It took the Lionesses star some time to get off the mark in the WSL – but she's now got six goals in her last five league outings
It's fair to say that Alessia Russo's early season woes are behind her. After failing to score in any of her first five games in the Women's Super League, as part of an eight-game drought, the Arsenal striker netted her eighth goal in her last eight games for the club on Sunday, to secure an important 1-0 win over Liverpool. On a weekend of shocks in the WSL, the priority for the Gunners was three points, and they got them thanks to the quick reactions of their centre forward.
It's not been an easy start to the new campaign for the north London outfit. Defeat to Chelsea in mid-October meant Arsenal had won just two of their last seven games, prompting under-pressure head coach Jonas Eidevall to step down from his role. With five points from their first five league games, their title ambitions had been dealt a huge hit.
But things have improved under interim boss Renee Slegers. Nine wins from 10 have lifted the Gunners back into the European places and given them a chance of having a say in the title race, if indeed Chelsea and Manchester City slip up again, as both did this weekend. There are a lot of reasons why the team has enjoyed an upturn in form in this two-month stretch and the goal-scoring of Russo, who only broke her WSL duck six weeks ago, is certainly one of them.
Getty ImagesMore goals needed
It's no secret that, over the last couple of years, Arsenal just have not scored enough goals. Last season, they netted 18 fewer than eventual champions Chelsea and in early November, they had bagged 13 fewer than their London rivals this term, despite having played a game more.
To help reduce that gap, it’s vital that they start to get the best out of Russo, who was signed after Eidevall identified her as the perfect striker for his system, but who did not develop into the prolific forward the club really needed during his tenure.
AdvertisementGettyHints at improvement
That said, even before her first goal of this WSL season, the signs were there that Russo was improving in most areas in her pursuit of becoming a more frequent goal-scorer. In the second half of last season, in comparison to the first half, her averages in all key metrics went up – those being touches in the opposition's box, total shots, shots on target, expected goals (xG) and goals. Even before her first league goal of this season, in the five games Eidevall oversaw, Russo’s touches in the opposition’s box and her shots on target were up from the 2023-24 campaign.
Since she bagged that goal, against former club Manchester United, the numbers have shot up again, with an injection of confidence in front of goal clearly doing her the world of good to the degree that she is now getting on the ball more, taking more shots and scoring more goals.
Getty ImagesHelp from a legend
Is it just confidence behind Russo’s upturn in form? It definitely helps, there is no doubt about that. But there are other factors involved too. After all, she has been putting in the hard yards at training to get to this point, working with Arsenal icon Kelly Smith in the coaching staff to improve her fortunes in front of goal ever since the former England forward returned to the club in April of last year.
“On training, we worked specifically with the forwards, we have Kelly Smith with us and we spent a little bit more time working on finishing specifically with the forwards in their roles. That hopefully is a part of why we are so ruthless and clinical at the moment, Kelly puts in great details,” Slegers said earlier this month, asked about Russo’s recent purple patch after she netted twice in a 4-0 win over Aston Villa.
That effort during the week is something Slegers mentioned after Russo broke her WSL duck, too. “I am happy for her, she is a great player, she works very hard in training every day, she is humble, she asks questions and she wants to get better and those players with that mindset, over time they are going to develop. Alessia is that type of player,” she said. “I am happy for her and I think she is getting into good positions for a long time, so it is not only about Alessia but how we try to find her, what type of balls we get into the box.”
Getty Images SportWorking to her strengths
Under Slegers, it’s become more common to see Russo formally line-up in different areas, too. Eidevall did experiment with this a little at times, leaning into the striker’s tendency to drop deep and pull wide in order to get on the ball when she’d had few touches, but his former assistant has done so even more recently.
Against Valerenga last week in the Champions League, for example, the England international lined up on the left wing, with Stina Blackstenius playing as Arsenal's No.9. It was in that role that Russo scored one of her most impressive goals of the season, cutting inside onto her right foot and finding the far bottom corner brilliantly.
There have also been instances of Russo playing a little deeper while Blackstenius leads the line. “We want to play to the players’ strengths,” Slegers said, after this happened in the win over Villa.
