Renee Slegers: Arsenal ‘always learning’ ahead of Champions League semi-final after Leicester battering | OneFootball

Renee Slegers says Arsenal are “always learning” after preparing for their Champions League semi-final against Lyon with a 5-1 thrashing of Leicester City.

Goals from Caitlin Foord, Stina Blackstenius, Beth Mead and Victoria Pelova set the Gunners on their way to a dominant victory against Leicester.

Arsenal are now only three points behind Women’s Super League leaders Chelsea, with the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Lyon up next.

When asked about the confidence in the side ahead of Saturday’s clash, Slegers believes her side have set themselves up well:

“Always learning,” Slegers said. “Ahead of Saturday that there are actually some similarities between Leicester and Lyon. Of course, different levels, the challenge will be bigger on Saturday but we also saw a lot of different players on the pitch today.

“It’s very positive. It’s everything we wanted. So that’s good, but we are also realistic and we understand that the challenge on Saturday is going to go up a couple of levels.

“But I think we did everything we wanted to do today to start the block in a good way and set ourselves up for a good performance on Saturday as well.”

Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo, who were the stars for the north Londoners in their comeback win against Real Madrid in the quarter-final, were both absent against Leicester.

Slegers says the club won’t take risks on the pair, but is confident they will be available for Saturday.

“The health of a player always comes first. We would never, as a club, take any risks that, that aren’t fair to the player, of course, and the player always has a say in it. But yeah, of course, these players want to be available.

“They want to play in these games so bad, so they’re doing everything they can. The players, together with the medical team to get ready for the semi-final.”