Renée Slegers has re-iterated the importance of her side showing ‘fight’ ahead of a trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face Spurs tomorrow.

On Friday afternoon at London Colney, Slegers faced the media before a vital North London derby for Arsenal and The Halfway Line was present to hear from her.

Renée Slegers confirms Arsenal team news

In the past few weeks Renée Slegers has had the misfortune of having a number of both key and peripheral players missing from selection for one reason or another. The Dutch head coach was asked to clarify who was available for selection this weekend,

“So we have the same squad available as we had against Birmingham” Slegers said. “Daphne [van Domselaar] will be in the squad tomorrow. It’s too early to play, but we want to get her back into the routine of being with the team, she’ll do the warm up.

“Kim [Little] is managing a knock as well, she was ill [and is now] managing something. We hope to have her back soon, but she won’t make it. Chloe Kelly is not ready to play.

“Katie Reid is training almost fully with the team now, which is really, really good, so she’s coming closer and closer, [she] looks really good, and I think that’s about it. Mich’s [Michelle Agyemang] of course working in the background as well, not on pitch yet, but hopefully soon too.”

Slegers was pressed further to explain about the injury that is currently keeping Chloe Kelly out of action,

“Yeah, so she has had issues with her hamstring, [she] has had symptoms, and there has been some small injury in the in the hamstring” Slegers explained. “She’s still not training with the team. She’s not out out on the pitch yet, but she’s making good progress in her rehabilitation.”

Slegers was asked to confirm that it was a hamstring injury that was found,

“Yeah, there was something found” Slegers said. “So we classified [that] as an injury, and obviously she is not able to train because of the pain and the symptoms. And we hope that she, as soon as possible, is back fit again and fully ready to go and compete for us again.”

Renée Slegers happy with ‘very good’ training week

For the first time since before facing Manchester Untied, Arsenal have had a week on the training pitch without having to play a match. The Halfway Line asked Renée Slegers what the week since Birmingham has entailed, “We’ve stated where we are” Slegers affirmed. “We’ve stated reality, and [it’s] exactly the same. What we need to do right now is focus game by game and the next one is the North London Derby.

“It’s been a good week. We’ve finally had some time, and it’s not only about talking and meeting and those things for us. It’s been more about actions. So we’ve had a really good training week…”

“We’ve rescheduled a little bit, and where we’ve really had the time spent on the pitch. So that’s been really good for us. And today [was a] very sharp session, and we look forward to tomorrow.”

As for Arsenal’s opponents, Tottenham Hotspur had an incredibly bright start to the campaign before slipping to two defeats, conceding six in both matches. Slegers was asked for her thoughts on the opposition,

“They play high-risk, high-reward football” explained the Arsenal head coach. “That’s their identity. I can’t go into the coaches’ mind and into their camp and what they’re thinking.

“I would say they they have a strong identity and want to play the the way they have been playing. If they adjust against us, that could be possible. Saying they want to stop things, but yeah, let’s see tomorrow. We’ll have to be prepared for both.”

Spurs got a point against Arsenal at Brisbane Road last term, however their record at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a more patchy overall despite a famous victory there over Arsenal while Jonas Eidevall was in charge. The Halfway Line asked Slegers if she feels playing at a larger ground is an advantage for Arsenal,

“I think it will be a fight on the pitch wherever it is” Slegers declared. “I think the pitch will be of high quality and big size, which is good. But yeah, it’s all about the fight on the pitch tomorrow because, like I said, they they play high risk, high reward football.

“That there’s going to be duels and there’s going to be 1v1 moments on the pitch, and we have to we have to be really good in those moments. So we want to see fight from the team tomorrow.”

Arsenal players ‘love a big occasion’ lauds Slegers

Arsenal’s biggest victories of Slegers tenure have come when little was expected of them. A 4-1 victory in Lyon, a 1-0 win in Lisbon against Barcelona and Arsenal’s first ever win at Stamford Bridge last term. The Halfway Line asked Slegers if the team could draw on that success in adversity tomorrow,

“Yeah, we have to” she stated. “We know how good we are and can be, and it’s going to be a big occasion tomorrow.

“The players love big occasions, so it will bring something out of us tomorrow, of course we’ve been talking about that. So yeah, and then in combination, I’ve said it so many times about the fans, that’s it [the motivation] for me.”

Alessia Russo can ‘produce goals’ from both ‘the nine and ten’ says Slegers

One of the central criticisms of Slegers’ management of the Arsenal team from the fan base so far this term is her insistence on playing Alessia Russo in the 10, especially as Russo has been such a prolific number nine for England of late. Slegers’ was asked to explain her decision making in that regard,

“We look at it holistically” Slegers explained. “But also if I think about Alessia and the role she’s played for us in the nine and ten last season, I think she had her best goal-scoring season for Arsenal last season so she is really good in both positions, and she can finish from both positions.

“She can absolutely produce goals from both positions. I think we, as a team, we have to do everything to get into the right spaces and in good finishing positions to be able to serve all the force and all the quality that we have.”