‘This is a really good result’ – Arsenal boss Slegers reflects on victory at Everton | OneFootball

Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers said that the 3-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park represented a really good result for her side.

Katie McCabe, Alessia Russo and Olivia Smith were on target for The Gunners as they overcame an Everton side that had defeated Barclays Women’s Super League champions Chelsea less than a week earlier.

When speaking in the post-match press conference, Slegers admitted that she was pleased with her side’s performance against a dangerous and unpredictable Everton outfit.

“Everton maybe have more qualities and more threats on transition and that’s what they showed a couple of times,” Slegers said. “I think overall in general, we managed that well in the game and that was a key area to manage well.

“I think our dominance speaks for itself if you watch the game subjectively, but then also the facts after the game. We want that to be expressed in goals. I think it’s good when facing Everton away to score two goals in the first half, I think that’s a good scenario.

“Of course, you don’t want to concede that one [goal]. Yes, we would like to score more, but I think at the end of the day, this is a really good result, 3- 1 away against Everton.”

Defender Leah Williamson made her return to club football for the first time this season. Slegers explained the careful management around Williamson’s return.

She said “Seeing Leah training and as she got more opportunities to train with the team, she looked better and better. I thought she was ready because of how good she has looked in training, so we were comfortable bringing her on. It’s still about finding the right moment because even though she’s a very experienced player, she’s been away for four months, so you want that come back to be good. I think it worked really well today.”

This was Slegers’ first time at Goodison Park and she spoke about the experience of playing in L4, as well as the support received from the travelling fans.

She said “I think it’s a beautiful stadium. For me, coming from the Netherlands being in England where all the football started, you can just feel that there’s so much history in the stadium. I really like the stadium and the pitch was good as well. It was great.

“The atmosphere from the away section was fantastic, they travel in such numbers. It’s fantastic the support we get and I can’t say it enough because I deeply feel that we are privileged to get this much support. We’re always thinking about them and we want to deliver good performances and points for them, so I was really happy with the connection between players and fans today.”

Arsenal’s next fixture is a UEFA Women’s Champions League tie against OH Leuven in Belgium on Wednesday night.