Renee Slegers praises Alessia Russo ahead of huge WSL clash against Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea | OneFootball

Arsenal boss Renee Slegers praised striker Alessia Russo ahead of Arsenal’s huge Women’s Super League tie against Chelsea this weekend.

The Gunners sit second in the WSL, seven points behind champions Chelsea, and Sunday’s match at Stamford Bridge marks an important moment in the title race.

Slegers, who was formally appointed as permanent manager last week, plauded Russo’s form and her contribution to the team, who have won 12 of their last 13 games.

“I’m very impressed with who Alessia is as a person,” she said. “She’s just a very good person and cares for everyone. She cares for her teammates, staff, and she always treats everyone with great respect.

“And then if you see the hard work she invests on the training pitch, she’s very humble about things, about herself. She works really hard but then there’s also a big belief in who she is and how she can impact the game for us as a team, so she’s just a great player to have in the team.

“I’m very happy for her that she’s getting out of herself what she wants to get out of herself. She’s a great player to work with.”

Slegers was speaking ahead of Sunday’s tie against Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea, who are going for a sixth successive league title.

Chelsea are unbeaten in the league at the halfway point, registering 10 wins and one draw in the league since Bompastor took charge, after Emma Hayes’ summer departure.

A loss at Emirates Stadium in the reverse fixture in October marked the end of Jonas Eidevall’s tenure at the club, and the start of Slegers’ formidable run at the helm.

“The momentum of us at that time was not positive momentum,” Slegers added. “If you look at the game again, we did quite well but Chelsea went away winning and we know the details we need to work on.

“We know what we want to do and it’s going to be exciting on Sunday to see where we are at. We are humble for the task and we know how good Chelsea are. I’m very impressed with what they’ve been doing, but we want to approach this as any other game. We have a big belief in what we are doing.

“We go for the win and have belief in what we do but we respect Chelsea for who they are and the strengths they have.

“Sonia Bompastor is very detailed, she wants her team to be very opportunistic and go towards goal and they are aggressive out of possession. Chelsea are very powerful. It’s a good combination – that coach and that team, it’s impressive to see top coaches doing top work with good teams.”