Before every home game, Renée Slegers gives her thoughts around the team and our upcoming game in her manager’s notes published in the matchday programme.
Ahead of our return to Champions League action against FC Twente, our head coach reflects on Saturday’s late win against Liverpool, the impact of our substitutes and her respect for our opponents from her homeland:
Good evening and welcome to Meadow Park for our game against FC Twente in the UEFA Champions League – and our final home game of 2025.
I’m very happy we could kick off this block with three points at home on Saturday. Being our first game back after the international break, we had to regroup and find our rhythm very quickly. Coupled with the early Saturday kick-off and a tough opponent, who held Chelsea to a draw in their last fixture, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
I think we made it unnecessarily hard for ourselves to get the win over the line. We all agreed that our intensity wasn’t as high as we wanted it to be, in terms of our positioning and the pace of our passes. We played a good game, but we could have been more clinical. Looking at our five gamechangers on Saturday, they gave us a real injection of quality and energy.
With a lot of space behind their backline, Stina is so good at exploiting it and disrupting defences. She got the winner for us in the end with an amazing goal, but she also did a lot of great things beforehand. Olivia got our other goal at the weekend, and it was another brilliant strike. I’m so happy with how she’s settled in. She had to adapt to our environment and manage a few small injuries, but now she’s fully fit and moving very freely on the pitch. Liv brings so many things to our game with her speed, runs in behind and her ability to beat her players one v one – or even one v three like it was against Liverpool!
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Go Inside N5 for our 2-1 win over Liverpool
It was also fantastic to see Kim Little back on the pitch on Saturday and to have Leah Williamson in the squad for the first time this season. Those two players are very important for us, not just because of their quality but also because of their leadership. You could see that already at the weekend in the way Kim covers space, reads the game early, picks up every second ball and keeps the ball circulating.
What Kim does exceptionally well from a leadership perspective is bring consistency during momentum shifts. She sticks to her role and brings momentum back to us. Leah does that with a lot of intelligence and communication, setting standards and finding solutions on the pitch. Hopefully we see Leah in the next couple of games. We all know what she can do and it will be really good to have them both back.
While they’ve been out, they’ve contributed off the pitch by attending a lot of meetings and taking part in all the culture work we do. Kim and Leah are really important for us off the pitch, but we have a lot of leadership in the team. We have national team captains and a lot of players who can do it for us. We’re well covered but, of course, the more leaders and the more presence you can get on the pitch, the better.
Looking ahead to Twente, I was playing in the Dutch league when it started and they’ve been pioneering women’s football in the Netherlands for a long time. The Eredivisie started in 2007 and they were a part of it. They’ve won the league many times and they’ve played an important role in the development of women’s football in the Netherlands. Twente are top of the table now and they’ve also done well against top teams in the UEFA Champions League.
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Gallery: All smiles ahead of Twente clash
They held Chelsea to a draw and had close results against Benfica and Leuven. In the league they dominate, but in Europe they’ve needed to come out in a different way. They’ve been very disciplined at the back to prevent teams from scoring, and they have some top young talent in their squad who have just made their debuts for the national team.
I think the Dutch always play with a lot of aggression and rarely shy away from big moments, so that’s going to be interesting to play against. We’re very respectful of our opponents and think it’s going to be a good game. It’s also going to be special for me to play against a Dutch team.
As the year comes to an end, I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support. We know you move so much in your lives to be able to come and support us, whether it’s Emirates, Meadow Park or games across Europe. We can’t describe how much that means to us. When we step onto the pitch, you are always on our minds.
It’s very important to us that we truly represent the club you’re so connected to. Of course, winning is vital to a football club, but it’s also about representing something our fans can resonate with. You get us through the tough moments, helping us push for those goals and providing that spark when we need it. It’s always special to share these moments together and we can’t wait to see what next year brings.
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Preview: Arsenal Women v FC Twente
Read more about the game, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v FC Twente programme either around the stadium or online.
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