Only a fingertip save from the Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar prevented Bethany England from pulling a goal back for Tottenham shortly before half-time but the steady stream of Arsenal traffic did not really slow down. The away side appear to have found a good balance to their team, particularly with the Australia defender Steph Catley being deployed as a left-footed centre-back and their 4-2-3-1 setup seemed to bring the best out of Russo, who held the ball up with strength and had eager runners either side of her.

When Russo was brought off for a rest, the Arsenal substitute Stina Blackstenius clipped a first-time effort onto the top of the crossbar from a Katie McCabe cut-back, moments before scoring the visitors’ third goal as she calmly tucked the ball beyond Becky Spencer.

The defeat was Tottenham’s fifth in their past six games and their head coach Robert Vilahamn cut a gloomy figure at full-time.

The Swede said he took personal responsibility for his team’s tactics that he felt contributed to Arsenal’s second goal but he lamented their early concession of the opener, saying: “The gap to the top teams is big. To make sure we beat these teams we need to have a really good strategy where we stay in the games for a while. When you concede a goal after one minute, you destroy the momentum you can build with the fans.”